Boren 8inch F2.8 Newtonian Carbon Upgraded Model Review

[Catanonia]

As you may have been aware with all my excited posts, I have just taken delivery of my new scope.

A Boren Simon 8inch F2.8 Newtonian as can be seen in this link.

Boren-Simon 8' f/2,8 Astrograph - für CCD & DSLR Kameras - Carbon Tubus

So why did I pick this scope and sell my Skywatcher MN190 that is in itself an amazing scope ? Well the reasons are quite simple really.

1. The British weather is terrible and imaging time is limited. I am fed of of getting 3 or 4 hours on a target for LRGB or narrowband and then have to wait ages for another go at finishing the image. At F2.8 the Boren is nearly 4 times as fast and nearly 8 times as fast as a standard F7 - 8 refractor as well as having a large 8inch apeture.

2. Most of my targets are in the 400 - 700 mm range of FOV and the MN190 at 1000mm was just too tight for the work I like to do. The Boren runs at 568mm and without the corrector lense @ 800mm F4 so a nice dual scope combination.

3. Weight. The MN190 and accessories is very heavy and on the limit of the EQ6 pro I have.

Now I could have bought it directly from Boren, but TS via Bern from Modern Astronomy got me the scope in the carbon version with upgraded secondary and focuser. Going via Bern, I even got the scope at the same price as TS have it give or take a few Euros which is nice having a UK supplier for questions and support.

So the order was placed and Bern did an amazing job in getting the scope, checking it and forwarding it onto me.

So today it arrived in a nice large box.

Excellently packaged and I was pre warned by Bern that the secondary mirror is shipped in a separate box to prevent damage.

Some more pictures

The major components of the delivery, scope, OTA ring box, finder scope and accessories box and the all important Corrector and Secondary mirror box.

My 1st impressions were, WOW SCOPE SCOPE IS LIGHT !!!!!!! mmmmm Carbon.

Ok so straight to the all important corrector element. This brings down the F4 to F2.8 and ensures a perfectly flat field upto 8300 sized CCD sensors. It slides into the focuser and has a T thread on the CCD side. Nicely packaged in its own case with snug fitting caps (push and T2 threaded)

Notice the shape of the front element of the corrector. A nice piece of kit and so it should be at nearly 900 Euros on its own.

The secondary arrived nicely packed too.

This is the oversized upgraded version supplied in this package

Now onto the accessories box

Finder scope, a nice little unit.

35mm extender for visual work

Battery pack for the rear fan, or you can use a 12v source.

2inch adapter to 1.25

The finder

Next up are the scope rings, nice and black, pretty basic and felt lined.

Ok now onto the BIG ONE, the scope itself. Did I say it was light, very light. mmmmmmm gotta love carbon, ever since my racing days on bikes I have been a sucker for carbon

Arrived nicely bubble wrapped and then protectively wrapped.

Views of the upraded Baader steel rack lower profile focuser. Nice and smooth and a thing of beauty.

Build in fan, powered of 12v push plug or the supplied battery pack. Nice Bobs knobs equivlent supplied at the rear for easy colimation

A peak at the all important 8inch mirror with standard dougnut in the centre. Of course the secondary isn't attached yet.

A close up of the focuser. Notice it is offest at and angle to prevent fouling of the spider bolts. Will get a bit of getting used to.

Fully assembled apart from secondary and of course colimation

[Astroscot2]

Hello Steve, look forward to an assembled pic, I recommend that before you start attaching the flat holder to the spider you ensure your focuser is square to the tube, this is an important part of colimating a newt and will help eliminate future issues.

Mark

[Catanonia]

OK now for some initial thoughts reviews on the scope as it is. Good and bad points.

Good Points

1. Excellent price and excellent service as always from Bern at Modern Astronomy. He has never let me down and is always willing to speak and advise before making expensive purchases. Big thumbs up Bern

2. Boy is the scope light. I mean really light. I will definately have to weigh it so find out how light.

3. Wasn't expecting an end cap, that was a nice bonus

4. The finder scope is beautiful and clear, although I would have prefered an angled one.

5. The focuser is a work of art, smooth, low profile, stylish and it has 3 120 degree apart locking screws to get things nice and tight and central unlike most other focusers with 1 locking screw.

6. Love the standard additions of the fan and easy colimation screws on the rear.

Bad Points

1. No dovetail bar supplied. Wasn't expecting that and lucky I had a spare large one lying around.

2. The OTA rings seem a bit cheap to me and out of the box were not perfectly round. I was very cautious in fitting them and slowly ensuring they shaped up ok wihout damaging the OTA. Also the focuser is so far down the tube, it is difficult to place the rings near the front so balance might be a bit of fun with the scope as it is very front heavy due to placement of the rings. Time will tell as it has not been on the mount with all the other bits on yet.

3. The colimator eyepiece normally supplied with Borens isn't in the package.

4. The secondary is supplied seperately, so full build and colimation is needed. But this isn't really a bad point, I would prefer the scope to be safe in transit rather than bashed about with a heavy secondary in the spider.

Overall, part from the lack of dovetail bar and the slight cheapness of the rings, I am very happy. It looks and smells beautiful, the service and packaging from Bern was first class and tonight I am going to have the fun of completing the build with the secondary and colimation. Might even get a star test in if I am lucky with time and the weather.

More to come soon with colimation reviews, mounting and first lights / pictures.

[Black Knight]

Exciting! It's just like Christmas!

[LukeSkywatcher]

2. Boy is the scope light. I mean really light. I will definately have to weigh it so find out how light.

I already checked. Its 6.2 kg

[Catanonia]

2. Boy is the scope light. I mean really light. I will definately have to weigh it so find out how light.

I already checked. Its 6.2 kg

Compared to 10kg OTA for the MN190. Nice.

