Tasco Telescope Catalogue from the 1980s

[wesdon1]

On 23/12/2014 at 20:51, Matt1979 said:

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.

wow i used to drool over these things as a child in the 80's n early 90's. I never did get one though!  Mum n Dad said it would be too complicated to use for a child ( Like, come on mum n dad, YOU COULD HAVE SHOWED ME HOW! haha ) and too expensive for a "Toy" ???haha. Anyways i ended up discovering radio controlled cars and then helicopters n Planes and only recently re-discovered my interest in all things Space n Astronomy. I can now own as many Telescopes as i like! ( Withing budget, of-course! haha ) Thanks for the post, took me right back to seeing those exact Telescopes n my childhood! 

[Scoobs767]

I had as a kid (and still have) the 50mm "200 power" one bought from Argos.  Used to dream as a child about having the reflectors or even the 60mm, but way too expensive at the time.  I saw Halley's comet and Saturn through that scope.  After a gap of many decades I bought myself a fancy 8 inch SCT, which unfortunately got used far too little due to its weight and my poor planning.  I bought wheeley bars for it, and then found they couldn't get through my door.  Had to lose the 8 inch, but in more recent times have been building up  a better planned set of equipment.  I still have the Tasco refractor.  As a kid someone showed me how to replace the awful mount it came with, with a photographic tripod.  The old tripod has deteriorated to the point of non-function, so I'm detaching the OTA, and will try a new tripod with it.  Although I have much better scopes today, I'd like to restore the Tasco a bit and make it usable on a new mount.   For old time's sake.

[callisto]

I got the 60mm refractor as present in the 80's (6 months before Halley's comet arrived)

What really takes me back was the Rand Mcnally moon maps........cooooooool 😎

[bish]

I wanted a Tasco as a kid.  My old 60mm frac only went up to x75, but the Tasco in the Catalogue (probably Kays) went up to x525.  I had a few old library books and could only find the bright planets, so spent a lot of time looking at the moon. I was still amazed by the craters every time I looked!

[John]

I used my Tasco 60mm last night as it happens. Amazingly it showed a nice view of Venus at 200x and I was able to split some quite close double stars. Back in the day the scope showed me Jupiters moons and banding, Saturns rings and a few of the brighter galaxies so quite enough to get me hooked on the hobby

I'm glad we have a much better choice of beginners scopes today though.

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, John said:

I'm glad we have a much better choice of beginners scopes today though.

It's hard to look at them now, without a critical eye.🙄

[fwm891]

Yes remember Tasco well. I started in the mid 60's saving my paper round tips to buy a 4½ inch reflector. The tube was white then, black trim and the same eq mounting and tripod.  Bought from a shop on Totemham Court Road. I saved 50% of the price and Dad matched it. Fine on low powers but the H 4mm eyepiece was (not good!)...

[RT65CB-SWL]

38 minutes ago, fwm891 said:

Yes remember Tasco well. I started in the mid 60's saving my paper round tips to buy a 4½ inch reflector. The tube was white then, black trim and the same eq mounting and tripod.  Bought from a shop on Totemham Court Road. I saved 50% of the price and Dad matched it. Fine on low powers but the H 4mm eyepiece was (not good!)...

My second 'scope was the Prinz Astral 500 from Dixons. The supplied 4mm e/p in that was pretty bad too. I think it was an SR4.
My only upgrades that I did to that setup/rig was:

1. change the bulb to a red LED on the tray.
2. purchase a secondhand 0.965" Ortho; (image below, shown with a 1.25" adapter); and I still have it and use it. 

 

Edited May 10, 2020 by Philip R

[John]

Here is a Tasco model that I had not come across before - it is a rebranding of the wonderful Vixen 102mm Fluorite refractor. Not sure how many came out with Tasco branding on them but there were one or two other Tasco scopes that were made by Vixen so at some time the two companies much have had an agreement of some sort.

[malc-c]

As mentioned earlier in this thread, at the time I was working for then back in the early 1980's  Tasco US (which is where we ordered our product range through) had some nice high end scopes.  Whilst our orders were placed through Tasco in the US, the goods arrived direct from Japan / China.  I can't say for sure (its been almost 40 years since I worked for Tasco), but it's quite possible that they were indeed re-badged Celestron's and Vixens under licence.  I was sure there was a market for them, but the UK business model was aimed at high turnover for a modest profit, rather than tying up cash in high end stock items.  Also given the lead time, it wasn't feasible for custom one off orders.