I've had three that I recall.I get the fidgets when folks wax poetic about the older Japanese Tascos. I had several of them fail on me, back in the mid 1990's.
One was a fixed power 24x back in the day. I thought it was good at the time, but I didn't have the scope background experience that I have today. I SUSPECT that I wouldn't think much of it today because some of the other scopes that I thought were pretty good back then are actually not very good at all by today's standards (some Leupold M8 and Bushnell models that I still have, or have sold in the past 4 or 5 years).
I have a Japan Tasco 4x32 in my safe that I've compared to other 4x scopes and to several variables while on the 4x setting. It is nothing special at all. Not nearly as clear and pleasant to sight through as a China-built 3-9x32 Bushnell that I expect was built in the 1990s or so, nor a Japan-built Red Arrow (the latter is among the clearest scopes I own at 4x).
A couple years ago I bought a pristine-looking Japan-built World Class 8-32x44 Target scope because the 8-32 power range would have a lot of utility for me, I'd heard how great the old Japan Tasco scopes were, and I tend to like older stuff if it's good quality. I have no way to know if something was off about that particular scope, or if it was a typical example, but when I compared it to a Weaver V-24 and a Sightron SII 6-24x42, it wasn't even in the league with those two ~$400 scopes. I sold it, and my curiosity about the old Japan Tasco scopes has ended.
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