I have a ETX 125 PE (the ones with the pics on the tube) which is a nice little scope for visual work. It would make a great grab and go if the batteries lasted more then ten seconds
. I too had trouble with the drive as about a week after I bought it there was a snapping noise followed by loss of tracking in the az drive. Turned out the little plastic ring which holds the worm to the gear drive broke. Bintel sent me another express post and whilst I had it in bits I went through and cleaned it out and set up all the clearences properly (meade QC
). Its been fine ever scince and has great optics. Would not try to use the drive for photography though.
Mark