Heads Up: TAL 100RS on Astroboot

[John]

Just thought I'd mention that the Astroboot site has some (don't know how many ?) TAL 100RS optical tubes at £160. With the current 10% sale there more or less covering the delivery charges that seems a decent deal to me.

 

 

[Charic]

Thats a great price, even cheaper than the one in AB's report?

It's also the very first scope I considered, so I would love to peer through one, but I don't think the TAL will better what I have already.
Its probably a lot more practical, size, shape, portability, but will refrain from buying on this occasion.

[dweller25]

Thanks for the heads up John, I have been looking for one of these for a while .....

[F15Rules]

No sign of Tals when I looked just now..

Maybe they have gone?

I remember when I bought another one about 2 years back from the then UK Astroboot shop, I had an email exchange with them and was led to believe that they had a lot of these they had bought, maybe over 20 OTAs? Can't remember seeing any more for sale since though..

Dave

[nightfisher]

sounds like Dweller has beat me to it

[Uplooker]

It / they look to have gone. There may be more. The one mentioned by John can be found under the reverse auction

[Fozzie]

I wonder where they/it came from...?

Been a while since they were discontinued in that sense....

[John]

The one I saw was in the main Astroboot section. The description stated that "we don't have many of these" so it would not surprise me to see another one listed in due course.

 

[tuckstar]

It was there when I looked earlier but had gone by the time I clicked back.

[F15Rules]

3 hours ago, Fozzie said:

I wonder where they/it came from...?

Steve, I don't know for sure, but I suspect they bought a job lot from Optical Vision (the original importers) when TAL decided not to export to the UK any more (or OV decided not to import any more, equally possible).

I bought a couple of RS100s from Astroboot, and a total of 6 altogether over some years. Without exception the optics were very good. Also without exception there were small, minor issues, which were annoying more than anything..

For example, non of the OTA tubes' paint finish were anything other than "ok".. minor marks and scratches were quite common. I think this was just a part of the TAL rather old fashioned and industrial manufacturing process, but must have been annoying for retailers and their customers in the UK who are more used to very glossy, shiny finished Synta/William Optics etc finishes? I suspect there were quite a few returns from customers who couldn't get past the Russian so so build quality. A shame, as their optics were invariably very good.

I will always remember my RS100s (and a single 125R) fondly, but I think their demise in the UK and perhaps elsewhere can be squarely blamed on poor QC and non existent marketing.

If any more of Astroboot's stock do come up for sale at that sort of price, they are well worth buying IMO, offering great achromat performance.

Dave

[Fozzie]

Some good points Dave, I've never looked through or used one for that matter.. but I'm aware there industrial qc and engineering is part of the charm.. coupled with a good lens, makes for a scope you have to really get to know so it shows exactly what it can do.. very close to my f11 so I'm told but with more of a cult status..

It does make me wonder, if ovl did pass on a job lot to astroboot etc... why start to drip feed them out now.. everyone I've ever seen on abs or the bay have gone very quickly.. and for similar money.. in contrast the f11's do seem to hang around a bit longer and don't attract as nearly the same level of affection..

Maybe absence makes the heart grow stronger, but then you'd have thought the price would reflect it.. at £160, as stated that's a good price in a buyers market for these hard to come by scopes..

Cheers

Steve

[John]

Some of the TAL quality control is far from charming, having been on the receiving end of some of it

If you get a nice, tidy one then they are very good but if you don't, it's not pretty.

I hope the ones that Astroboot are offering are checked before despatch but at least the e.trading regulations should be on the side of the buyer.

Perhaps I should have added "Caveat Emptor" to my initial post.

 

[dweller25]

Well, thanks to John I managed to snag myself a Tal 100RS - Sorry Jules.

It is coming from Sweden and I may have it by Friday 22nd.

I owned a Tal 125R in the past so am familiar with Tal build quality.

As long as the optics and focuser are OK for the £160 I paid I can live with minor imperfections.

Any major issues and I blame John for flagging it up

Just joking John

[John]

Hope it's a nice one David

There is a TAL Apolar 125 on the site now !

[dweller25]

4 minutes ago, John said:

Hope it's a nice one David

There is a TAL Apolar 125 on the site now !

Thanks John, I think I will give the 125 Apolar a miss 

[Charic]

19 minutes ago, dweller25 said:

As long as the optics and focuser are OK

I read it was A1 condition and everything was still in original wrapping, inside original sturdy box!
If so, it seems like a bargain. We'll just have to wait.

