"Mike" wrote:

Baffles dont make images, lenses do. Baffles hide partially illuminated tube walls from your sight. 3 baffles, 6 baffles, a million baffles. You want the least amount of baffles that do the job: hide the tube wall from your sight. Once the tube wall is hidden, extra baffles accomplish nothing.

Crappy refractor hardware (like Synta makes) generally works for holding an eyepiece in the approximate position for good viewing, refractors are pretty forgiving at Synta type magnifications. Throw a chromacor in the mix and Syntas generally inferior hardware quality is no longer enough to hold the entire system in collimation adequately.

Good hardware, like an Astro-Physics refractor, holds the lens and focuser in very precise alignment, this lets you get the most out of everything, like seeing concentric fresnel rings in star tests at 400 - 600 power. Super high power reveals more subtle problems and errors. If you have a Synta, you probably aren't going to be viewing planets at 400x anyway, so again the lower quality level of their components isn't much of an issue. If you've got a $4500 lens up front on the other hand, then it's nice to have everything held in alignment and concentricity as only a well built refractor can do.

JB