TAL 100RS on Astroboot bargain zone £150

[moriniboy]

Description as follows:

 

 

 

TAL 100RS Refractor OTA (BZ07741)

100mm Russian made refractor. Focal length 1,000mm (f/10). 2" Crayford focuser. 6.3mm & 25mm super plossl eyepieces, 2" to 1.25" adaptor, 6x30 finder scope and bracket. 90 degree mirror diagonal. Tal tube rings EQ3 etc). Item is salvaged from a return where the mount was faulty and does have one or two minor signs of handling but otherwise A1 optically.

[Stu]

Oops, it seems to be heading my way

Thanks for the heads up, always wanted to try one of these. Might even do a PST mod at some stage.

[Paul73]

How many is that now Stu?

[Stu]

How many is that now Stu?

That is almost as impolite as asking a lady her age isn't it?

9.......

[Stu]

Could be an interesting comparison.... £150 TAL vs £££ Tak

[Paul73]

That is almost as impolite as asking a lady her age isn't it?

....

The impolite part would be, not believing whatever answer she gave.

Trust me. "21!! Really? Are you sure?" gets you into far more trouble than a polite enquiry as to the year of her birth.

Looking forward to the Tak shootout report.

Paul

[Uplooker]

Oops, it seems to be heading my way

Thanks for the heads up, always wanted to try one of these. Might even do a PST mod at some stage.

Go for it Stu, I managed to buy my Tal 100RS, from a very reputable telescope maker for £150, purely with a view to doing a PST Mod, best £150 I've spent.

I will admit to using it as a "proper" frac, just to see what all the fuss was about[emoji3] I did enjoy looking through a frac, but the PST Mod blew it out of the water.

Well done at getting a TAL at a very good price,whatever you do with it enjoy[emoji106][emoji3]

Sent from my Fone

[Sp@ce_d]

Must have got mine  well over 2 years ago now with the intention to do the mod... I just can't bring myself to chop bits off it. Think it'll end up with a Quark on one of the Esprits instead.

[nightfisher]

Nice one Stu, will be interested to read about your view on this scope............welcome to the Tal club

[Stu]

Go for it Stu, I managed to buy my Tal 100RS, from a very reputable telescope maker for £150, purely with a view to doing a PST Mod, best £150 I've spent.

I will admit to using it as a "proper" frac, just to see what all the fuss was about[emoji3] I did enjoy looking through a frac, but the PST Mod blew it out of the water.

Well done at getting a TAL at a very good price,whatever you do with it enjoy[emoji106][emoji3]

Sent from my Fone

Thanks Ian. I've got a 75mm D-ERF which I can mount internally, just need to pick up a decent PST when funds allow and try a stage 1. Should be good

[Stu]

Must have got mine well over 2 years ago now with the intention to do the mod... I just can't bring myself to chop bits off it. Think it'll end up with a Quark on one of the Esprits instead.

I don't like chopping bits of things either, so I hope I can bring myself to. I'll try to get it with an adaptor to take it back up to full length for normal use if I want to make it dual use.

[Stu]

Nice one Stu, will be interested to read about your view on this scope............welcome to the Tal club

Cheers Jules.

I've always wanted to try one out given the reputation they have. Reading up on them it seems the 'R' may have better optics but worse mechanicals? Just need a objective from a junked R to drop in

[nightfisher]

Cheers Jules.

I've always wanted to try one out given the reputation they have. Reading up on them it seems the 'R' may have better optics but worse mechanicals? Just need a objective from a junked R to drop in

The r`s are getting a bit rare now, if i had the time and money i would get an r and get a machine shop to adapt a steel track focuser to fit the odd size tube, but in real use it probably would not appear any different optically to my 100rs...........what colour is the lens on your one, though you may not know this til it arrives.

Just remember this is not a magical scope, just a well corrected 4" f10 with quality optics

[Stu]

The r`s are getting a bit rare now, if i had the time and money i would get an r and get a machine shop to adapt a steel track focuser to fit the odd size tube, but in real use it probably would not appear any different optically to my 100rs...........what colour is the lens on your one, though you may not know this til it arrives.