[LukeSkywatcher]

Compared to 10kg OTA for the MN190. Nice.

I know what you mean. My 5" heritage (including the mount) weighs 6.2 kg. The 8se OTA weighs less (5.45kg).

[Ian123]

That's a beauty, just need clear skies now, enjoy.

[libraryman]

looks very nice, nice focuser and looks good at the back as well.

Ray

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Beauty! Looking forward to first light report.

Clear skies

[Merlin66]

Certainly not as fast as the f2.8, but I used a Cometracker f3.6 for a while....the secondary offset was significant!!!

Fast ratio setup.bmp

[Macavity]

Nice thing! As I mess with my (humble, focal reduced!) 8"/F4 and video astronomy, I think of faster, better (lightweight!) scopes. I'm glad astronomy seems to be exploring more diverse scope types, these days...

[Catanonia]

Well measured up the focuser, well removed it, measured the squareness and it seems to be pretty close. Just as well as I can't see how to colimate the focuser as it just has 4 holes for the connection to the tube.

But it seems pretty close. Also took the time to straighten up the focuser with the focuser body and tube. I can see why they rotated it to stop rubbing, but it is very very minor when I aligned it all back up.

Using the old red / blue card pin hole colimation technique with the secondary and done a very quick colimation with the secondary and primary. Looks good so far, nice circles and laser down tube and back nicely.

The primary colimation screws at the rear are a dream and silky smooth. 100's times better than Bobs Knobs. Just wish all scopes came like this.

When missus goes to work tonight, will do a proper colimation on the scope and take my time now the secondary is in place and it the close position it needs to be. I guess about 90% of the way to perfect colimation.

Might even get a star test tonight if I progress and the clouds are kind.

Want to properly check the spider is central, rough measurements and it looks out by a few mm, but will check properly later.

Hard to say whether this scope was checked for colimation before it was dismantled and sent out, especially since I am building it from stage 1 of colimation. Suppose I will find out when I measure the spider vanes and hw central they are.

[harry page]

Hi

Looks very nice

I have a keller corrector and you must set up the camera corrector distance as close as possible

also try focusing slightly off centre:headbang:

good luck

harry

[twotter]

That's a very impressive looking telescope and I'm also a carbon fibre fan so on looks alone it's a winner!

[Coco]

That looks the muts nuts my friend.. looking forward to your first light, and opinion once you have owned it a while.. collimation and precise spacing terrifies me..

[asteria]

Beautiful scope!

[ollypenrice]

Great stuff, Cat. I really hope all goes well and think that it will.

Olly

[Catanonia]

Update.

Been colimating all night had found some issues.

I am unsure whether this scope has actually been colimated and tested before the secondary was removed by TS for shipping. I doubt it.

To get the focuser to line up with the centre of the secondary the secondary is almost flush on the spider plate !!!

Also I spotted this, a nice little plate to protect the secondary and prevent damage. A mod that I have seen done a few times of DIY videos and a good idea.

IF you built the washer properly.. See this picture

The actual recess' for the secondary collimation bolts are way off and do not line up with the spider. Infact you can see where I was using it and marked where the holes should have been. About 6mm further out from the centre. Not good at all.

Now this to me is a clear indication that the secondary has never been assembled and tested with the scope. This plate is actually useless and makes colimation very difficult to balance properly as the recesses are in the wrong place. I ended up removing the plate completely. I would hazard a guess that since the secondary is a larger upgrade, they have just packaged it up with the scope along with the plate as part of the secondary package and never actually tested that it fits together. School boy error in my opinion and doesn't make me confident about what else they have short cutted.

I think I have collimation done, but my eye nagging feelings are telling me that the focuser is in the wrong position on the tube, Ie the holes are drilled in the wrong place by a few mm.

See this picture using the red / blue masking method of hiding reflections from the primary

Black = Secondary support, Red = Secondary, Blue = FOV

The red circle (the secondary) is too far to the left in comparison to the view (the blue circle)

Now I managed good collimation afterwards, but I am unsure if this will cause an issue. The laser is hitting the centre of the secondary and in the centre of the primary and back to the laser perfectly, so hopefully it is all ok.

Something to be aware of, on the Boren PowerNewt site they say all scopes are tested vigoruously before shipping. This scope from TS has no Boren plates or markings and I reckon has been put to gether as a package without actually been tested.

I will have a chat with Bern tomorrow and seek his opinion.

All in all, just a few niggles, the proof will come with a star test at F4 visually and then slot in the corrector to take her down to F2.8 and attach the QHY9

[Coco]

looking like a hybrid BS and not Boren Simon Power Newt.. TS has a bad rep for copying good ideas..

Ask Harel (Boren Simon) if his ideas been ripped off..

Stargazers Lounge - View Profile: Boren

Your a clever enough to work around this but should have to..

.

[RAC]

I wonder if you can buy the Boren corrector by itself as the mirror may just be a GSO 8" f4. I would like to see if this corrector would work with the GSO f4 10" and 12" scopes.

[Deneb]

Congrats on your new scope Cat, it looks the Biz, now you can tantalise us with more of your images & Big Up Bern at Modern Astronomy for supplying it....

[Astroscot2]

Steve, can you not move the secondary by its centre support to square it up on the focuser FOV ? You should be able too, whats the situation with the offset is it built into the spider position or the secondary holder?

Mark

[riklaunim]

I wonder if you can buy the Boren corrector by itself as the mirror may just be a GSO 8" f4. I would like to see if this corrector would work with the GSO f4 10" and 12" scopes.

The corrector is from ASA, and the OTA is from GSO. I've seen some pics on astronomie.de made with the ASA reducer/corrector and some other Newtonian.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I gather the position of the corrector in the optical train is critical. Not all F/4 Newtonians might work.