The best optical telescope in the world may not get used very often if it is difficult to set up. In the late 1970's C8 SCT's were becoming more popular, and seemed to offer both the optical quality and portability that I was looking for. Also, it was much easier to use for astrophotography then the reflectors I had owned. The RV-6 showed the planets with higher contrast, and also brought out low contrast detail better. So the third lesson I learned was that larger aperture does not necessarily mean a telescope will outperform a smaller one when it comes to the planets, particularly when it comes to showing fine, low contrast detail.
Optical quality is important regardless of the aperture.
It was with the C8 that I caught the astrophotography bug. A friend of mine said it built character, but I told him that it wasn't the kind of character that I wanted to build. Plus trying to find a color negative film that had both good red and blue sensitivity. The optics of the Meade seemed to be very good. I had a chance to observe M-17 through a Quantum 6 at Stellafane one night.