What have I just bought?

[dav1d]

Grabbed this Tasco off eBay for £18. Going from the other objects in the pic, it looks like some sort of 900 / 114 size thing, but I'm not sure & the number given in the title makes no sense - I'm aiming to use it as a spare planetary scope & the tripod/ mount looks OK.

They say no lens, but it looks like a reflector so I guess they mean EP.

So... any idea what I've bought?

[rwilkey]

After a short search, it appears to be the D-114mm F/900mm reflector as you suspect.

[dav1d]

Thanks rwilkey. It looked about that size from the doorknob. Anyone have any firsthand experience of using these?

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[JamesF]

Seems to me that the model number is more likely to be 303012 rather than 30212, which would indeed be the 114mm aperture 900mm focal length scope.

James

[rwilkey]

I should imagine your Heritage would perform a lot better to be honest, I used to have a D-114 Skywatcher and found it fidley to use, a bit small for my liking, but give it its due, when I found things it was good when on target.

[dav1d]

Really, Mrs dav1d will be using it more than I will - the Powerseeker 50 is driving her nuts at the moment. She nudges the OTA and the whole rig shifts It's incredibly frustrating.

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[rwilkey]

The EQ mount looks quite sturdy, and along with the larger aperture, Mrs dav1d should find it more rewarding.

[Ad Astra]

You have two main tasks ahead of you that will make all the difference to your enjoyment of the scope.

1. you must 'tune up' your mount. Inexpensive mounts are notorious for loose connections and wobbly legs. Be sure all the screws are reasonably tight and snug. Beware of overtightening things through, you can crack the castings if you do. Try to be sure that the tripod stands up without wobbles as much as possible.

2. Collimation. There are a variety of tutorials here, but whether you attempt it yourself or not, you need to at least check it. Two easy methods....

Method A) During the day, remove the dust cap and the eyepiece, point the scope at the wall and look down the focuser barrel. You should see your own eye centered in the secondary mirror. Everything should look round and concentric - sort of like an archery target.

Method Also during the day, use your lowest power lens and look for a shiny point - a bit of chrome on a car parked in the sun works well - center this bright point, then switch to your highest power lens. SLOWLY move the focuser until the point is out of focus, you should now see a bright ring with a dark center. This is actually an image of the primary mirror with the secondary mirror blocking out the center. Again, this should be perfectly symmetrical on either side of the focus point.

If you find that the image is not centered, you need to collimate your scope. Proper collimation makes a world of difference in how sharp and accurate your views are. If done properly, you shouldn't need to fiddle with it very often - especially if you take good care of your equipment!

Hope that helps!

Dan

[kenmyers]

I have pretty much this exact scope. The optics on mine are superb. Yours should be too.

Very forgiving on ALL eyepieces!

You will see some AMAZZING detail on jupiter, saturn, and mars shows signs of dark/light areas and the icecap is very clear.

I get sharper views of jupiter and M42 with mine than I do with my heritage 130p. A lot of detail easilly seen without using diverted vision.

Nebulosity are easilly found using a 20mm or 25mm.

Best scope I ever bought.

Enjoy it.

You may want to upgrade the mount as they arent brilliant but they do the trick for visual observing.

[dav1d]

I picked this up now & it is indeed the 303012. All there except for the accessory tray 7 the tripod/mount is superbly heavy - & Mrs D is pretty pleased. I've had a go in daylight & the view is superb & sharp, maybe it'll be different at night, but at the moment, I'm having trouble understanding the generally bad rep afforded to Tasco scopes. As Ken says, the optics seem superb.