ive been looking around at crayford focusers to replace the rack and pinion my telescope came with, myastroshop has one for $140, and bintel has theirs for $99, both are 2", would there be a significant difference in quality?
Hi sheap, there are both Crayford focuser's and basic Crayford style focusers out there.
My 25cm Bintel Dob come with a Crayford type one, i dont know where it was made but it would be the same as the $99 Bintel offering i would guess.
Mine works a treat, way ahead of rack and pinion.
there are two types of "cheap" crayfords from GSO. One with 10:1 fine/micro-focus, one without. Get the one with the fine focus. Otherwise they are all the same Andrews/Bintel/MAS/etc. Wherever you get it from ask for best price.
Make sure you are talking about the same focuser ie. GSO and ensure you get the 10:1 as they will make focusing even better than the standard Crayford.
I just updated my 8" SkyWatcher's focusser with the Bintel 10:1 unit. It costs $119.00 inc GST. I can't believe how much sharper I'm able to focus and it's very smooth so I don't get that "notchy" overrun in either direction. A great upgrade.
I got the 10:1 focuser for my 8" Dob and the difference is amazing. I got mine from andrews and it cost $119 compared to $99 for the standard unit, well worth the extra $20.
I think crayford's with 10:1 should be standard on all serious scopes, I cannot pull correct focus on anything but these focusers, sure I use others, but I am never totally sure that I am pulling bang-on focus (even 1% off is going to degrade an image heavily)
