The XT8 appears to be a decent dobsonian based on what I have seen online. It is still a dobsonian so it will be good for setting up and viewing objects without a lot of fuss, probably no so good for astrophotography. You'll be able to image bright objects like planets and the moon with it but I doubt you'll have much success with Deep Space Objects (DSOs). The price, $300, is okay. It's not a steal from what I can tell. A new XT8 (without Intelliscope...which is Orion's go-to capable mount for the SkyQuests) can be found for about $450 online. A new XT8 with Intelliscope retails for $619 on Orion's website. So, again, it is a good price, not a great price. It appears that the XT8 will be a good scope for the money for visual astronomy. I think you will quickly reach the limits of its astrophotography capabilities. The scope won't easily mount onto a clock drive system that will work for astrophotography so if that is a consideration you should look elsewhere.
One more thought, if you are interested in astrophotography, you should take a look at LightBuckets. It is an online service where you can use one of several high-end telescopes to take images. These are telescopes that you won't find in most people's backyards. A single observatory costs anywhere from $75,000 to $350,000. The cool thing is, anyone can use them...and at reasonable prices....from $100 per hour to $250 per hour depending on the scope's aperture and location. LightBuckets has scopes in both New Mexico and Australia for northern and southern hemisphere imaging. And, the scopes range in aperture from 14.5" (in Australia) to a 24" in Rodeo, New Mexico.
Go to
www.lightbuckets.com to learn more....it's a great way to see if you're interested in astrophotography without investing a lot of money.
I have attached an image of M83 I took just this morning on the LightBuckets 14.5" telescope in Pingelly, Western Australia. It is a 1200 second (20 minute) exposure. Pretty amazing results!