Tasco on the march

[ballaratdragons]

It is interesting to see TASCO have finally entered the 'Better' quality market with their new 100mm refractor on a very good mount.

Most of us fondly remember Tasco as a supermarket beginner scope! And many of us have owned Tasco (some of us still do).

The Sept issue of Aust Sky & Telescope gives an excellent review of their new scope: Tasco Skywatcher Pro ED-100 f/9 Refractor with GoTo on a HEQ5GEM

It actually looks good and the review is fairly favourable.

Good onya Tasco! About time you upped the quality.

[iceman]

I agree it looks nice, but quite a price tag for a 100mm refractor. What makes it better than the Orion which is half the price?

[h0ughy]

Whats wrong with a tasco I ask you! Images of a cheap and nasty scope come to mind on a very shaky and dodgy mount, with .96" eyepieces, a projection screen and manual RA and Dec knobs. Maybe the price difference is the paint they use Mike?

[Starkler]

The Orion runs at $1400-1500 for OTA only. Whats a HEQ5 with goto worth ?

[cventer]

The OTA is the same as the Synta or Orion just rebadged.

The mount certainly looks interesting. I would like to see a test of it doing some real astrophotography and run it through pempro to get a view of the mounts PE

The nice thing about it is that it has autoguider input which is generaly not standard on HEQ mounts. Could be a new contender for beginner astrophotography mounts.

Best Regards
Chris Venter

[toetoe]

Not a bad looking scope but i think the price is a bit high.

[Starkler]

Why bother with goto for a 4 inch scope?

/dodges incomming rotting fruit

[cventer]

Damn... u are a brave man with a post like that...

You can do some VERY fine astrophotography with a 4" scope. I consider decent goto a must for any astrophotographer. I know you can do without it, but the savings you get in terms of time finding and framing objects is very much worth it....

Regards
Chris Venter

[dhumpie]

Tasco has exclusive rights to Synta imported scopes in oz (well other than Andrew's who seems to have brokered some kinda deal with them and Splendour Trading in Melbourne) so they should have some pretty decent scopes on offer since Synta scopes are all of pretty good quality. It was those CTT they are still selling that are the ones that give them a real bad name....

Darren

[ballaratdragons]

It is nice to see Tasco come out of the lower quality area though. A bit of competition for the bigger names.

Tasco got many a newbie started as a child, youth or grown-up. My first mirror was made by Tasco.

I would certainly like that mount!!!! in the hope it could carry a 12" dobbie. :D

[h0ughy]

geez your dreamin Ken! My first telescope was a Tasco, but not that dear and no Buzz click option either. Not a cheap scope though

[toetoe]

Tasco has got me going in this hobby with a lower end telescope and i have to say thanks to them. It will be intresting to see how this scope goes within the market along side others on the same par.
Ken: I would love to see a 12' dob on a mount like that. :scared2:

[ballaratdragons]

Me too Peter but it would be a lot of dollars!

[h0ughy]

Just draw it up Ken! :P

[toetoe]

We all want to see your dob on that mount at the star camp please Ken. :poke:

[slice of heaven]

I had a skim through AS&T at the newsagents today and what caught my eye was the Orion off-axis newt.
Its a 90mm f14
http://www.telescope.com/jump.jsp?itemType=PRODUCT&itemID=77066
Its listed in the mag at $1699 on a mount at Astro Optical Supplies.A search on google came up with a pricetag of $US649 OTA only, in the states.
A lot slimmer pricetag than a true Apo of the same ap.