Seben Telescope.

[Nova]

ive had a go on one of these. They do have a lense in the focuser so they can use the word catadioptric in the description. Not sure if it really qualafies though tbh. I had a go at collimating it for a friend who found it in an atic. Had an absolute nightmare!!! the primary adjustment screws were more there for show there was no fine adjustment. I got it as close as I could (which was still a fair bit off) and gave it a go. although you could tell you were looking at the moon it was......milky, cloudy but not at all sharp and could not achieve proper focus. I childs first scope perhaps but not much more than a toy imo

[BinocularSky]

Don't forget that Seben actually make good EPs, filters and refractors.

Sorry to have to correct you, Hugh, but Seben don't make anything. They import cheap kit from the far East; they have the kit branded with their name.

[E621Keith]

Sorry to have to correct you, Hugh, but Seben don't make anything. They import cheap kit from the far East; they have the kit branded with their name.

If you put it that way, very few things are made by various telescope companies.

Even nice Televue eyepieces are made under contract in Taiwan and APM/TMB apo objectives are made in Russia.

[Cornelius Varley]

They do sell, which is surprising, if you check there ebay store they dont shift big numbers but lots of people do buy them.

They sell because they are cheap compared to Skywatcher and Celestron. There is usually a large number of s/h ones on ebay too.

Peter

[TheThing]

Sorry to have to correct you, Hugh, but Seben don't make anything. They import cheap kit from the far East; they have the kit branded with their name.

I stand corrected. Thank you Stephen.

Seben import good fracs, EPs and filters - or they used to!

TheThing

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Chris H]

Imp_Perfect I see you live on Anglesey, me too, where on the island are you?

[Grotemobile]

One of these scopes got me started on this hobby.

Did not know about this site , or anything about

astronomy then.Bought 4 EPs ,20mm 15mm 10mm & 8mm .I realy had some fun with it .It was not until i

bought my present scope, that i realised it was not very good.

This hobby is about having fun & learning.If any astro group wants this scope they can have it for nothing.

Would be great for kids to learn on.You can see the planets & moon with it.

Steve.

[BinocularSky]

If you put it that way, very few things are made by various telescope companies.

Exactly so -- or, put yet another way, much of the optical kit is made by just a few manufacturers. The importer/brander sets a specification (or, for the "budget" stuff, a price) and the manufacturer makes it to that spec. For the budget stuff, that importer-spec requires minimal quality control.

I stand corrected. Thank you Stephen.

Seben import good fracs, EPs and filters - or they used to!

Indeed. I once had a set of their ED eyepieces -- identical to the EDs being sold by Orion T&B and a few others, but pretty sharp and much cheaper, not least because Seben offered me a deal that meant I got them for just over a tenner each (including shipping).

[steelfixer]

As the proud owner of a Seban 8" I can say it did its job getting me into this brilliant past time.

How ever after upgrading to a Helios (now Skywatcher) 8" I can honestly say the difference is like going from roller skates to a Rolls Royce.

In fact after finding out just how bad it was I refuse to sell it on and it still sits gathering dust in my back room where it will stay.

So in answer to your question do not buy it save your money and buy a decent scope even if it means saving up some more pennies, you won't regret it.

[johninderby]

Funnily enough a long time ago Tasco used to sell a lot of really nice high quality telescopes with great optics that were mostly sourced from Japanese manufacturers. Then they went down the we'll increase profit margins by buying in cheap tat and flogging it through any high street shop that will take them route.

So if you come across an old Tasco branded scope don't immediately dismiss it as rubbish. Take a closer look to see if it is actually rubbish or not and you just might be lucky enough to pick up a real gem of a scope for "Tasco money".

John

[John]

Funnily enough a long time ago Tasco used to sell a lot of really nice high quality telescopes with great optics that were mostly sourced from Japanese manufacturers. Then they went down the we'll increase profit margins by buying in cheap tat and flogging it through any high street shop that will take them route.

So if you come across an old Tasco branded scope don't immediately dismiss it as rubbish. Take a closer look to see if it is actually rubbish or not and you just might be lucky enough to pick up a real gem of a scope for "Tasco money".

John

My 1st scope (which I still have) was a Japanese made 1960's Tasco 60mm F/13.3 refractor on an alt-azimuth mount. The mount is a bit wobbly and the supplied .965" eyepieces are poor but the optics of the scope are excellent

[Dave Dubya]

Somewhat similar as above, my 1st scope was a Tasco refractor - good as a first step on the ladder.

[Imp_Perfect]

Imp_Perfect I see you live on Anglesey, me too, where on the island are you?

I live near RAF Valley, how about yourself?

[Imp_Perfect]

Somewhat similar as above, my 1st scope was a Tasco refractor - good as a first step on the ladder.

My first was a Tasco refractor too, just a little one but it got me started as a kid.

[Rapallokid]

AVOID,

I have a friend ( yes I do its not me!!) who bought one from Germany, looked good in the write up but it is shocking. Wobbley tripod, v poor EP, wobbley focuser, thin componants all over. For the porice being asked you will get a lot better.

IMOH

Rapallokid

[Imp_Perfect]

My best refractor (which I still have) is a Prinz Optics scope. Not big and sadly broken now. But I loved using that one. Got my first view of Saturn through it back in the 1960's

[Ratlord74]

I have one of these so I can describe it for you it is a 750 mm focal length 150mm parabolic mirror with what is in effect a 2x Barlow in the focusing unit effectively giving a 1400mm focal length ( but I think this is cheating)

Now I may have been lucky but just two hours ago I was looking at Jupiter at 215x magnification and could see it reasonably clearly and I could see 2 moons. At 56x magnification I could see it perfectly sharp and 4 moons I could see the bands clearly at both.

It came with a 25mm plossl and a 6.5mm plossl with an EQ2 mount a 2x Barlow and a 1.5x erecting lens

It is good enough for a complete novice like me to whet my appetite for bigger and better in future.

[granty515]

i was given one of these on entering the hobby a year ago and as i hadnt owned a telescope before only binoculars i was amazed at some of the sights, the moon ,jupiter and saturn being the best targets for it, but even in my town back garden great views of the brighter nebulas ring,bumbell and orion also open and globular cluster are good . i flocked the inside and made a dew shield out of a camping mat for it to stop stray light which helped plus always took of the barlow out the end of the focuser draw tube to collimate it which needs doing every time you use it . also takes about 2 hours to cool down . i used it for about nine months till i saved up and got a skywatcher 250px dob so its pretty well redaunt now. so overall it can be great on planets but fustrating at times.