Ideal Beginners Telescope
Written: Apr 29 '03 (Updated May 12 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Outstanding Mount, Easy Collimation, Great Views (with quality eyepieces)
Cons: Stock eyepieces are poor quality
The Bottom Line: A great value, hurry before they're all gone. Avoid the earlier model "11TR".
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| socaltim's Full Review: Tasco 450X Astronomical Reflector |
I bought a Tasco "450x" telescope after buying a Konus and Celestron beginner's scopes. Both of those scopes had shortcomings that nearly drove me from the Astronomy Hobby. The Tasco quickly became my choice for backyard viewing.
This telescope has been manufactured for years in different configurations. All are similar in that they are 4.5", 900mm focal length Newtonian reflectors. The current version is the "Luminova" and has been marketed for a year or two. Mine is the model prior - the "302012". It has a black tube with black shrouds on both ends. You will also see it advertised as the "Tasco 450x Reflector" You can still get the "302012" new via a couple of clearing houses on the internet for around 130 dollars. I highly recommend the older version over the newer "Luminova" for the following reasons.
1. The Tasco "302012" is identical to the "Celestron Firstscope 114" except for the eyepieces and the shrouds on the tube. I have compared both scopes and it is obvious they came from the same (chinese) manufacturer. They have an identical mount, wooden tripod, and OTA (Optical Tube Assembly). For half the price of the Celestron, you get an identical telescope.
2. Superior Mount. The mount on the "302012" is the Celestron CG-3 on a big wooden tripod. This is the identical mount and tripod configuration that you find on the Celestron Firstscope 114EQ and 80EQ. You will notice that it has large setting circles and nice flexible slow-motion cables. The mount is very precise and the wooden tripod really dampens vibrations. The CG-3 is easily upgraded to two varieties of motor drives for the Right Ascension axis, one of which has a clutch to disengage it - a big advantage. The newer "Luminova" is mounted to a cheaper and smaller "CG-1" mount on an aluminum tripod. I had that identical mount and tripod on a Konus 4.5" reflector and it was a disaster. The "CG-1" is too small to allow full movement around the axes, has stiff plastic sticks for slow motion controls that block movement of the OTA and the setting circles are so small that they are virtually impossible to see and use in the dark. Look for the CG-3 mount and wooden tripod - it is a vastly superior mount.
3. Easy Collimation. The Tasco main mirror cell is a nice set-up that makes collimation (mirror alignment) very easy. The adjustment screws are large knurled knobs and the mirror is spring loaded. The secondary mirror holder is a single arm affair that I liked better than the typical 3 or 4 arm "spider". The secondary was also spring loaded to make things easy. It took me all of 5 minutes to collimate the mirrors with a cheshire eyepiece. This is a major factor - the Konus I had was very hard to collimate properly. Hours were wasted trying to collimate that Konus.
4. Great views. Once I had it collimated, I took it out on the first clear night and looked at Jupiter, Saturn, the Moon and the Orion nebulae. I compared views using a "Plossl" eyepiece and the stock Tasco eyepiece. The Tasco eyepiece is pretty bad, but with Plossls, this scope performs well giving nice clear and bright views. It focused nice and smoothly. I used a Barlow to bump up magnification to 180X on Saturn and finally saw the "Cassini Division" sharp - like a black pinstripe arcing through the rings. Very impressive. The long tube, and mount/tripod combo puts the eyepiece at normal eye height for comfortable viewing - and that is with the tripod legs FULLY RETRACTED. This makes the whole set-up a lot steadier. Vibrations dampen down within a second or two.
5. Easy operation. Again the CG-3 mount is superior here in that it allows easy Polar Alignment, slow motion tracking and OTA positioning. The slow motion cables don't interfere with the OTA and their tracking is precise.
Summary:
-Look for the older "Model 302012" or "450x Reflector" with the Black tube and black shrouds, the "CG-3" mount (look for two large setting circles and droopy control cables) and the black wooden tripod. I still see them on the internet for around $129.00. The mount alone is worth $149.00 if you try to buy one from Celestron.
-Get better eyepieces. I would recommend a 25mm and a 10mm Plossl along with a 2x Barlow. You can get nice Meade brand Plossls on Ebay for around $20.00 each - a great buy that makes a big difference in how this scope performs.
-Collimate. All telescopes like this one (newtonians) need to be collimated to achieve maximum clarity and contrast. There are resources on the internet to show you how to do this. The Tasco mirror mounting makes it simple and I've read that they hold collimation well. Mine has held its position for two months now of dragging it outside and bumping it against doorways.
-Enjoy. This scope kept me in the hobby and allowed me to really learn the fundamentals.
UPDATE - 12 MAY 2003 -
I bought an older version of the Tasco 4 1/2", 900mm reflector on ebay for $40.00. This one is the model "11TR". You can identify it by a red tube and a black wooden tripod. I WOULD DEFINITELY NOT RECOMMEND THIS MODEL TELESCOPE in its stock form. Here's why:
1. .965" Focuser and eyepieces. This small focuser and its poor quality eyepieces are a horrific combination. I looked at the Moon and Jupiter after cleaning and collimating the scope. Bad, bad images.
2. Finderscope. All plastic - cheap, cheap setup.
It is such a shame that Tasco went the cheap route on the focuser and eyepieces. The Tripod is nice - black wood with yellow ring markings on the circular center section legs - but somewhat lighter than the "302012". The mount is similar to the Celstron CG-3 and works fine - virtually slop free and with nice flexible control cables. The mirror cell is a good one - spring loaded all metal. Everything else is fine although the tube seemed to be a little thinner metal than the later version and had a definite "cheap" feel to it.
Final Recommendation - this scope would be OK if you replaced the focuser with a 1 1/4" and bought some quality eyepieces. The mount and tripod are fine. The later version - the 302012 I discussed above - is much, much better. Look for the black tube with the black end shrouds on the tube.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
socaltim
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Reviews written: 4
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