A couple of months ago I mentioned the joy of a newcomer to the views through her used Tasco. Indeed, Jupiter had a sharp limb, bands were visible and false color was less than expected. If you could find Jupiter.
The thing was miserable to use. The finder impossible, and so much play in the mount with so little TFOV you had to hold the scope to keep it on target. The joy was soon replaced with sheer frustration.
I took it as a challenge to see if I could salvage some usefulness from the promising 60mm f/13 doublet. Took it apart, found the anchor for the altitude adjustment rod loose, a screw stripped in one pivot bracket, and the baffle at a 45° angle in the tube. Repaired above, added a red dot finder and 20mm Plossl (40x, 1.25°), and it is now a very usable scope.
My frustration is that the marketer would squander a very servicable objective by trading finder and mount quality for useless high power EP's and Barlows, and in so doing turn off the purchaser to astronomy forever.
Arghhh,
Milt
The thing was miserable to use. The finder impossible, and so much play in the mount with so little TFOV you had to hold the scope to keep it on target. The joy was soon replaced with sheer frustration.
I took it as a challenge to see if I could salvage some usefulness from the promising 60mm f/13 doublet. Took it apart, found the anchor for the altitude adjustment rod loose, a screw stripped in one pivot bracket, and the baffle at a 45° angle in the tube. Repaired above, added a red dot finder and 20mm Plossl (40x, 1.25°), and it is now a very usable scope.
My frustration is that the marketer would squander a very servicable objective by trading finder and mount quality for useless high power EP's and Barlows, and in so doing turn off the purchaser to astronomy forever.
Arghhh,
Milt