For the record, both the optics and the optical tube for the Celestron and XT8 are made by the same company in China. I can say from personal experience that in the past that company complained to Orion that we were being too finicky about the mirror quality when compared to Celestron (this was over other telescopes...not dobs as Celestron was not making Dobs at this point).

That same company now owns Celestron, and I have no idea if they are giving their best stuff to them to sell, but I doubt it. The company is capable of producing good stuff when motivated, but the old Celestron owners weren't giving them reason to be motivated. That may be different now, but I kinda doubt it.

As for other factors: The Celestron dob base is made in China, wheras the XT base was US made. I think that may have changed recently. Why is that important? Well, if you saw the crap bases they were sending Orion you would wonder (again they might have improved). Not all particle board is created equal folks, and China has struggled with softwood furniture tech at times (its not as easy as you might think). Even IKEA has trouble with them now and then.

The intelliscope bases were being made in the US when I left. This should still be the case.