Quote:
Originally Posted by erick
My experience:- I asked at Bintel for the Bintel Cheshire. I was advised not to buy it but rather the Orion Collimating tool, which I did. (The staff members were quite convinced the Bintel tool was of unsatisfactory performance.)
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Hi Erick,
The staff at Bintel are correct. The Orion Collimating tool is a great device, only bettered by specialist "optical" collimating devices like the Catseye and the Tectron Tools, which are infinitely more expensive.
Quote:
Originally Posted by erick
I have to admit, however, that I have never really made much sense of the view through that tool. I never put it in until I was collimated with the laser or barlowed laser and the Orion tool seemed to say it was spot on. However, recently, I was able to put a different Cheshire tool into my scope and the difference was significant. I could understand what I was looking at and crosshairs were in much better focus.I was told that Cheshire was from Andrews Communications. I've just looked at their site and it must be this one:- "Collimation eyepiece, Cheshire Newtonian type, Skywatcher brand" - $49. I look forward to hearing other comments.
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Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo !!!!!!!!!!!!
The Skywatcher combination cheshire is of clearly inferior quality to the Orion tool, which is Japanese made. The tolerances and machining on the Skywatcher tool are average at best and it will never be as accurate as the Orion tool, primarily because it will have a fractionally different orientation each time it is put into the focuser. In addition the Andrews tool is shorter and you also lose accuarcy as the tube length gets shorter. I have owned the Orion and also own the Tectron Tools, which are superb.
Persevere with the Orion tool, it is a very good unit. It just takes a little getting used to with all those reflections going on. That all comes with experience. You are driving a Ferrari and you are still on P-plates, pretty soon it will all "click" and you will get the gearchanges right
Cheers,
John B