Pete
A bit of practical experience may help. I was given as my first scope a 130mm Saxon Reflector on an EQ2 mount. I would probaly consider this to be a better scope than the 127 you are looking at, and was certainly more expensive! In the first 18 months of my astronomy jouney I managed to view the moon, Jupiter, Saturn, Alpha Centauri and that was about it, also spent a lot of time
not finding things. I can recall spending nearly 40 minutes trying to find the Orion Neb, which I could see with the naked eye, but couldn't get that EQ mount to point at it!
I then joined the ASV (Astronomical Society of Vic) and they have a loan scheme for new members where you get the use of a 8" Dob for 3 months. I was able to take it alopng to a couple of star parties and bought some atlases and was luckily allowed to extend the loan to 6 months. In that 6 months I knocked over 70+ of the Messier objects as well as several galaxies and spent hours exploring and enjoying the nights sky. I now have a 12" dob and I am very happy and exploring deeper.
The loan scope cost $10 rent with a refundable $50 deposit and was an excellent instrument. Chucked it in the back of the car several times, and never needed recollimating. Comes with a nice 8x50 finder (almost certinly better that the finder on the 127) and 25 and 10mm eyepieces. I actually found I could see more in the finderscope than I ever saw with my old scope! Add the $50 odd to join the ASV and it is excellent value. Great way to check if this hobby is really for you before forking out wads of cash.
Also feel free to get along to star parties even if you don't have a scope. Most attendees are happy to show you things and talk about their gear and give advice.
Suggest the VicSouth Little Desert party in Nov, the ASV Star-B-Que in Dec, Snake Valley next March near Ballarat are 3 I can mention of the top of my head.
Malcolm