Tasco Luminova 114mm Aperture 900mm Focal - Any good or rubbish?

[Draco]

Hello

I am contemplating on getting a cheap telescope (under $100) for the meantime. I have got a nice 11x70 binoculars however I am unable to get much magnification on it so need to buy something which is not too expensive yet be able to keep me till I get my 10" Dob (its not a unicorn.. it will happen .. one day :D)

A friends mate has got a Tasco Luminova 114mm Aperture with 900mm focal for sale. It is around 5 years old and has been hardly used. He can sell it to me for $85.

Now are these any good for this price or am I just throwing my money in the bin? Basically I want to be able to do more planetary views (I know that on a 114mm aperture, the max usable mag is 228x).. so want to see the Cassini division in saturns rings, the moons, the shadow of the rings on saturn? Also would love to see the ghost of jupiter if that is a possibility.

Anyone had this telescope and can tell me if I will be able to get the above done? Also how is the mount that comes with it? Unsure what the specs of the mount is but do know that it is an equatorial mount (I know dobs are better but for planetary views at high mag .. wont equatorials better to keep the planet in view with minimal adjustments? )

Looking forward to your comments and advice.

thank you

[niko]

Niv,

I don't know this particular scope but I wouldn't waste my money on it.

There's a 10" dob for sale here for $400 at the moment.

If money is tight I would save that $85 - 4 more amounts like that and you already have the Dob!

Do you have a birthday coming up soon? Get your family and friends to give you cash instead of a present - I know that seems a bit tacky but you would end up with something you really really want.

niko

[Draco]

Thanks Niko.

I saw that Dob advertised but its in Ivanhoe, too far for me since I am in Sydney :(

Do you have any experience with Skywatcher 70mm aperture 900mm focal telescopes?

Thanks for the birthday tip.. might start planting the seed now.. the only worry is that they might spend alot and not get what I want :( [surprises are two fold.. its good when you get one bad when its not what you want :shrug:]

[niko]

I meant that they give you the cash!

see what e-go.com.au couriers would charge to deliver the scope from Ivanhoe

Also, an 8" dob from either Andrews or Bintel is a pretty good price for a great scope

[Steffen]

At $85 the risk is small, and while I don't know anything about this particular model the older Tasco reflectors have been known to be decent performers.

If you ditch the EQ mount (which will add nothing but frustration) the tube might work well in a small portable Dobbie you could build around it – a rewarding and not too difficult project to undertake, if you're so inclined.

The Cassini division can be seen rather easily in 80mm achromatic scopes if the conditions are right (i.e. this year, and reasonable seeing), the 114mm reflector should be able to show it without much difficulty.

Cheers
Steffen.

[Rob_K]

I use the same scope (different mount) for all my observing, great scope IMO. Very portable, negligible cool-down times, forgiving on collimation etc. However I see you're based in Sydney so if you have light-polluted skies you might need to seek out dark skies away from suburbia. With light skies it'll still be good on planets, Moon, bright star clusters, but not so good on fainter stuff such as nebulae & distant galaxies. In dark skies there's a smorgasbord of things you'll be able to see! But stick to low powers only (say, 20mm eyepiece) on deep sky stuff. At $85 you can't go wrong. :thumbsup:

PS: Steffen is right about the EQ mount, it can be a pain with visual observing, especially for novices. But nothing that can't be put up with!

Cheers -

[mental4astro]

Rob, I'm glad you responded to this thread. I know of no one better qualified to extol the virtues of the iconic 114 scope at fl 900mm.

I have to agree that the eq mount usually supplied with this scope leaves a bit to be desired. But making a dob mount for this OTA turns this surprisingly capable scope into a very user friendly instrument. Until you do get your 10" or 12" dob, you'll be able to cut your astro teeth with the 114.

I've made several dob mounts for 114 scopes, including one for my wife's school. Their 114 was on an eq mount, and truth be said, the eq mount terrified the teachers there who had no idea on how to use it. The mount I made was made using the laminate covered shelving that Bunnings sells and some Teflon off cuts I had. What works just as well for a project like this is the plastic from ice cream tubs. A bolt, a few washers, a nyloc nut, a couple of PVC plumbing flanges and a bit of jig saw work and PRESTO! One very user friendly dobbie, :D

Once you do get you bigger scope, you could even donate the scope to a local school. Nothing gets wasted this way.

