Explore Scientific FirstLight 90mm Doublet Refractor Telescope with AZ Mount

I was keeping an eye out for a better 80mm f/5 than the one I owned, when this 90 F/5.6 popped up on sale for a price I couldn't refuse. I knew I would sacrifice a little field of view, but could expect a little more brightness and resolution over the 80. I was not mistaken. This scope annihilated my dim 80 and unexpectedly, with the use of a decent barlow, also replaced my 90 F/11 (a scope I enjoyed, but was obviously not designed to go wide). With a low powered plossl this scope yields pleasing views of stellar vistas. Mid-powered eyepieces nicely frame star clusters; I experienced a particularly memorable view of the perseus double cluster through an ES 14mm/82° placed in this scope. For lunar and planetary observing and splitting doubles, I use a quality 3x barlow. I will generally use an 18mm with the barlow for lunar and planets, and an 11mm for tighter binary splits- I just recently got a clean, tight split of the double-double with this setup. There are plenty of lunar features within the grasp of this little scope, including rilles that I'm constantly combing the surface for. Jupiter readily displays its more prominent bands and Galilean moons; larger transit shadows are also visible as tiny specks on it's surface. Saturn displays its disk shape and mass of rings cleanly. In general, stars appear as beautiful pinpricks. Even though my neighbor insists on keeping his Christmas lights on year-round, I can still observe the Bodes and cigar galaxies. The ring nebula and other brighter deep-sky targets are no problem. I'm assigning this scope 5 stars strictly for the optics in proportion to its price. I've never used the included diagonal; I swapped it immediately for one of the nice dielectrics I had laying around. I've never used the included eyepieces. I mounted the scope on a fluid pan head photo tripod within a week of receiving it. The included mount and tripod was usable but I much prefer using my photo tripod. The included finder does its job so I never swapped it. The focuser that came with mine, while plastic, has no slop and the knobs are large enough to finesse. This is marketed as a beginner scope. For me, this is a ready-to-go scope to keep by the door. I've got the beastly 10 inch dobsonian. I've got a weighty 4 inch ED frac on a hefty motorized mount. Those scopes have their place and get their use, but most sessions these days involve me taking my super-light short 90 on my simple photo tripod right outside my door for immediate, general purpose use. I don't think this scope is for pushing to the limit. It will call in sick on star test day. It does provide beautiful, clean views of all the many sights I use it for.