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I DO own both the Orion SkScanner 100 and Celestron Firstscope scopes. The firstscope was a disappointment for visual but its mirrors did respond well when paired with a Baader Hyperion eyepiece. Its let down is the included eyepieces being such poor quality its off-putting to use as supplied.
The Orion SkScanner 100 is a huge improvement in build quality and out of the box usability. Its supplied eyepieces are actually good to use and of course improvement are noticeable with a Baader Hyperion eyepiece. My other scopes go up to a C11, but for enjoyable star hopping I love the Orion, it's still the only scope I've seen Neptune with. I know its small and looks like a toy and obviously this is where most comments I've seen come from. Its an aluminium tube and cooldown and collimation havent been a factor, had mine for maybe 5yrs now. I find it an ideal starter scope for people unsure if they want to get into astronomy instead of the most expensive response other usually give of "just buy an 8" dob". The Orion is highly portable and even has a tripod thread underneath so it can be mounted on a standard camera tripod. Its red dot finder is great but on desktop scopes of this sort of limited practicality. I mainly image rather than do visual so when imaging the orion is usually out to give me something to do. Build quality is great and I've never had a problem with any part of mine. Its a perfect size for anyone of any age to move around, put into a gym bag to travel to a dark site, is simple to use and easy to share they sky with others. Gear snobs can keep their stress about letting strangers near their scope in the dark the worse exploring fingers can do in the dark with the orion is to defocus the eyepiece. There are no concerns over storage room or needing to buy extras for it, out of the box its ready to rock and easy to use, nothing confusing or unpleasant to soil the experience for first timers, its a scope that genuinely encourages second looks.
Neither of these scopes would focus with a Baader Zoom eyepiece and I have converted my Celestron Firstscope into a whitelight filtered solar scope which it does well again using a better eyepiece. Likewise my tests of webcam imaging with both were a failure due to lack of focus (yes i know neither are suited to imaging).
I wouldn't consider the orion 100mm as a budget scope, its every bit as worthy as all the other consumer scopes on the market (which are all considered low-end by pros anyway). It's a serious scope for looking at the sky and doesn't claim to be otherwise.
The Firstscope I would say is an overpriced "budget" scope, with its cardboard tube design I can't see it holding good collimation in humid regions. It gives poor views out of the box until you pair it with a good eyepiece which beginners wouldn't know and their astronomy will likely halt at this point.
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