A bit of food for thought.

[RobF]

If the mount is anything like the old Tasco I used many years ago you can set it up with the axes perpendicular - that is in alt/az mode. You run out of travel in DEC eventually, but still lots you can see in a 114mm scope while learning.

Just don't EVER look through anything bigger until you can afford. You won't be able to conceive how fantastic a 10" dob view would be in comparison, especially from dark skies. :)

[Draco]

now that would be a nice idea. Unfortunately if previous birthday pressies are anything to go by, I normally get more pressies than cash :( But maybe this year I could get a dob in the stash .. thanks niko



thanks Steffen. I am not too good with DIY but then again, it could be a skill I could learn ;) Would love it if this OTA is able to give me good Cassini division views




Hi Rob. Thank you so much for your feedback on this telescope. Makes me feel good knowing that someone else has had this and is quite pleased with it. I will def keep the tips you have shared in mind :thanx:



Mental, that sounds like a nice DIY. Though I might have to get the tools to get it all done ;) But yea, I wouldnt mind making the dob mount myself. Will pick your brains when I am closer to this ;)



RobF, alas you said too late. I have already peered through a 12" and a 30" and I can say that nothing beats the views out of a 30" newtonian. If only I had the money and a holiday home in the country under dark skies :(

[Draco]

thanks for the awesome comments guys. really appreciate it. I am more inclined to get this telescope now, keeping in mind the mount might not be the best part of it.

BTW, if one gets to know how to polar align equatorials, are these better for planets than dobs? with dobs the moves are in both axis but with the equatorials, would this be via one knob since the planet will follow its path around the southern celestial pole?

[ZeroID]

I've got a Meade Quasar 114\900. It was my starter scope, kicked me off onto this perilous path. I was surprised with just how much it could see and it was an inexpensive ($50) start into the hobby. ( Although it cost me another $100 in EPs to be really useful ). It was also a very good starter scope to learn to use, experiment on, modify and understand the principles of it's optics. The tripod head also flipped over into an AZ position which was also useful occaisonally. I got about a years worth of good use from it before building my first big scope. I doubt I would have done that without having made the first steps with the 114\900. I also used it to take my first pix of the moon.

Reselling it is a possibility, I see some listed at stupid prices on TradeMe over here but mine finally has other plans.
I am rebuilding it on a simple AZ tripod for my grand daughter. She's a very bright 8 year old with the reading abilty of an 11 year old. She figured out how to drive my 10" on the DOB base last Friday and they live out in the country with dark skies. So rebuild the focusser and find a few EPs and her birthday is about 6 weeks away. That's what granddads are for ain't it ? :thumbsup:

[Draco]

Hi Brent

I am sure your grand daughter will absolutely love her birthday gift

[Nutty]

My first post here. Got a 114mm/900 on a cheap eq mount a couple of months ago. I love it. Obviously can't compare it to anything better, it's my first scope, but I say go for it. I am told that my scope is still quite a bit better than what Mr Messier had access to. That is pretty exciting to me.

[ZeroID]

Way to go Dean .. and :welcome: to IIS. As I said, I got started exactly the same way. Join in the fun.

[Nutty]

Cheers. I have been looking at eyepieces. Could you suggest what kind of eyepieces would make a good upgrade to a scope like this?

[Jon]

Hi Niv,

Everything moves around the south celestial pole - planets, stars, nebula, the lot. It's a result of the earth turning on its axis, not the orbit of the planets themselves, which happens much slower. So an equatorial isn't better for a particular class of object.

In the old days, a motor-driven equatorial was luxury, because the motor would track the object as the earth turned, keeping it in the eyepiece. Nowadays, with GOTO computers, both equatorial and alt/az mounts will do that for you,so there's no real advantage to the equatorial for visual observation. Turning the knobs to keep the object in view quickly becomes second nature; don't worry about that part.

