Anyone own the Altair ED80-R?

[badgerchap]

Afternoon all from a sweltering Gloucestershire!

In an effort to escape this oppressive heat I've been considering ED80s. The SkyWatcher is an obvious candidate, although I hear the focuser is a weak point. As an alternative I'm considering two Altair Astro scopes, the Starwaves 80ED and 80ED-R. I can't afford the triplet, so a doublet will have to do.

I can find several reviews of the 80ED, which is an F7 with I believe FPL-51 with an unknown mating element. Reports are good, but my aesthetic tendencies are dragging me towards the shiny red 'R' of the pricier version. This is also an F7 but with FPL-53 with I believe a lanthanum glass mate. However, I can only find one or two reviews, none of which really gets to the nitty-gritty, particularly being short of info regarding imaging.

The price difference is a couple of hundred quid, so I was hoping someone could tell me if that couple of hundred is worth the investment, or if I'll just be forking out a few weeks' family food shopping for a shiny red letter on the dew shield.  

Any chance anyone can save me a few hundred pounds or, failing that, persuade me into the prettier scope?

80ED: 

https://www.harrisontelescopes.co.uk/acatalog/altair-ascent-80.html?gclid=Cj0KCQjwgo_5BRDuARIsADDEntShLuINmJMlmwfWcQNfgx7mFFYfKTu4FHzrwJghjOQzp7tKVD6qCDIaAqQlEALw_wcB

80ED-R: https://www.harrisontelescopes.co.uk/acatalog/altair-starwave-80ed.html?gclid=Cj0KCQjwgo_5BRDuARIsADDEntSRNg-2FEJor3CaGjFVDK1mw2tPANHAmWMjk2I2r2LyEb13Otdp1RwaAlV6EALw_wcB

Thanks all.

Edited July 31, 2020 by badgerchap