Tasco binoculars

[Bivo]

Dears,

I'm from Brazil and new in this forum.

Looking for some worn binoculars to start to observe the moon and planets, I found Tasco binoculars with the specifications below:

Tasco / Zoom / Fully Coated......20x-220x 120 Zoom....138FT/1000YDS.AT 20x46M/1000.AT 20x......20 80 120 170 220

Looking for more information about it in the internet, I found nothing!

Does anybody know this binoculars??

Would be good??

Follow some pictures of it

I appreciate your comments

 

[Peter Drew]

Avoid at all costs, not suitable for astronomy.     🙂

[bosun21]

Best avoiding zoom binoculars for astronomy for a multitude of reasons. Looks like they have red coatings on the lenses as well which is usually a red flag. Tasco binoculars of old were good when they were made by Vixen, however the modern ones aren’t up to much IMO.

[Guest]

25 minutes ago, bosun21 said:

Best avoiding zoom binoculars for astronomy for a multitude of reasons. Looks like they have red coatings on the lenses as well which is usually a red flag. Tasco binoculars of old were good when they were made by Vixen, however the modern ones aren’t up to much IMO.

I dont think TASCO has made anything good in thirty plus years 

[pbyrne]

I just want to echo what has been stated, zoom binoculars are a really bad idea and non vontage Tasco are not good quality.

Binoculars are not the best option when it comes to the moon and planets, they will show larger features on the moon, the bands of Jupiter and the 4 main moons, also that Saturn has rings, though no details on those rings as well as the phases of Venus.

If the moon and planets are going to be your main areas of interest, look for a telescope.

[Bivo]

Thanks dears!

Your comments are very good!

I"m looking for something to combine high magnitude to focus distant things during the day, and a reasonable capacity to see planets and the moon.

Would be Celestron 20x80 a good option?

[Stormbringer]

If you go for the Celestrons go for the pro version as there is quite a diference in the quality of them compared to the standards

[Bivo]

On 15/05/2023 at 08:52, Stormbringer said:

If you go for the Celestrons go for the pro version as there is quite a diference in the quality of them compared to the standards

Ok. 

[malc-c]

On 13/05/2023 at 19:01, bosun21 said:

 Tasco binoculars of old were good when they were made by Vixen, 

That will be back in the 1980's then...  I worked for Tasco around that time and whilst I had the title "Product Manager" I struggled to persuade the directors to bring in one or two of the higher end telescopes and binoculars that Tasco made for astronomical use.  Having said that, at the time their standard 10 x 50 zip focus proved a decent allrounder.

[Guest]

20x80 binoculars work well on the moon, you can see Jupiter pretty well and you can make out the rings of Saturn.  Just make sure you get a tripod.  You can get solar filters and use them on the sun too.  

[JeremyS]

15 hours ago, malc-c said:

That will be back in the 1980's then...  I worked for Tasco around that time and whilst I had the title "Product Manager" I struggled to persuade the directors to bring in one or two of the higher end telescopes and binoculars that Tasco made for astronomical use.  Having said that, at the time their standard 10 x 50 zip focus proved a decent allrounder.

Would love to hear about your work with Tasco, Malcolm. 
Like so many others, I started out with a Tasco 60mm refractor which I was given for Christmas 1973.

[malc-c]

2 hours ago, JeremyS said:

Would love to hear about your work with Tasco, Malcolm. 
Like so many others, I started out with a Tasco 60mm refractor which I was given for Christmas 1973.

It was nothing glamorous.  I started there in 1981 as an admin in the main office in Welwyn.  The main warehouse / accounts / payroll etc was based in Newbury.  The office was basically a base for the individual directors of companies that formed the Tasco group other than the sports brand Head which was based in Newbury.  My main duties involved processing customer orders, answering the phone, and managing the sample stock that the directors took with them to sales meetings etc.  I became the "technical adviser" when Halley's Comet came round, taking calls from people wanting to know what to expect and how best to observe it.  I then was given the title of Product Manager when we employed a new admin to take over the admin duties, and I then assisted the in house designer to produce the full colour brochures etc.  It was at this time I tried to get the directors to carry a more professional range of telescopes but in the end it often came down to profits and given the numbers it never really met the criteria.  The best selling scope at the time was the 11TR, which whilst the optics were OK could never really be classed as a serious astronomical scope, mainly given the wooden tripod and mount. 

