Vario F And G Binder Features

I think it's not regular Mystic binder

So much for them being Premium American Heirloom Albums? What I really like about this set of albums are the pages. I like explanations about the stamps on facing pages, stamps are illustrated in the boxes in which they belong, they have the Scott numbers under each illustration and the 70# paper is great. I figured by reading other posts that others have not been too carried away by the premium albums either however they do look good, are heavy weight, have dust covers available and they are priced right ... as long as I can get around the ring mechanism.

But I digress ... this post is about binders.

Jim Hemphill

Yes, the standard (least expensive) and Deluxe binders are d-shell with boosters. I guess the premiums are not D-shell or have boosters.

https://nakedbinderblog.com/2013/10...ring-binder/

Different quality metal can be used in the making the rings. I have also noticed that some mechanisms take a large amount of force to open while others do not. This may be due to mechanism design, age, and/or use of the mechanism over time. Or it may be the quality of the binder.

But if you have a binder of lesser quality and no boosters it may be a recipe for alignment problems. This issue might be decreased if non-booster binder are opened with the middle ring instead of the top or bottom rings. (Force applied in a more balanced method instead of torqueing the mech from just one end.)

Here is a test that can demonstrate the variance between binders (often from the same manufacturer). Open binder and lay flat on desk. Using the top or bottom ring, slowly start pulling the ring open. Note how far you can open the ring before the force finally overcomes the resistance to pop all of them open. If you can pull the ring open a bit without the mechanism activating, chances are good that the rings will eventually become out of alignment. It might also be helpful to check to see if the amount of force required to open the mechanism is different for each ring.
Don

A couple of photos of the Lighthouse Vario Gigant. It holds a lot of pages. The U-rings can make page-turning a little cumbersome, but by no means impossible. I use these for album pages, rather than a heap of Vario stock-pages.

The premium Mystics have D-rings but no boosters. I went ahead and ordered single F and G Varios. They should be here in a few days. I'll see how those ring mechanisms compare to the Mystic. I always open binders with no boosters from the middle ring.

51 I fear messing up these Mystic binders by trying to pull from the top or bottom. They are pretty stiff pulling from the middle.

Thanks for all the responses.

Jim Hemphill