Second Hand Televue's

[Astro78]

Hi All,

Just wondering if anyone knows what the difference in TV plossls marked with "Circle T", "Circle NJ" + sure i've seen others?

Seems to be identified quite a bit 2nd hand in the US...

cheers,

[Tannehill]

Televue uses two fairly parallel production companies, one in Japan and one in Taiwan. I think that's what the stamps indicate. Their stated reason was, I recall reading on Cloudy Nights (the Nagler Mythos article by Trusock or similar) the value of having two suppliers for safety, and b/c they'll keep each other competitive....

also per Tom Trusock's article, there is NO difference in quality between the sites. All are made to rigid TV specifications. No fiascos (bottles) make it out with the TV stamp, they say!

and there are some cosmetic blems (no optical flaws) out there with a little 'dent' after the focal length number stamp, to so identify them..
s

[Kal (Andrew)]

From what I've been able to research, it indicates the actual manufacturer of the eyepiece. 'Circle T' eyepieces were made by Towa in Japan.

It is difficult to find info on 'Circle NJ', when I google ' "circle NJ" eyepiece' I only get 3 links, and each of them seems to say 'rare televue eyepiece' !

[Astro78]

Thanks guys.

That's very interesting. So bottom line is not to worry too much about this then.

Although the Circle T owners seem to be proud of this and attract a slightly higher value i've noticed.

[Tannehill]

email Televue and ask them....

s

[ausastronomer (John Bambury)]

Hi,

The Circle "T" stamp definately indicates manufacture by Towa optical in Japan. Towa Optical are a generic optical manufacturer whose products are of outstanding optical and mechanical quality. They produce optics for a lot of different "high end" optical companies but rarely if ever sell under their own name. In fact a lot of their products are not even marked with the generic Circle T stamp.

As an interesting anecdote, TASCO who do not manufacture themselves and who we generally associate with XTT's (Xmas Trash Telescopes) and other cheap and nasty optical products had a lot of products made in the late 1970's and early 1980's by Towa Optical and also Vixen Japan. If you happen to come across one of the Tasco scopes made by Towa, generally 70mm and 80mm refractors, they aint junk and you may just pick one up for a song

Cheers
John B

[Astro78]

Thanks for your reply John.

Interestingly and lucky enough, my 1st scope ($80 i think on ebay) was and still is a Towa - . A 4.5 inch Scmidt Newt. The quality of this scope after some scary amount of hours cleaning and collimating is truly impressive, including the EQ2 mount.

Most certainly a showpiece looking item - in this house at least.