You really do need to see through one first. Otherwise we may give the wrong impression since each of us experience the view differently.
As for myself, I personally find deep sky objects unimpressive visually. They all just look like blobs of grey/green smoke to me.
That's why I got interested in deep sky astrophotography, so I could photograph what I can't see.
The planets are bright but usually tiny. The Moon is impressive. Big, bright and very detailed.