Lighthouse Binder Comparison

Any chance someone might have a 13-ring Excellent DE Classic Design they could put next to a Grande and post a pic or two? Obviously the dimensions of the two models are a little different, but I'm having trouble imagining how different they look next to each other, and if the colors match across models. Thanks.

I Spent many many hours evaluating hinders and That is my binder of choice. It is different from the grande. I don't have that to compare,but ihobb.com has good images of both.

IHobb, like most sellers, simply supplies a standard photo of the outside of binders, so you have no idea what it looks like inside with the rings, where they're mounted, and so on. Here's an apparently rarer shot of both outside and inside:

https://www.nolastampshop.com/light...th-slipcase/

It's a 13-ring binder that requires you use Lighthouse 13-hole pages. What I always wonder is why would anyone pay these enormous prices for what is essentially just a ring binder? Besides "high class workmanship," whatever that means, you're basically getting a $30 binder (okay, maybe $40) for well more than twice that price. Nice looking, but I just don't get it. I have some similar binders where the ring mechanism has come loose from the spine of the binder, making the binder useless. Talk about upsetting.

And here's a (rare) look at the inside of the Grande binder.

https://www.lighthouse.us/classic-g...lipcase.html

It's a 3-ring binder in a nice cover at a more affordable price. But to me it's "just" a big 3-ring binder with some unnecessary padding and a gold-ish stripe or two. Again, I don't get it, but maybe people have a need to have some fancy-looking things on their bookshelves so they spend extra money. I'm not a big fan of ring binders for the most part since they seem to damage pages a little every time you turn the page. I prefer two-post binders. Of all the ring binders I've tried, I've settled on the smaller Scott green 3-ring binder as the best or at least the most practical to use. It's comfortable to use, meaning not too enormous to pick up, and it works really well. It's not cheap, but not enormously overpriced either. Here's a pic of that one, but with again no inside pictures. It's just as well made as the fancier LH binders.

https://www.amosadvantage.com/produ...Binder-Small

DrewM, I am not understanding your comparison of the LH Grande with the Scott regarding cost. In the two links you provided the LH Grande costs $41.95 for binder with slipcase and the Scott costs $34.99 for binder only. Add another $26.99 for the slipcase. Total of $61.98.

If you want to use LH pages you need a LH binder. The 13 ring binder is very nice - pages don't hang up on the rings and the pages don't sag either.

Here are rare photos of the Vario G (not Grande) with 3 U shaped rings.

https://goscf.com/t/62734

This is a Lighthouse Grande binder.



This is a Lighthouse stamp album.



The two have different basic functions. The Grande is a stock-album/binder chiefly meant to house Grande stock-pages. Even if you repunched the Lighthouse stamp album leaves, the Grande wouldn't accommodate them because the leaves are too wide. You could use smaller leaves made by other manufacturers, as I have for some countries. A Grande binder with fifty double-sided leaves costs around £60 here.

Thanks to those that have responded so far, allow me to clarify a little before things get off the rails. For the last 20 years or so, I've used Lighthouse hingeless for my European collection (Austria, Czechoslovakia, Germany) and Shaubek for USA (wanted to see the difference, which isn't appreciable, really). The Lighthouse pages are all in Perfect binders (ring or turn-bar), which are different from their Excellent DE Classic ones.

While I plan to use the SG Monarch set for BC (22-ring, red, distinctive), France and Mexico present me with a small problem: the most comprehensive France & Colonies set is made by MOC (owned by Lighthouse), while Mexico has the library-sized etiangui album page set. Both of these are compatible with Lighthouse's Grande line of binders. I detest 3-ring binders generally, even Palo's 5-ring gives me pause. But I'm willing to compromise for France and Mexico (if I go down that rabbit hole someday) for the sake of comprehensive pages.

I'm trying to see what the Grande binders would look like on a shelf beside the Excellent DE Classic ones. Can't really tell? Obviously different? Jarringly so?

It depends which width of Grande binder you go for - the Grande I showed is quite a bit wider than the Lighthouse albums. You don't have to use Grande to house MOC pages - there's a MOC binder, which may suit your needs better, although it will have less capacity. Description but no picture here.

https://www.nordfrim.com/moc-ringbi...ipcase-green

MOC pages also just fit into a Lighthouse Folio Gigant.

Thanks! I had forgotten about MOC binders. They seem to be even less common than the MOC pages, so I wasn't sure if those are still in production, or old stock.

There's old stock and there's OLD stock. Three generations of MOC binders.



This, I'm guessing, is 1950s/1960s -





This is from the Marseilles period -




And this is more recent -




If you don't mind springback, the MOC pages should fit a standard Gibbons-size binder.