At least they build OK stuff. What has Tasco done to deserve anything
but contempt?


Hi:

They've done some things. Not many, but some. The good, old 11TR "Red Tube" 4.5
inch Newtonian was OK, servicable, and did a stand-up job on the deep sky under
the (very) dark skies of North Arkansas for me back in the early 70s while I
was saving up for something better.

The refractors they imported (Tasco, of course, has never built a thing) were
often pretty decent up through the 70s, with the 4" they sold (a few of) in the
60s being quite respectable indeed. Some of the objectives, even on the el
cheapo 60mm jobs, were amazingly good...of course you could only tell if you
ditched the (always) deadly Huygens and Ramsdens that came with the scopes.

The 10x50 binocs they were selling in AF BXes back in the 70s were sometimes
outstanding. I still miss the pair that my brother dropped from the balcony to
the arena floor at a ZZ Top concert (my fault for letting the silly little guy
borrow them ;-)). Brought 'em home in a bag sigh.

No, Tasco were never top of the line by any stretch, but the thing that made
them _really_ notorious was the way they bottom-lined the scopes to death with
the coming of the 80s. While the 60s and 70s Tascos were often bearable, the
80s ones truly were rancid.


Peace,
Rod Mollise
Author of _Choosing and Using a Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope_
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