[ATM] Edmund Optics "Techspec" brand achromat: suitable lens for small refractor?

[David Weinshenker <daze39@earthlink.net>]

Hello, all -
I'm looking at some "Techspec" achromatic 
lenses listed in the Edmund Optics catalog,
such as #M45-419: 75 mm D x 400 mm FL ($147 ea.).

Can anyone comment on the optical quality of 
this brand of lenses, with respect to use as
the primary lens of a small telescope? (The
plan would be to install the lens on a handmade 
tube assembly, with an off-the-shelf focuser
and eyepieces.) Would I be wasting time with
these lenses (as far as ending up with anything 
worth having as a telescope), or could this
combimation potentially yield a decent little 
telescope, good for looking at stuff while I 
tinker with more complex ideas, or possibly
as a finder/guide scope for some future larger
instrument?

(I've got some perhaps-slightly-novel ideas on 
a compact adjustable-magnification design that 
I'd like to experiment with eventually, but I 
figured I'd better start small, and first see 
if I can construct a basic instrument and get 
it to work as it should...)

-dave w
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