Jessops TA800-80 from a novice perspective

[CityTiger86]

Congrats! I'm hoping to get chance myself over the weekend to have a look at Saturn. I did have a clear view of the nebula the other night but couldn't really make out anything definitive. I think that was more down to the wind and not been able to focus properly though. I'm not sure how much or what exactly you can expect to see through a telescope at the nebula.

Snap! I'm looking at buying another scope. If anything this one has confirmed it's worth putting a bit of money into it!

[Paul_K]

I couldn't agree more with everything that has been said about the little Jessop. It may well be a basic piece of kit but it's excellent value and as a novice I've found it excellent so far.

Yes, I'll no doubt want to move on to bigger and better things but as a taster it's been brilliant. I've had great views of Jupiter (and moons) and our moon.

The only real issue I've had so far is the stability of the tripod and the mount, but for the price it's very difficult to complain too much.

[blackpool-skier]

Hi there,

I'm new to this forum and indeed telescopes! My girlfriends dad got this Jessops scope for Christmas. After reading through the posts, it seems (unless looking at the moon) you should avoid using the barlow lens, am i correct in thinking this? If this is the case, where do the other lenses (6mm,12.5mm and 20mm) sit within the scope?

Thanks

[Madhatter]

Hi there blackpool-skier, welcome to SGL!

you are correct, the barlow is fairly useless..The main reason being is it is very poor quality and because its 3x magnification it will put the magnification so high that it is past the scopes capability. The moon you can push magnification further in my opinion.

The eye pieces you can use however feels best for you, start with the 20mm, and then if you want to up the magnification move up to the 10mm. the 6mm is hard to use and it may be worth trying the 3x barlow with the 20mm to give similar magnification.

Everyones eyes are different, dont be afraid to just have a play around and see whats best for you:).

[blackpool-skier]

Thanks for the response Madhatter.

Sorry, for asking what is probably a stupid question - but here goes! If you are not using the Barlow Lens, do the eyepieces just sit directly in the viewing chamber on the side of the scope?

Thanks

[Pappy Nick]

Well ... let's just say ... that's what I've been doing

[Binxie]

Just thought I'd say that I've also received this for Christmas this year and although I'm aware of its many flaws I must say Im very chuffed with it. I've managed to see the moons and stripes of Jupiter relatively clearly and I'm waiting for later on in the year to try and spy the other planets with this.

I think its a good stepping stone towards a better scope and I must say after playing around with this I really want to get myself a decent scope in the near future now.

[savcom]

Holy Thread Ressurection, Batman! - but I was looking for some background about this scope and found this thread!  So thank you @Madhatterfor the review.

I have one of these and I'm looking at making a simple mount for it - either a small Dob or a tripod-mounted Alt-Z, just for casual observing - to try and improve the scope's performance.  I'll do a basic clean and collimation to see if the scope performance can be improved.  I'll not report improvements here, but will post in DIY Astronomy and put a link here to cross-reference the work.