You have hit the nail on the head Rob.
I had a meade 114mm reflector on an alt/az as my first scope and had some good views thru it.
It is not about how big the scope is but how you use it and once you know how to use it you can always step up and get a better/bigger but more $$$$ scope.
The only thing to give a miss is a scope with a fixed barlow in the system (like my meade had and made it a pita to collimate
).