[ballaratdragons (Ken)]

BC,

It could all come down to eyepieces. As I have found, Cheapish EP's give a fairly poor result giving the impression that the scope is no good. Even a moderate scope with very good EP's will give fairly good results.
I know what you mean about Sombrero. I can see it very easy but I see it much the way you explain it. That, I believe, is due to my lower quality EP's. Whereas the Moon give the most incredible views. I can find about 60-80 galaxies from my dark site but my EP's will not show a crisp image and it does get frustrating. My EP's are mainly Series 500's. Not very good. Whereas I can see the Orion and Tarantula nebs extremely clear. The Globulars as well. And yet Joop and Saturn look mediocre.

Dark skies are not everything either. I live in a very dark site and yet lately the seeing (on clear nights) has been terrible.
There is a lot of moisture in the air. Even though I can see the Planets and stars crystal clear with the unaided eye and also in the finder, when magnified through the scope the views are shocking. It is like trying to focus through fog!

Don't despair. Some nights are better than others and you will know when you strike a good night. You will see galaxies everywhere in Virgo for example. The Fornax Cluster of galaxies is excellent too but it is out of range at the moment.

To test the quality of your EP's find Sombrero with a low mag EP. Then place in a higher mag EP. It should appear a bit fainter but clearer. Like I said, it doesn't clear up for me but I know that my EP's aren't all that great. My scope is excellent, I just need to take advantage of better EP's one day.

Two Globs (47Tuc and Omega Cent) are very very clear for me at all mags. Try them too.