Hey Phil, welcome to IIS
like all skywatcher scopes, - that one is a pretty decent scope and one that you'd probably be quite happy with it I'd say. The mount may just not be all that good though. So another thing you could consider would be either a dob mounted scope (where you'll get more aperture for your money), or a good pair of binos as mentioned in the adjacent thread (also from a newbie like yourself!). You'd get pretty good binos for $300, - although you might want to shell out for a stand as well as they can get quite heavy after about 15 seconds or so
But either way, Andrews is well regarded as offering value for money.
Cheers,