I then move to the toy and hobby company, and basically became the directors right hand man.  I attended the regular toy and hobby fair in London, mainly as I had an interest in RC models and Astronomy so could answer technical questions.  Sadly as I started as a junior position (advertised for a school leaver - I was 21 at the time) the salary never really increased to where it needed be and I ended up leaving Tasco in 1987.

The MD and his wife were fantastic people (sadly passed away a few years back), as were the rest of the staff.  It felt more like a family than going to work. Anyway, sorry for the OP taking this off topic... but yeah it was a period of my life I enjoyed. 

[PeterW]

I’ve had a few 1960s vintage Tasco wide field 7x porro binoculars, quite nice though the eye relief was a bit on the short side.

returning to the original query, I’d get a pair of 7-8x wide field binoculars for milky way sweeping and a tripod mounted small refractor for the higher power stuff. 20c binoculars are hard to mount, have small fields of view and not enough magnification for moon/planets, sometimes one thing ends up as too much of a compromise and having things dedicated to different end uses is better.

Peter

[Bivo]

Dears

Thanks a lot for your comments

Considering I have a Tasco 10x50 to observe birds, my option was to buy the Celestron 20x80 to get more power for observation in my house using a tripod.

For astronomy, considering I have no experience, the idea is basically observe some planets and the moon, however, based on some of your comments, I'm also looking for some used refractor telescopes.

So, I found one from Meade (picture below)

Model DS-90ATA with 90mm aperture and focal length of 1000mm

Please, could you comment if I would have considerable benefits in image quality compared with the binoculars 20x80 I alreadd bought?

 

 

[Louis D]

As far as binocular astronomy, I have alternated between my 8x42 and 15x70 binoculars for decades now.  The former works well for wider angle views of chunks of constellations while the latter works best on cluster rich regions or large star clusters.

[RT65CB-SWL]

On 14/06/2023 at 01:51, Bivo said:

Dears

Thanks a lot for your comments

Considering I have a Tasco 10x50 to observe birds, my option was to buy the Celestron 20x80 to get more power for observation in my house using a tripod.

For astronomy, considering I have no experience, the idea is basically observe some planets and the moon, however, based on some of your comments, I'm also looking for some used refractor telescopes.

So, I found one from Meade (picture below)

Model DS-90ATA with 90mm aperture and focal length of 1000mm

Please, could you comment if I would have considerable benefits in image quality compared with the binoculars 20x80 I alreadd bought?

 

 

I have a larger sibling... the DS-2102AT (only the tube). It’s not to bad for a beginner, but does suffer from chromatic aberration when viewing the Moon and brighter planets, i.e. Venus, Jupiter and Saturn. A few other niggles are...

• they use a horrible sticky grease on the rack & pinion focuser... plastic.
• don’t over tighten the thumbscrews on the focuser/draw-tube eyepiece port... also plastic. I am waiting for some M4 brass threaded inserts and insert them in the eyepiece port, because on one of the two, the thread has been stripped.
• the mount and tripod are not that great either. I use mine on an AOK-AYO or Tele-Optic Giro. Both are manual ‘T-style’ alt-az.

Edited June 16, 2023 by RT65CB-SWL

[Bivo]

Dears,

I have the bino Celestron 20x80

Does anybody could tell me if I would have any benefit using a refractor telescope with 70mm aperture, comparing with my 20x80?

Edited June 19, 2023 by Bivo

[RT65CB-SWL]

11 hours ago, Bivo said:

Dears,

I have the bino Celestron 20x80

Does anybody could tell me if I would have any benefit using a refractor telescope with 70mm aperture, comparing with my 20x80?

I have a 70mm refractor, (a TeleVue Ranger), and 20x80 binoculars, (Revalation Astro).

A telescope will always theoretically show more detail than binoculars, unless they are dedicated astro-binoculars, (i.e. 45deg or 90deg. e/p port, swappable eyepieces, etc). Dedicated astro-binoculars tend to be very expensive too… and you would need to purchase a heavy duty tripod and mount as well.

Edited June 19, 2023 by RT65CB-SWL

[Bivo]

Ok

Edited June 19, 2023 by Bivo

[Bivo]

So, I understand that any refractor telescope 70mm or more aperture will be better them my Celestron 20x80 binoculars?

[Franklin]

I'd have both. The 20x80's for sweeping through star fields at low power will be great for viewing star clusters and asterisms while a decent 70mm refractor will allow for higher power viewing of the Moon, the Sun, the planets, double stars and a whole host of the brighter deep sky objects. They are essentially two different kinds of instrument suited to different types of targets.