Where an equatorial mount really comes into its own is in imaging, for reasons that we don't need to go into now. You're not going to be doing that with this scope, so don't worry about the equatorial mount too much. Certainly don't get sucked in to thinking you have to do precise alignment. Point it as exactly south as you can get with the compass on your phone; set the elevation to equal your latitude, and you'll be off.

[ZeroID]

Yep, I bought a 15mm (60x) and 20 mm (45x) GSO SuperViews to start with. Nice wide feilds of view, good quality for the price glass. I'd ideally want a good 12.5 or 10 to complement those but most of my interest is in nebulae and widefeild objects so these work well for me. These are still my most used EPs with either the 10" Newt or the 80 or 90 Refractors
A decent 2 x Barlow might be good but I'd prefer to buy better EPs, I don't have much luck with Barlows.

[Draco]

Thanks for the vote of confidence Nutty. I took the plunge and now have a Tasco 114/900 equatorial mount telescope. yay it is so much better than using binoculars!
BTW :welcome: aboard mateee :hi:

[Draco]

Hi all.

Thank you so much for all your replies. I finally took the plunge and got a cheapish telescope. Yay. Unfortunately my mates mate had already sold his by the time I called him so that was a bummer. However, I managed to find a similar one on ebay and managed to get it for $100 (Tasco Lumuinova 114/900).

I picked it up on Saturday and checked it out during daylight. The finderscope and tube seemed to be aligned so all was set for the night time viewing. The idiot in me seemed to have been let out since I decided to dismantle the tube and tripod and put it away for safe keeping. In the process I think I bumped the finderscope (which is a tiny 6x24 with only one place it is attached to the main tube) since when I brought it out at night, the tube was looking somewhere completely different to where the finderscope was pointed. Managed to finally figure out how different they were and compensated for the difference. With a small margin of error, I could then point the finderscope, have the object at a certain place in the cross hair (not middle) and be able to see it in the main eyepiece. yippy!! Liftoff:D

I spent yesterday daytime aligning the finderscope to the tube (yoohoo youtube) and managed to get everything in order but at night found the two to be out by a small margin again :( however it wasnt as bad as the night before.

I love this cheapee. Saw Saturn in all its glory.. though it was really small but I could still see the rings clearly and the darkness that separates the rings from saturn. wow .. amazing.

My equatorial mount is still not properly aligned however I did lean it up to 34 degrees (Sydney being 33.8 degrees below equator). Oh btw I am so loving the fine tune knobs. they are soo much easier than using my hand on the tube to move it to go to the object once it has drifted away.

The telescope comes with H20mm,H12.5mm, SR4mm and a 3x Barlow
The H20mm and H12.5mm are superb however the SR4mm is almost unsuable since the field of view is almost a pinhead. The barlow is soo bad that it seems that there is a black cloth in front of it (even with the 20mm eyepiece). Also, the tripod legs are held together with the accessory/eyepiece tray so have to be very careful :sadeyes: Would have loved tripod legs like that for camera tripods

All in all I am really pleased with my latest addition to my astronomy arsenal .. :thumbsup:

[Rob_K]

Well done Niv, congratulations! Aside from the planets etc, I think you'll find the 20mm eyepiece the most useful. A cheap 20mm Plossl might be a bit easier on the eyes than the Huygens, but really, you're off and running! Regarding polar alignment, Jon's advice is spot-on. For visual at low powers, a rough job will be perfectly adequate. Your target will stay in the field for ages while advancing the RA knob.

Saturn is great, isn't it, even with a 'tiny' view?! Quite a powerful experience visually with the mind coming to terms with actually seeing what is so familiar from photographs and all we've come to know about it through our lives. In my opinion, no other object in the sky comes close to offering this level of experience. It's a watershed moment, like "Wow, it's all real!!!". :lol:

Look forward to an observing report or two from you! :thumbsup:

Cheers -

[Draco]

Thanks Rob ;) Yup will definitely post some feedback soon.

[ColHut]

At one level you really cannot do wrong. However, it may drive you to tears :)

You may find the EQ1 mount a little light, the finder (5x24) unusable, the counterweights inadequate and the setting circles useless.

