I was on Reason 6.5 as nothing in either 7 or 8 moved me $130 worth. I was wandering through my local Guitar Center and saw that they were trying to clearance out some Reason 7 upgrades. Only $50 and upon registration, you get Reason 8 for free. 
 
I can't find a link on the GC web page, but Amazon has it for $60. Just register it and you will immediately be notified that you have the R8 license waiting.
 
Only mentioning it because the staff at GC (poor sample, I know) had no idea you could go from 7 to 8 for free.

Why would you be able to go from 7 to 8 for free, Andy?
Oh, I see. Should check the link before I post.
Anyway, is this always a boxed product?

The 7 upgrade was a boxed product, The 8 upgrade from Propellerhead was just a license code, you have to download the software. Although, any boxed 8 is going to be 8.0 and they're on 8.2, so you'll be downloading the product no matter what you do.
 
I suppose that this sort of upgrade deal isn't that unusual, what was surprising (to me at least) was how many boxes of Reason 7 they had at the store.

Cheers Andy!