Comments on Orion 120 EQ refractor

Hooray for us entry level refractor buyers, as Orion has hacked $60 off their 120 eq!
NOW, what do you guys think of this entry level item, in terms of bang/buck opinions? Let's not compare it to higher level refractors, but critique it according to the $440 it costs.
I plan to shelve the crappy tripod....too bad they refuse to sell OTA only!

Hey, that is not a lot of money for a scope that size. Sure it wont compare with a $3,000 scope, but a VW is no Porsche either, but both are good cars. Right?

If you're willing to wait, you can get a Burgess in that price range, OTA only

For what its worth:

I had one of the 120-EQs, the one that came on the EQ-3 mount.

The tripod is inadequate in my view for this scope. I bought the dual axis drives for it. Viewing the double-double at 120X, I had to turn the drive off because the stepper motor caused too much Vibration and it would blurr the image. Replaced the tripod with something solid and all was fine.

Focuser was adequate but typical Synta, needs some work and will still be fussy.

False color on bright stuff, planets especially. Good for splitting double stars but on the planets an XT-8 is superior, and of course the XT-8 is easier to set up and gives better performance on DSO's for sure. Kept the mount to use with my someday to arrive Burgess Optical 102mm F6 scope, sold the OTA.

jon