You can spend a bit to make it considerably better, but you might be better off putting the money aside for something less irritating.

You are likely to need some basic collimating tools (a combination cheshire will be fine).

Of the issues noted you can just drop the finder in the bin and get a Rigel Quick finder which is likely to be a much better bet. You might also find you want the cheap clock drive. It is certainly fun to learn the EQ system with all its advantages and dis-advantages.

There are some reviews of basically the same mount in that section.

regards and good hunting

[Draco]

Hi Colin.

You have hit the nail on the head. I have been "crying" the last few weekends when my finderscope and tube lose alignment with each other :( The finderscope is just so hard to lineup! I guess it has more to do with just having one ring where I can tighten the screws. So if I dont have the correct place under the screws, the finderscope becomes a lever and goes up and down slightly as I tighten the screws and loses alignment... hope this makes sense.

The other issue I have got is .. yup as you said.. with the counterweights. The supplied one is not heavy enough and the tube rotates to one side. I have to use the tightening knobs to keep the tube in position. I guess I will spend abit of time this weekend and come up with some counterweights of my own (buying from a shop is quite expensive .. around $40 for a kg .. is this reasonable?) also might see if I can somehow get the finderscope more balanced so that I can align it better ..

ah well.. i guess one good thing about problems .. actually two good things.. one is that you learn lots in a short span of time.. second.. you appreciate the quality of what you get when you spend more

[ColHut]

Dear Draco,

Don't despair here. You finder is retained by two gnurled retaining nuts to the telescope tube I'd guess. Then there should be 3 alignment screws in the holder. As a practice, in daytime set up in the shade and find a distant target (lamp-post, radio mast whatever) Point the telescope tube roughly in the right direction by loosening the clutches and sighting like a rifle down the barrel. Tighten the clutches, and putting in your lowest power eyepiece see if you can line it up on that (or any!) prominent feature. Use the slow motion controls to bring it onto the (or a) feature. Now look through the finder (turn head on side , twist head etc :) ) and using the three (yep should be three) adjustment screws move it onto the target. The screws need to be tightened and loosened together and it does take some playing around. You will get it but do play in daylight, or if it must be at night try and go for the moon to start. Honestly though a Rigel Quick finder is the answer. They can be purchased in a number of places including http://agenaastro.com/rigel-systems-quikfinder.html

For the counterweight, before buying an extension to the counter-weight bar, (do a search on the site for details), I made sure the counterweight was at the bottom, and just wrapped some lead sheet around it (available from Bunnings etc, but I had some spare anyway) and taped it on. Worked fine.

By the way a manual for the same Optical Tube Assembly (OTA) but alt/az mount is here and has some illustrations if yours lacks a manual. http://tasco.com/products/manuals/Luminova40-076420Inst.pdf

[Draco]

Hi Colin.

I had tried exactly what you have outlined above to get the finderscope and the tube aligned. I found the instructions on youtube ;) however it takes soo long to get the finderscope aligned with those pesky screws. And it is so easy to get them unaligned :(
Is there anything I can do to ensure the alignment is not lost?

I will definitely check out bunnings for lead sheets. I had gone there last week looking for washer weights but they didnt stock any.

Thank you so much for the manual. I did receive one with the telescope but it wasnt of much help since it was one manual for I think 6 different telescopes :( I guess thats what happens when you mass produce to keep the prices low .. however in this case it was abit to the extreme. The manual is quite basic and doesnt really point out how to use the telescope.. which is a shame .. it just shows the basics of getting it assembled.:sadeyes:

[ColHut]

Dear Draco,

The alignment problems with the 5x24 finder are a *ahem* feature of the unit. Also there is not much friction between the plastic mounting bracket and the powder-coated OTA. The three alignment screws do work but are very fiddly. You could replace it with a 6x30 finder but the cost would equal what you paid for the scope. Honestly though a unit finder of some kind is likely the best answer. There are some reviews here. http://www.cloudynights.com/documents/9finders.pdf and here http://www.cloudynights.com/item.php?item_id=821&pr=2x9x122

regards