Tasco Astronomical 600X60mm Telescope
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- Mount Type: Altazimuth
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Get something bigger and better
Pros
Low cost
Cons
Poor overall quality: Mount, optics and general construction
Recommended it?
No
The Bottom Line:
Get something with a bigger aperture, better optics and mount.
First of all, I would like to say that I wasn?t expecting to see Pluto with this, I was aware that it would have definite limitations, but I thought I would be able to see more than just the moon. When you buy a telescope and they advertise the magnification as its greatest asset, you know something isn?t right. Aperture is where it is at with telescopes, not magnification. Let me start off with what it came with and then I?ll explain what I did and didn?t like about this scope. Items included were 20mm, 8mm and 4mm eyepieces, 3x Barlow lens, 1.5x erecting eyepiece, moon map and a solar system chart.
First thing was the tripod. It is very shaky. If you have much wind when you try to do any viewing with this you might as well forget it. The wind will shake the scope and you?ll only be frustrated trying to look at anything. Even after focusing you have to wait a few seconds for it to quit shaking and the image to stabilize.
Second are the optics. I will say that the views of the moon are excellent. You can see the craters on the moon and even the shadows inside the craters. But that is about all I have been able to see. Mars I got to the size of a BB (and a fuzzy BB at that), and Venus I was able to get to be slightly brighter dot. The manufacturer claims you can see the rings of Saturn with it, if you use the 3x Barlow lens, but I can?t get the lens to work. When I put the lens there, it doesn?t line up correctly with the main lens and you don?t get any light though. Same goes for the 1.5x erecting eyepiece. Not that it matters much, I highly doubt you could focus the telescope when you are viewing at 600x.
The last thing is the general construction of the scope. It?s all plastic, the tripod is wooden and all the extra eyepieces and lenses are all plastic. I understand that this is to cut down on cost, but it just shows how cheap everything is.
Overall, I would say wait and save until you can get a scope that is higher quality than this one, unless you only want to look at the moon, then this scope isn?t too bad, but once you have seen the moon, you will want to see other planets as well.
First thing was the tripod. It is very shaky. If you have much wind when you try to do any viewing with this you might as well forget it. The wind will shake the scope and you?ll only be frustrated trying to look at anything. Even after focusing you have to wait a few seconds for it to quit shaking and the image to stabilize.
Second are the optics. I will say that the views of the moon are excellent. You can see the craters on the moon and even the shadows inside the craters. But that is about all I have been able to see. Mars I got to the size of a BB (and a fuzzy BB at that), and Venus I was able to get to be slightly brighter dot. The manufacturer claims you can see the rings of Saturn with it, if you use the 3x Barlow lens, but I can?t get the lens to work. When I put the lens there, it doesn?t line up correctly with the main lens and you don?t get any light though. Same goes for the 1.5x erecting eyepiece. Not that it matters much, I highly doubt you could focus the telescope when you are viewing at 600x.
The last thing is the general construction of the scope. It?s all plastic, the tripod is wooden and all the extra eyepieces and lenses are all plastic. I understand that this is to cut down on cost, but it just shows how cheap everything is.
Overall, I would say wait and save until you can get a scope that is higher quality than this one, unless you only want to look at the moon, then this scope isn?t too bad, but once you have seen the moon, you will want to see other planets as well.
