Wow... I forget how nice it is to shoot with my D90.

Ever since I got my D300s, my D90 and D3100 have been garage queens. Today I took it out to play with my monolights and realize that I have a few more toys that are easily compatible with my D90 over my D300s.
Both have fairly low shutter counts, but I do remember how nice it is to hold and shoot with. Menu was a bit tedious to play with, but I was doing everything by myself and I had no intentions of tethering my laptop so that I could see what I was doing.

mmmm not sure why a D90 would work better than a D300s. can see over a D3100, but yes a D90 is very fine, only issue I had with a D80/D90
is that they won't meter old glass.

One feature I do like is the low cost remote camera release. grrrr,, I hate that they don't enable the low cost remotes for higher end
camera. what the heck

so,, for me,, its the metering of old glass, and the higher bracket depth of the D300s over a D90, and tougher build, but otherwise
as you say, the D90 holds its own against a D300(s) or frankly any DSLR.

The D90 is a fun Nikon and I regret having to get rid of mine. But with my two D300 Nikons and my D700 Nikon I've been a very very happy camper! Lol Now I'm trying to get a second D700 to complete a double combo!

But the D90 was an awesome model to use for me too, until I was won over by my first D300!