Just remember this is not a magical scope, just a well corrected 4" f10 with quality optics

Don't know until it arrives. Will let you know. I'm guessing it will be the paler green coatings not purple.

[nightfisher]

Don't know until it arrives. Will let you know. I'm guessing it will be the paler green coatings not purple.

depends on what vintage it is, i am aware of 3 different coatings used on 100 tals, the early deep purple, then the more common pale green on most rs`s and then a more recent aqua blue on the latest 100 rs

[Stu]

depends on what vintage it is, i am aware of 3 different coatings used on 100 tals, the early deep purple, then the more common pale green on most rs`s and then a more recent aqua blue on the latest 100 rs

Interesting, will have to wait and see

[John]

Congratulations on the TAL100 Stu

As Jules says, there have been at least 3 versions of these over the years. I've got one at the moment with the early purple coatings which are the same as the ones that were on the 1st one I owned back in 1999, one of the very early ones.

I've not tried one of the later ones but I'd guess that the optical performance differeces are minimal at most. The later scopes had much better focusers on them - the early ones being 1.25" only and rather limited in focus travel

They are reputed to be excellent for the PST mod but are also very good 4" achromats as well.

[Roy Challen]

Nice scope Stu! Makes me happy when someone gets a Tal. I had an R and have an RS, in my opinion the RS just has the edge but only just. My Dad has the R now, so I can get to use once in a while.

I like the ally tube and colour of the lens coatings of the R , the baffling and focuser of the RS.

[moriniboy]

Glad you bought it Stu, as you can see from my photo on the show us your frac thread I have enough of them.

I was tempted though and realised the only way to resist was to get someone else to buy it before I did so thank you.

[Stu]

Glad you bought it Stu, as you can see from my photo on the show us your frac thread I have enough of them.

I was tempted though and realised the only way to resist was to get someone else to buy it before I did so thank you.

Thanks chaps!

You are welcome . Sometimes I need saving from myself so I understand where you are coming from!

I thought I had a problem until I saw your collection . I must do a family shot at some point when the weather holds for a while.

[Stu]

Nice scope Stu! Makes me happy when someone gets a Tal. I had an R and have an RS, in my opinion the RS just has the edge but only just. My Dad has the R now, so I can get to use once in a while.

I like the ally tube and colour of the lens coatings of the R , the baffling and focuser of the RS.

That's interesting. I think Neil English tested an R vs an RS and the R came out better. I guess there is probably variability in lens accuracy across all of them so it depends on the actual scopes which turns out better.

[Charic]

The TAL 100RS was on the cards when I started, but it was suggested that I bought an 8", hence my Skyliner, but still tempting to look through one to see the difference?

I have  just had a look in Astroboot and there is one there on  reverse auction, just dropped .42p to 181.14.

Astro baby once quoted if this was the only scope, she would be happy?

[Stu]

The TAL 100RS was on the cards when I started, but it was suggested that I bought an 8", hence my Skyliner, but still tempting to look through one to see the difference?

I have just had a look in Astroboot and there is one there on reverse auction, just dropped .42p to 181.14.

Astro baby once quoted if this was the only scope, she would be happy?

I'm sure I've seen that scope on AstroBoot before, I recognise the replacement dew shield comment. Perhaps it didn't sell?

I don't always understand why some things appear in the different sections or why is this one is on reverse auction but the one I bought was a fixed (lower) price?

[Charic]

Sounds like a good deal you have. I'm having a good spend this Month on various items, that I've been meaning to purchase for a long time, not just for astronomy. Its the waiting for the delivery that I hate.

I hope you enjoy the TAL.

[Roy Challen]

That's interesting. I think Neil English tested an R vs an RS and the R came out better. I guess there is probably variability in lens accuracy across all of them so it depends on the actual scopes which turns out better.[/

quote]

I remember reading that report and thinking that it would easy to swap the lenses over. In the end I'm glad I didn't because the gain would have been almost undetectable to anyone unless they had both scopes side by side, and the originality of two nice scopes would have been sacrificed.

On another Tal note, I heard that Tal are no longer producing astro gear but quite a few dealers are still selling them- I even saw a 200K on one UK website. Can it be assumed that this is old stock (discounts please!) or is Tal still in production?