can you believe this !!!

[Jimmy Rocket]

9 hours ago, cjdawson said:

This reminds me of the first scope that I had access too Tasco 114.   £199.99 from argos.  It went back after a week as it started falling apart.    btw, Celestron did a 114 that looked identical.

Maybe you put it together poorly lol......a bad workman always blames his tools or so they say??? Didn't Tasco used to be an OK brand years ago?

[Dave In Vermont]

On 11/26/2017 at 04:53, Gina said:

It's unbalanced!  When things are being sold at a ridiculously low price you have to think "what's wrong with it".

Just to clarify:

'Unbalanced' means it won't let what the mount and scope-position on the mount is supposed to do - have a nice & easy fluid-motion. To do this, one end of the scope being heavier will cause the scope to flip-up or down. It should balance where the scope is pointing and not fall into pointing at ground or sky because it's too heavy on one end.

If it's 'out of balance' it will thereby cause what you see at the eyepiece to be highly subject to vibrations and give you a view that resembles a Hula-Dancer on amphetamines.

Hope this helps,

Dave

[cjdawson]

2 hours ago, Jimmy Rocket said:

Maybe you put it together poorly lol......a bad workman always blames his tools or so they say??? Didn't Tasco used to be an OK brand years ago?

I'm sure that I put it together correctly.  The problem was the cheap plastic covers wouldn't stay on.  Tasco was never an OK brand.  I think they had the rejects from Celestron.

[Geoff Lister]

My first telescope was a Tasco 3" Newtonian, on a fork-and-rod Az/Alt tripod mount, with 0.965" eyepieces. I bought it, in 1986, to get a better view of Halley's comet. It did its job, at the time, and it still gets the occasional outing; but has been superseded by much better kit. By adding rings and a dovetail plate, I can use the OTA with Starsense or Synscan GOTO on my other mounts.

Geoff

[Louis D]

15 hours ago, cjdawson said:

I'm sure that I put it together correctly.  The problem was the cheap plastic covers wouldn't stay on.  Tasco was never an OK brand.  I think they had the rejects from Celestron.

I think that Tasco had a decent reputation along with Sears scopes back in the 60s when they were importing Japanese made scopes.  That's a bit before my time, but I see those vintage scopes going for decent money on CN classifieds regularly.

[Whitebear]

Hi. Been lurking for a while and love the advice on this site. 

Looks like Maplin have reduced their Black Friday prices on these scopes. I am looking at getting a first telescope for the kids and I to try out. Are these now good value (moon and planets)?

76 Celestron computerised £125.99

114 Celestron computerised £179.99

114 Astromaster £125.99

114 Powerseeker £49.99

Last one seems good value but possibly odd sized eyepieces?

Ta all.

[Dave In Vermont]

Whitebear - Greetings and welcome aboard!

How old are the kids? I ask as if quite young, I'd be hesitant to suggest a reflector telescope.

Now as regards Tasco, they were THE telescope all the kids around me had - a 60mm F/15 Tasco refractor. Except me - I had a 3" F/15 Edscorp. Great optics, but atrocious mount! That mount was enough to make me wish I had a Tasco!

Here's a herd of Tasco:

 

 

Have fun all,

Dave

[Whitebear]

Hi Dave. They are 9, 7 and 41 years old. Highly suspet the elder one may be using it the most!

[Geoff Lister]

The Celestron Powerseeker 114EQ at £49.99 looks a bargain for a first telescope. I think you are right that the eyepiece selection is a bit strange. The sister company, Skywatcher, normally supply 25mm & 10mm eyepieces, and sometimes a x2 Barlow. Once you have the telescope, you can always buy additional eyepieces, possibly second-hand from sites such as Astroboot or eBay. The 4mm eyepiece with the x3 Barlow will give you too much magnification.

The mount is an equatorial type, so it will take a little longer to set up than an Altitude/Azimuth mount, but, when set up correctly, you only need to turn one knob to track an object.

I would imagine that the £49.99 deal is going to end soon. A quick check at 06:15 3/12/17, showed 0 available in Bracknell, but 4 in Slough; but if ordered now, pickup in Bracknell in 3 to 5 days.

Happy shopping, and clear skies,

Geoff

[Whitebear]

Thanks Geoff. Have ordered it and will collect later this week. Seems a low cost way to discover if the kids have anything more than a passing interest. Can then look to invest with less risk of buying an expensive ornament.

Will take your advice and keep an eye out for alternative 2nd hand eyepieces.

[Jimmy Rocket]

The best thing about the Maplins deal is the goto mount !!! you can upgrage to a 130 later and it wont break the bank either, go t my son the 114 version and have tried my 130 reflector on it with no balance issues either.

[Sunshine]

gee id be sceptical of those tiny goto mounts, my friend has a 6SE and even that goto mount seems flimsy, seems to shake and jerk as it moves, id hold off on those you may find they can handle less than you thought.