Seben telescopes

[JuCaSe]

Hi all

A friend of mine has just bought a Seben telescope. I had a quick look through it last weekend and the view was awful. I thought it might be collimation but it seemed difficult to judge the collimation. There is also a lens on the inner side of the focussing tube, which I thought odd.

Does anyone have any experience with these scopes. Can they be modified to make them work better... Or would it be better for her to cut her losses and buy a decent scope.

Any suggestions gratefully received

Thanks

Julie

[keithatrochdale]

There have been a few threads about this make of scope, have you tried doing a search on the site?

[jgs001]

Hi Julie and welcome to SGL. I'm afraid to say that everything I've seen and read about Seben indicates that there isn't much you can do with them I'm afraid.

[JuCaSe]

Thanks Keith, I'll do a search...

Spot the newbie!

[RascalUK]

I got sucked in by them as a first scope. Lasted two weeks before I cut my losses and bought a Skywatcher 130.

I think it's the eyepieces as much as anything but I can't even be bothered to try my decent ones with it.

It's a shame because loads will be lost to the hobby who buy stuff like this unknowingly. I was lucky.

Somebody at work offered to take it off my hands as he had a passing interest. Wouldn't let him. Didn't want to put him off.

I'm gonna turn mine into a lamp I think.

[Cornelius Varley]

Your opinion of Seben telescopes is correct, they are bad. The small lens inside the focuser is a corrector lens which compresses the actual focal length into a shorter distance. The actual focal length of the Seben 150 reflector is 1400mm but the tube length is about 750mm, Seben also make a 4.5" reflector telescope with a focal length of 1000mm and a tube length of about 500mm. There is no real way of improving this design, the best thing to do with it is sell it quickly and buy a Skywatcher.

Peter

[Orion_the_Hunter]

When I first started to look at telescopes, I stumbled across a few sites slating them.

I'd say tell her to cut her losses:(, get some binoculars, go to the library whilst learning more.

[Astro_Baby]

Same here - never heard anything good about them and they arent even cheap - you could but a far superior scope from Skywatcher for a similar amount of money.

Its a real shame that people get lumbered with these things and possibly put off the hobby.

[Blackheart]

It's a shame these scopes are even on sale!

[yeti monster]

I think the primary mirrors are spherical too, which makes them very poor doners for home builds. Perhaps they can be converted to search lamps by replacing the secondary with a maglite?

[johninderby]

I think the primary mirrors are spherical too, which makes them very poor doners for home builds. Perhaps they can be converted to search lamps by replacing the secondary with a maglite?

I favour converting the OTA into a bird feeder. Just drill a few holes in the side and fit a few dowels for the birds to sit on while they're feeding and hang it in a suitable location. Oh and don't forget to plug one end so the seed doesn't fall out. :D

John

[sbooder]

Don't sell it quickly, or some other poor soul will end up with a piece of tat. Just strip it of anything useful like springs, mirror clips, spider veins, tube rings, maybe the tube and the like, keep the mount and chuck the rest..i.e. the mirrors and the lens in the focuser barrel.

At one time, I wanted to have an ebay listing, that I could warn against rip offs, but when I put one up about not paying people for the Win98 SE service pack 2 disk, because you could order it free from Microsoft or download it for free, and told people not to bid on my listing (which was 99p because I could not list for free) and that the advice was free and I even provided a link for the download and disk ordering, ebay took it down and told me I was contravening some blah, blah, blah.

It just really gets my goat…that otherwise would be grazing happily in the garden!

[steppenwolf]

Really sorry to hear of another person being sucked in to buy one of these monstrosities. It also seems a shame to pass it on to someone else but that is the way of the world! Cut it loose and buy a good Sky-Watcher Reflector and really start to enjoy the view.

[sbooder]

How can you pass it on. You will be just as guilty as the person who sold it to you for selling such a piece pf tat.

The world dose not have to be like that, well at least I am not going to contribute to it.

[RascalUK]

I may turn mine into a plant pot now. Lock it vertically, fill it with soil and maybe plant a suitably astronomically named species in there. Sun flower of something :-)

[Peter Drew]

Hold on a bit, bad as the Sebens are compared to a good scope, they are still better than no scope. I had the chance to use one some time ago, wasn't at all impressed, but after a bit of tinkering the performance came "close" to a good budget scope. Slackening off the overtight primary, improving the adjustment of the secondary holder, carefully collimating and above all using a half decent eyepiece made quite a difference. OK, you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear but DSO's, being for the most part smudges in this aperture would still make them worth looking for. In no way do I condone manufacturers turning out tat but when the buyer has no redress then it's not necessarily all gloom and doom..

[RascalUK]

Tragically, most people who buy them though (myself included 2 months ago) would think you were speaking a different language there though fella.

Don't get me wrong, I looked at the moon through mine and was pleased, just knew I wanted more, so I bought a decent one.

The major problem is the eyepieces. Once you get past the 20mm you may as well be looking through the bottom of a milk bottle...

[yeti monster]

Sage words Peter. See what Shane has done for his neighbour, imagine the view through Sir Issac Newtons first scope?

The problem is that Joe Soap tries these things and gives up. A real shame.

[jgs001]

That's good news Peter. I have no personal experience of these scopes, and can only go by what I've read.

[sbooder]

Hold on a bit, bad as the Sebens are compared to a good scope, they are still better than no scope. I had the chance to use one some time ago, wasn't at all impressed, but after a bit of tinkering the performance came "close" to a good budget scope. Slackening off the overtight primary, improving the adjustment of the secondary holder, carefully collimating and above all using a half decent eyepiece made quite a difference. OK, you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear but DSO's, being for the most part smudges in this aperture would still make them worth looking for. In no way do I condone manufacturers turning out tat but when the buyer has no redress then it's not necessarily all gloom and doom..

That is all well and good if you are not a newbie, but those who buy these scopes are.."Slackening off the overtight primary" and 2improving the adjustment of the secondary holder" are just not what beginners are likely to know about.

Sorry, but these are tat plain and simple, which is a shame for Seben, because I have one of their birding scopes and they are half decent.

[Peter Drew]

Fair comments Rascal and Simon. I stick to my first sentence. An eyepiece change is probably the most important and easily done. All the good advice is what SGL excells at. My cup is always half full. .

[The Sailor]

Ah, the Seben saga continues , well I seen the light, or none as the case may be. I actually got my moneys worth out of mine, after dismantling it I used the parts I could in some projects and offered what was left to the local club, funnily enough still here

Jim