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Well back in the early 1970s I had one, but that was 40 years ago, my memory says it was very good, but we all know how " the good ole days " memorys work, hehehehe

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I do own a 1960s Towa (distributed by Lafayette), and this has glorious optics. It easily outperforms a very nice 90mm f/11 achro that I have. I'm trying to line it up with any sub-90mm ED doublet, and my money is on the Newt.

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Id like to hear about any reviews or storys about these scopes. By some accounts the mirrors were apparently mass produced so only average, by other accounts they were very good.

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http://uncle-rods.blogspot.com/2008/07/good-tasco.html

Yes, the primaries are spherical. At this focal ratio, it don't matter. The little scopes could do a right good job if you equipped 'em with good eyepieces. I loved mine very much.

Edited by rmollise (01/27/13 12:51 PM)

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Thanks Rod, I actually had posted this link above, but thats cool, got an oppotunity to reread the post.
I still get a chuckle about the part where you forgot to remove the scope cover....and I thought I was the only one who did that.

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Guess what? I STILL do that.

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Shane; were any of your observations through an 11TE? if so , would you mind sharing them, and or your impressions?

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I have both a early-80's Cometron CO-114 and Celestron C4.5, both with "Vixen optics". I also have a mid-60s Towa that was sold by Lafayette, and is probably similar to the early Tasco 11TE.



Both the Vixen mirrors offer similar views. When compared with my 90mm f/11 achro, the Vixens cannot produce a sharp focus, right across the FOV. This is especially obvious on daytime targets. Contrast is good in both.

When looking through the Towa, images are now not only on par with the achro in terms of sharpness across the FOV, but the Newt has an obviously deeper reach than the 90mm refractor. The Newt is able to resolve many, many more globular cluster stars than the achro. Contrast in the Towa is much improved over the Vixens, due likely to the much smaller CO.

On Jupiter, the Vixens show the 2 main equatorial belts, and hint at the smaller southern belt. The Towa show these belts easily with direct-vision, and I can make out the salmon spot.

The Vixens can resolve only 4 stars in the Trapezium, but the Towa easily shows 5.

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I know the Towa is supposed to be a spherical mirror, but my 11TR is really good. looked at the intra and extra focal images again and it's hard to tell the mirror is not parabolic.......
I would dare say this little Tasco could embarrass some 2-3000$ APO's at 1/50 to 1/100 the price?

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