This is a very nice "rich" cluster that shows up brilliantly in small wide field instruments with extra wide field eyepieces. It is juxtaposed with M47 which has brighter members but is overall not as pretty to my eyes (I like that stardust feel of M46 in a wide field ep). Plus it has the added "punch" of planetary nebula NGC 2438 which is quite easy to detect even in smallish scopes. This planetary looks like a rather pale and smaller version of M57, the ring nebula as it appears as a ring as well. Best seen with a UHC type filter (for the planetary). Here is my sketch of NGC 2438 and some of M46.
http://www.geocities.com/dhumpie/dastro/2438_m46neg.jpg
Darren