I made a few laps on the whole Origin lineup last February at the Stratton trade show....the 90 is a scaled-down, grippier and more carvy version of the 96. Liberty brought the progressive sizing of the Origin line through a nice continuum, going from more camber-effected, less-rockered feel in the narrow waist sizes up through the most surfy and loose feel of the 116mm version. The wider you go, the more surfy the ride. Each has a nice difference from its siblings. The Origin 90 does not have the grip and solidity of the Variant models, but is more all-mountain with a bias toward 3D snow than the Variants. The Origin 90 would be a really friendly ride for most frontside, resort-lift terrain where people don't want 95+ underfoot. I would have no problem using the Origin 90 as a daily resort driver out west...possibly in the East with a tight tune job...but If I had my preference at this size for the East, it would be the Variant 87. The Origin 90 gives a quicker edge-to-edge response than its 86mm sibling, but looses the fun, surfy and easy-handling of the 96 in chopped-up, skied-out fresh snow. The Origin 90 has a really nice grip on groomers when placed into high-angle situations, and has a nice turn shape...less demanding than the Variant 87 (but less impressive), and skis a bit longer feeling than the 96 due to the higher degree of rocker-feel in the 96 on-edge. If you spend more time on groomers than fresh snow and want the easy-handling Origin feel rather than the spunkier, stronger Variant series, the Origin 90 works nicely. I really liked the few laps I had on the entire Origin lineup. Very nice range of sweet-spot performances in each width...so you can dial-in your level of surfyness with widths... That's my 2 cents...