TAL 100RS as a beginer scope/1st upgrade

[ponte carlo blue]

Hi

As a newbie I have been looking around to upgrade from the 114 Newt we are currently using.

We are looking for a bit of an all rounder and have noticed that lots of people are VERY devoted to the Tal.

It strikes me that this could be a good move, especially looking at the size of the Newts and Dobs.

It also strikes me as this telescope is something that can go being used for a long time, growing with you in the hobby - if that makes sense.

It also seems to work well with different eyepieces of size and quality.

Or is it that those that like/love the Tal are just shouting the loudest? I dont mean that as an insult though.

Any advice would be gratefully recieved.

Cheers

Rich

[Tac]

I think most people with the Tal 100RS use it for imaging. I believe it will be quite limited for visual use due to the small(ish) aperture. It probably won't give as good visual as your current scope. However, I do not speak from experience just my own research into the MANY scope choices and the benefits and restrictions. I may of course be completely wrong.

[NGC404]

Being the owner of a Tal 100R (see my sig), I find it a great alrounder.

Compared to my old Skywatcher evostar 120 (till it got knicked) the Tal 100 beats

the 120 evostar in every way, despite being a smaller lens.

Get super wide field results with my Vixen LVW 22mm

Use it only for visual work

[Jon65]

Rich,

The Tal 100RS is a great lunar,planetary and double star scope.

In its price range there wont be many to match its lunar and planetary perfomance.

On DSO's it sill perfoms well for an F10,I have recently got back into astronomy and the Tal has provided some nice views of Orion neb,clusters and the brighter galaxies but you really need a 6-8" reflector for a marked improvement to the 114mm reflector on the DSO's.

Jon

[Whippy]

I'd broadly agree with Jon's assesment. The TAL 100 isn't a magic scope, at the end of the day it's a 4" achromat and it performs as such. It has a small amount of false colour and like all TAL's, built very sturdily so it's a bit heavier than most scopes of the same size from other companies. I've owned two of them and they are lovely scopes, but it's not going to show you more than a 6" or 8" reflector.

If I was in your boat, I'd look at a 8" reflector. It's a significant upgrade from what you have now, not overly bulky but provides enough aperture for a wide range of objects, both solar system and DSO's.

Tony..

[nightfisher]

i fully agree with whippy`s post above, the 100rs is just a 100mm frac, a very well made one, they are actually more for observing rather than imaging, if you decide to get the tal think about an EQ5 mount to get the best from it and buy it from FLO.....they seem to know tal`s inside out

[ponte carlo blue]

Thanks for the feedback.

Plenty to think about, not really wanting to do any imaging at the mo, maybe a little with a webcam but thats about it.

One of the issues we have is storage, the Tal doesn't look overly massive. And as a newbie you want something proven. I know lots of people go to the 200 newts, but they are massive!

Maybe a Mak could be the answer?

Yet more confusion....

At least its cloudy while I make my mind up......

Thanks for taking the time to answer.

Rich

[Tac]

Ignore my post. It seems I was utterly wrong. Sorry

[ponte carlo blue]

Don't worry about it, you did suggest you could be wrong.

There is just so much choice, that as soon as your feeling that your finding your way something else crops up.

Thanks anyway

Rich

[nightfisher]

just to add the tal 100rs is a superb scope, the optics are a touch above the chinese and they have a really good build quality, with a little care will last a life time, you never hear any thing negative about them.

A mak is also a good choice, but they do have a long cooldown time, up to an hour, though you would get away with a lighter mount for a 127 mak

[Tac]

Don't worry about it, you did suggest you could be wrong.

There is just so much choice, that as soon as your feeling that your finding your way something else crops up.

Thanks anyway

Rich

Tell me about it. I must have changed my mind 3 or 4 times already this year alone. It's so frustrating.

[Astro_Baby]

Well to be honest I have had some of the best DSO views with the TAL-100RS - ok they would have been better with an 8" but the 8" was too heavy to lug out for some views on one occasion and had a technical hiccup on the other.

OK so the TAL only got some of the brighter ones as well (M42, M31, M13) but its still a sparkly performer all round, better optics, better finder, better focuser and from new you get two decent eyepieces and a decent diagonal so all in all a pretty good set of kit for the money.

Its not too big and does a great number of things rather well. Being a relatively slow focal ratio it can make the best of even the cheapest of eyepieces so its got quite a bit going for it on top of that as already mentioned it has bombproof construction and owners become very devoted to them.

I thnk that last point says more than anything else.

If you anywehere near Gatwick and the clouds EVER go away you'r very welcome to have a look through mine.

[Whippy]

A mak is also a good choice, but they do have a long cooldown time, up to an hour, though you would get away with a lighter mount for a 127 mak

If space really is a priority, perhaps you should look at the Mak-Cass/SCT designs. After all the TAL100 is pretty much as long as an 8" f5 newtonian, although not as wide obviously! Something like the Skywatcher 127 is probably not much of an upgrade from what you already have but certainly a 6"/150mm one would be. If you still fancy something from the Russian manufacturers then Intes Micro do a superb range of Mak-Casses but they are a bit more expensive.

Tony..

[ponte carlo blue]

Thanks again for the replies - I dont really have an obsession with things needing to be Russian.

Thanks Astro Baby it was your pieces on the Tal that got me thinking it could be a good step forward.

The fact you describe it as being able to do "a great number of things rather well" being one of the things I think you look for in a first upgrade. Unless you know specifically what you want to achieve.

We just want bigger, more detail, perform consitently, and to be able to perform as we grow in the hobby etc- but we have to do it with in certain limitations - Space!

I think I'm going to go down to Rother Valley Optics and have a chat.

Thanks again

Rich

[agthomson]

One current issue with the TAL-100RS: You will really struggle to get a new one before September 2011! All online retaillers I checked when I was considering this scope last week to start my AP adventure were out of stock till at least August

[Astro_Baby]

Yes - they seem to have sold out - I am hoping TAL will give me a commission Seriously though its a nice scope. I think one of the advantages to the TAL is whatever else you buy will probably complement the TAL. ie if you bought a big refelector later on the TAL might still serve you well for Lunar work.

I am pretty convined on Lunar and Planeteray it would run better than your 114 and on DSOs would probably be as good. For big DSOs though you really do need aperture.