First Impressions Bintel ED80 10:1 Crayford.

[acropolite]

Just thought some may be interested in the Bintel 10:1 Crayford for ED80 ($189.00). I bought one a few weeks ago but only just got around to fitting it. The fit was a little on the loose side, but easily fixed with a shim cut from an old piece of clear plastic packaging. The focusser works as expected but in my case I had to get an extra 35mm extension ($35.00 extra cost) to reach focus on the 1.25 diagonal I'm using. I suspect that it would easily reach focus with 2 inch diagonal. The focusser is very well built and moves very smoothly, with friction adjustment, focus lock and rotating barrel that allows the focusser to rotate relative to the OTA. I intend on putting aq spring under the focus lock screw as I have heard of similar designs losing the screws easily. Eyepiece/Diagonal clamping is by brass compression rings another nice touch. The only thing that's absent is a mounting point for my red dot finder. Considering the cost I'd give it an almost perfect score, the only downside is the loss of mounting point for a finderscope and the necessity to shim the unit to fit. :thumbsup:

I should add that I have no affiliation with Bintel whatsoever.

[chris lewis]

'acropolite' - thx. for the 'mini review' - I am thinking of getting one for my ED100 - but basically is it worth the cost ? Is there such a improvement that it really is a worth while addition - or is it more of an 'incremental' upgrade ? and the 'stock' crayford is more then adequate ? Plus I have a R/A 8x50 finder that I would not be able to mount - which is a + + concern. Thx. for any info.

[acropolite]

It's a nice to have item, not a necessity, mounting my finder will not prove difficult and the focus lock is a definite bonus for photography, as is the rotation capability of the focusser.

[janoskiss]

This focuser might even bolt straight onto Synta/Skywatcher/Saxon Dobs.. :confuse3: