[Rack-and-Pinion] Perfect and solidly built, all metal. I actually bought this for an ETX125 OTA and it fits perfectly.

[Refractor] This is my third telescope. I got it mostly for traveling but I find my self using it quite a bit at home too. Its light, easy to put together, easy to use, versatile and of a great quality. Mine worked straight from the box without having to be collimated (even though is recommended for any telescope). Yes, its not going to be as powerful as a 8 or 10 telescope but is more than you need for the solar system (Moon, Jupiter, Saturn etc.) and even deep space observation. Wait, its getting better. It was extremely easy for me to adapt a DSLR camera to it and in the first night I got great pictures with the moon craters. The holding tray on the tripod is extremely useful. The tripod itself is sturdy and good quality. 
Optics are decent. Of course it never hurts to get better quality optics (Explore Scientific have plenty of them in the store) but if you are pleased with the stock ones you dont have too. They will do the job.
I recommend it.

[45°] The 114mm Reflector was very easy to set up and begin using. This alt-azimuth mount is so much simpler to use than an EQ mount. The lower power of the telescope was great for helping my parents to find objects easily. The entire setup is both very sturdy and easy to move. We were able to immediately start seeing images of the crescent moon and a very rough outline of the Andromeda Galaxy.

[Refractor] I live in a light polluted area and do not have a "Go To"mount. I purchased this eyepiece for the wide field of view and low power which enables me to sweep the sky to find objects. I knew about the wide FOV but have been pleasantly surprised by the color and clarity of the objects I view. I cannot detect any distortion even at the edges.

This is an excellent eye piece for wide field viewing needed to search the sky. I recently purchased a 2 inch Barlow lense and am anxious use this eyepiece with higher magnification.

[Refractor] This telescope it’s just great. I’m a beginner and after several weeks of research; I take the choice to buy this and brin it to my country, Colombia, so can you imagine all the things I had to have in mind...first than nothing It’s huge !!! Second it’s beautiful; I’m a industrial designer and the high end of this product it’s a great, the materials and the details look so nice. The assembly was easy, the up and down system/design is soft, and keep the balance; the only thing maybe you have to do, it’s to re- install the white pieces where the traction happen... this because the employees maybe made an a fast installation and they look crooked, so maybe you have to remove them and put them back correctly ... one of the screw was no deeply, so this generate a track in the tread, very important check this ! The base is very nice and gives an strong support, easy to turn. The super plossl piece it’s nice, I was watching Jupiter and it’s clear ... I buy two more eye pieces ... Meadle 4.5 mm and Orion 8 mm they work nice with the dobsobian. I make a base for moving with 4 wheels because it’s a little heavy. The laser point works fine, you just have to make a set up for a correctly point correctly. I really recommend this telescope, you will not disappointed for the price and the product... easy to assembly, easy to use, easy to love it !! Clear skies !!

[Rack-and-Pinion] With this excellent 8 dobsonian telescope I can see the color bands of planet jupiter and I can see clearly the rings of planet saturn and I even saw pluto, and I been taking super clear pictures of the clusters of stars with my samsung galaxy and now I feel like I have an observatory in my house, thank you B&H.

[Refractor] This is a big light great telescope, arrived intact with very nice packaging, didn't had any issues with movement but counterweights is essential, collimation was very easy using laser colimator, focuser is smooth and able to hold my heavy explore scientific 30mm, replace the red dot finder with terlad , every thing worked just fine , only problem was small aluminium shaving pieces were everywhere, need to clean it good before first use.

[Rack-and-Pinion] This is my first scope and am very happy with it. Not a fan of how the base assembles but it is sturdy after I applied glue to the joints. Tool-less mirror collimating is very handy. The red dot finder works well but kind of wish the brightness could go down a bit more. Unless you’re pointing at the moon, you can’t see anything but the dot in the viewfinder. Views are clear and after a little practice, easy to point and get on target. Looking forward to many nights observing with it.

[1.25"] This style of scope gives the largest aperture I could handle by myself without spending a lot of money. I had none of the problems people reported with the earlier version. Everything works well without any modifications needed. Set up is easy enough, but there are a number of loose parts to keep track of. I think it will work well for the kind of use I will give it- I camp out on a hilltop and leave my scope set up all night. This is not a scope that you would take outside for a brief viewing. The set up is too cumbersome for that.

The mass-produced, tube Dobs can be a little bit cheaper and require little set-up, but you would need to step down in size if you transport it and use it by yourself. The premium Dobs set up quickly and are light enough to let you get a bigger scope, but the cost is higher than I was willing to pay. This Explore Scientific is a big scope at a realistic price.

[Refractor] This picture was taken with a Canon 40D with a T2 adaptor, no other optics used. Minimal processing.