EEk! Tasco Telescopes!

[Chas]

Hi All, I am a beginner at stargazing and have purchased a Tasco telescope. I have since found out that this MAY have been a bit of a mistake as I cannot find an outlet for Tasco Accessories, in particular a low power eyepiece compatible to my scope (911TR or 302911). Please can anyone help me. Chas

[The Warthog]

You have a few choices. I am assuming you have bought a refractor. You probably were supplied with .965" diameter eyepieces, of doubtful quality. If the part of the eyepiece that goes into the tube is 1.25", you are ahead of the game already.

Look at the diagonal, where you put the eyepieces in. If it is .965" diameter, is the male end (that goes in the tube) also .965", or is it 1.25"? If it is 1.25", you can buy a diagonal with a 1.25" female end, and get yourself some decent 1.25" eyepieces. If the male end of the diagonal is .965", some manufactureres make a diagonal with a .965" male end, and a 1.25" female end.

Sometimes, scopes are supplied with a focuser or diagonal that is really 1.25", but has a .965" adapter which can be readily removed, and 1.25" eyepieces installed.

It doesn't matter who makes the eyepieces that go in the scope. The .965", 1.25" and 2" sizes are standard for telescopes.

The standard for amateur eyepieces is the Plossl. These are reasonably priced, and you should consider getting one that is the same length in mm. as the focal ratio of your scope. A second one should be about 1.5 times that, and you can get a Barlow lens, which will increase the power of your two eyepieces, and give you four magnifications to choose from.

Let us know some more details about the scope and the eyepieces you received with it.

[The Warthog]

OK, looked it up. It's a 500mm f/l reflector, with a spherical mirror and a focal ratio of about 4.5.

I'm afraid I wouldn't spend a whole lot of money on it. From the photograph, it appears to have a .965" adapter in a 1.25" focuser, which means you could buy a 1.25" ep and fit it in the tube. A 25mm Plossl will give you 20x, and a 10mm will give you 50x. With a spherical mirror and that short a focal length, I wouldn't expect very good performance at all. Sorry.

If you decide to get a couple of decent eps, you can keep them and use them in your next telescope, which will be a much better one, right?

[saturn5]

Chas,years ago my first scope was a tasco refractor,not very good but dont be discouraged,you will still see plenty and as you are a beginner you wont be able to compare it with better scopes so you wont be so disappointed,also will give you experience of navigating around the stars,then you can as Warthog says "buy a better one" right This is the place to be for advice on every type of scope there is.

[Chas]

Thanks for the advice. I recieved two eps, a 20mm and a 4mm. I will keep gazing, and save my pension for a better model next time!!

Best Wishes, chas

[geoff_k]

Chas

Tasco don't have a great reputation but I had one of their refractors once upon a time and it was fine. Got some good views of the Moon and many other objects.

Often I think it's a good thing to start with a 'basic' telescope so you can make all your mistakes before you splash out on something better.

Good luck

Geoff

[The Warthog]

To be fair, my second 4.5" scope was a Tasco Luminova, and it was much better than my 4.5" Meade. You never can tell, as the old folks say.

[Astroman]

My first solar scope conversion was a 4.5" F/4.5 Tasco. It had wonderful optics! Even though it was spherical, with the filter for the Sun in it, the views were great-nice, sharp and contrasty. Tasco had a bad reputation, but for some reason, the ones I've seen turned out pretty good, considering.

[barkis]

I think a lot of reputational damage might have been done by disreputable dealers, I am not including Tasco, who years ago advertising 60mm refractors delivering enormous magnifications up to 700+ times. I confess to owning a Tasco refractor myself in my early teens, and on the moon at sensible powers, it was OK. As soon as you ramped up to impossible mags, the sun set on the moon immediately.

It was a useful enough little instrument on La Luna and Sol, anything else was a dead loss really.

[Astroman]

Ron is right. The problems weren't so much with the scopes themselves, but with the advertised 675X and the Hubble images on the box. Expectations were high and when the scope "[removed word] out" at 100x, people were discouraged.

[Chas]

Hi Everyone Thanks For Your Coments On Tasco Telescopes And EPs I Will CarryON As Best As I Can For The Time Being . Buy The Way WHY Is IT Allways Cloudy When I Get My Telescope Out HAHa Sorry For Bad Grammer I am New To PCs As Well . CHAS The Driftwalker .

[barkis]

Hi Everyone Thanks For Your Coments On Tasco Telescopes And EPs I Will CarryON As Best As I Can For The Time Being . Buy The Way WHY Is IT Allways Cloudy When I Get My Telescope Out HAHa Sorry For Bad Grammer I am New To PCs As Well . CHAS The Driftwalker .

Don't worry about spelling or grammar here Chas, you are here to enjoy yourself, not pass any exams.

Just carry on with the little Tasco and persevere with it using low power eyepieces.

Ther will come a time when you might want to buy a morre substantial telescope. Sometime deent second hand instruments come up for sale, and you could get yourself a bargain. Make sure you get advice from us lot before you commit yourself to part with money. We will make sure what you buy is suitable for you.

Good Luck Mate.

Ron.

[Stormwatch]

My first telescope was also a Tasco reflector and I liked it so much I got hooked on the hobby! What you could do is, first of all stick the eyepieces in a drawer as they're most probably rubbish. Then take a look on eBay for some of the cheap plossls from somewhere like Skys the Limit or the Celestron ones from the american guy, coolman. You could get three for under about £20 and they'll be a lot better than the Tasco ones.

Some people say the Tasco scopes are optically not that bad, but the eyepieces and barlows supplied really ruin the viewing enjoyment.

[Boris6]

Some people say the Tasco scopes are optically not that bad, but the eyepieces and barlows supplied really ruin the viewing enjoyment.

I think it may also depend on how old the 'scope is; the older ones seem to be better in terms of both optics and mechanical build quality. Their reputation isn't helped greatly by a well known TV astronomer who refers to Tasco as Trashco!

To be honest, my first 'scope was a 60mm Dixons Prinz, probably a re-badged Tasco, and I still have it. The objective lens passed away some years ago, a victim of a fool hardy cleaning attempt. It's now fitted with an air-spaced doublet and gets hauled out every so often to project the sun.