[John]

12 minutes ago, dweller25 said:

Thanks John, I think I will give the 125 Apolar a miss 

My thoughts too !

[dweller25]

55 minutes ago, Charic said:

I read it was A1 condition and everything was still in original wrapping, inside original sturdy box!
If so, it seems like a bargain. We'll just have to wait.

I know it says it, but I don't expect a box and I am not expecting it to be perfect.

Will be pointing it at Mars, Jupiter and Uranus asap and will report back with some sketches.

[nightfisher]

23 minutes ago, dweller25 said:

I know it says it, but I don't expect a box and I am not expecting it to be perfect.

Will be pointing it at Mars, Jupiter and Uranus asap and will report back with some sketches.

If you get a chance take a look at Saturn with it, (not sure if its still in our night sky) but i remember viewing Saturn with my old Tal rs and was simply blown away with the detail

[F15Rules]

44 minutes ago, dweller25 said:

know it says it, but I don't expect a box and I am not expecting it to be perfect

Actually, David, the two I bought both came with original packaging, including the famous wooden plywood "splint" to which the tube rings were affixed to stop the OTA from sliding around while on the back of a truck going through Siberia-I kid you not!

And both came with rings, 6x30 finder, excellent 1.25" diagonal, and a 25mm plossl (excellent) and a 6.3mm plossl ( not bad but Uber short eye relief). As such, for around £160 delivered that was great value.

On one of the OTA's it was clearly not the item pictured, having some micro scratches on it...when I emailed to point this out I was immediately offered a full refund on return or a £60 part refund to keep it. Needles to say I kept it and was delighted with what I got for £100!

Do let us know what you think once you have yours?

Dave

[Fozzie]

And pictures!!! It's a standard requirement.

[dweller25]

Will feedback on condition when it turns up

I am expecting a wooden board that items are attached to but not a wooden box like the Tal 125R came in.

Will post some pictures too

[John]

I bought a very early TAL 100RT back in 1999. I was away when it was delivered so I gave my work address not realising that the scope would come in a massive wooden case direct from Novosibirsk in Siberia. My work colleages thought that a small coffin had been delivered for me. I got quite a lot of leg pulling for a while after that I can tell you !

It was a fine scope though:

 

 

[F15Rules]

6 minutes ago, John said:

I bought a very early TAL 100RT back in 1999. I was away when it was delivered so I gave my work address not realising that the scope would come in a massive wooden case direct from Novosibirsk in Siberia. My work colleages thought that a small coffin had been delivered for me. I got quite a lot of leg pulling for a while after that I can tell you !

It was a fine scope though:

 

 

Great scope John!

I did exactly the same thing with the same scope..I bought it from Wex Photographic "on sale" think it was over £200 though. It was delivered to my workplace in the coffin, which was covered in dings and rubs etc after its marathon trip, but everything inside was fine.

It was a superb scope, that version had a differently coated objective, very dark purple, and I think slightly better than the later RS version. The weak link in the 100R was the focuser..it had very little travel and was very 'industrial', and 1.25" only.

Great scope though?.

Dave

[Charic]

2 hours ago, dweller25 said:

I know it says it, but I don't expect a box and I am not expecting it to be perfect.

You still have rights, use them if far from perfect ?

I bought my Helios Apollo's from them, a bargain price  A1 condition and they looked stunning,  and after a brief encounter under the Stars ( due to the weather)  they looked like they would destroy my present 15x70' s however during transit, something had dislodged and adhered to the inside of the left eyepiece, and to be honest, although very small in size, and you had to look for it! it became a distraction, but  only noticeable during daylight hours ? 

Infact it was Mrs Charic who laughed at the scale of these binoculars, and just wanted to look through them, then when she said there was something in the eyepiece, I just laughed it off..........

So, after several attempts to 'fix'  and a few 'advice' phone calls later, I was 'asked' to return them for a replacement, even though these had been thoroughly 'checked' before dispatch!

However, unable to source another pair, I was duly refunded with a big apology, in-fact the refund  actually arrived before the suggestion? (crossed wires!)
I'm gutted, especially for  what I paid for them, and  especially so, because so many folk, highly rate these binoculars, but I'm glad the decision was made for me to return them, as  living with them, knowing there was a fault, and then trying to sell them at a later date, could have been problematic?

Hey!..........I'm sure this TAL will be fine, though your just a tad too far from my address for me to have a peek.