Cheers for the replies guys
I was keen on getting the 130EQ as I was thinking that even though it's a Dept store telescope, at $290 down from $449 it looks like a good deal? I've googled some reviews and they looked positive...
The mount is an steel EQ2 and it looked fairly sturdy in the shop, but I'll take your word on it looking wobbly as I'm sure you have a better eye for this than me!
I'd thought about going binoculars but thought the telescope's 5 inch aperture would give much better than a similarly priced <$300 binos.
Unfortunately I don't have any capacity to spend any more than $290, as that's my upper limit already. I had only planned to spend less than $200. I've had a look at the other sites and can't see any end of year deals - was thinking that they might have in store discounts that I might not be aware of?