Matt1979

Hi Malcolm, your comments are very interesting. I knew Tasco had become a group of companies at one point and I didn't realise that more than one kind of the toy telescopes had poor optics. I know what you mean about how Celestron and Vixen would have been outside Christmas present realm. All the Argos catalogues used to have were Tascos, but i remember most of these were "proper" refractors and were in the camera and binoculars section. I think my 5TN is a more modern equivalent of these telescopes. Sadly, mine is on a tabletop mount (I couldn't get one on a proper tripod) and while the optics don't match my Celestron, the views of the planets are still fairly good - Saturn is recognisable. I know Tasco eyepieces don;t have a good reputation and mine is much narrower than other refractor eyepieces. I never knew Tasco used plastic for the lenses of the cheapest telescopes. Matt

Hi Malcolm, your post is very interesting. Were the poor scopes you mention the 40x40 ones with the push and pull focus? There is a photo of one of these in my 1980s catalogue. I have heard that some kids were actually put off my the cheap telescopes with stopped-down apertures. This happened to me - my parents bought me a cheap refractor with a push and pull focus (not a Tasco) that was bright blue and what I didn't know at the time was that it contained a baffle. As my parents didn't know about telescopes they would never have known that they had bought rubbish and not quality. Jupiter through this toy telescope was just a blurry point of light. When would Tasco have started making the poor quality toy telescopes? Matt

An impressive looking Telescope. My Tasco is smaller and has a 50mm/2 inch lens. The 1980s version of my telescope had much more metal and much less plastic! Still, the bright planets and Orion Nebula show up well with the Tasco and I am pleased that I bought a version of the telescope i always wanted when i was younger.

Hi John, I have read that Tasco telescopes were much better made in the 1960s. While the mounting on my 2 inch/50mm isn't the best (it is on a table tripod), the views are perfectly acceptable and I have also had a good view of the Orion Nebula with the Tasco. I always wanted a Tasco refractor for Christmas as a child so I wanted to get one in recent years and I haven't been disappointed. Very sadly, I didn't have a proper telescope as a child (I won't go into details on the awful "toy" telescope that almost put me off astronomy...). I can imagine there have been many astronomers who started with a Tasco and it is disappointing that Tasco telescopes aren't as widely available now. I know Argos haven't had them for years.

I remember around eighteen months ago I mentioned Tasco telescopes on the forum and I commented about the unfair criticism they have had. I have a small Tasco refractor that gives perfectly good views of Venus's phases, Jupiter and its moons and Saturn's rings. I have a 1980s Tasco Catalogue that has a really good range of refractors as well as two reflectors. Unfortunately, the tube of my Tasco is plastic as well as the focusing knobs and the eyepiece barrel, but back in the 1980s metal was always used and the 1980s Tasco counterparts look so much better and the metal tubes are noticeable in the images. It is disappointing how plastic is used in small Tasco refractors nowadays, although I think the 2 inch red refractor is the only one that now has a plastic tube. I have attached three images from the Catalogue. While every telescope in here is red, most modern-day Tasco telescopes don't have red tubes now.