Reason I wouldn't recommend Astro-physics is mainly because I think as a company they have created this false sense of quality/value in astronomy industry because they produce ‘em in such small quantities. Thx
Nonsense. A company in itself cannot create a sense of value or quality. Only the consumers have this ability. If nobody thought the A-P scopes were worth buying, they wouldn't fetch such high prices second hand. A-P makes a small number of scopes, because that is how they feel they have the ability to ensure the quality they want to provide. They don't do this to artificially increase the prices. If they had done so, they should sell their scopes at considerably higher prices than they actually do.
And no, I don't own any A-P products.
I second Thomas' point.
I've been fortunate to have had most of A-P's modern telescopes (92 mm f/5 StowAway through 180 mm f/9 EDT, and the 10" Mak-Cass). A-P makes top-notch photo-visual telescopes. Unless one pays crazy money for these OTAs (I did twice), they're excellent values.
A-P also designed their OTAs to interface with high quality accessories that won't break the bank.
To the recent buyer of the 155 f/7 EDFs, you'll really enjoy the scope. I still have my 2003 155 EDF (4" focuser), even though I have the new 175 f/8.