Seben Big Boss, the del boy of telescopes

[John]

What a lot of guff

Seems to have fooled many customers though - 63K+ feedbacks, 99.6% positive

This 2005 review seems to be pretty much the same scope as the "Big Boss":

http://www.cloudynights.com/item.php?item_id=1105

[Uranium235]

What to do, rather than sell it on:

1) Take all the glass out and fill it with concrete.... use it as a pier or a roller for the garden.

2) Fill it with compost, punch holes in the sides and use it to grow strawberries (would be an interesting conversation starter!).

3) Use it as a mortar tube on bonfire night.

4) Attach a base and use it as an umbrella bucket.

5) Attach to a motorised base and use it to mix cement in.

6) Use it as a CO2 cannon

7) Get four of them, remove the optics and put a tube on each arm/leg. Then walk around pretending to be robocop... "come quietly or there will be...... trouble"...lol.

Cant think of anything alse useful or daft, but the last thing you should use it for is as a telescope

[baggywrinkle]

Of course, the other problem with Seben telescopes is that whenever you do any viewing or imaging, everything you look at has SEBEN written on it...

http://www.ebay.co.u...=item4cee2ac55a

EDIT

Interesting to read in the listing:

Somehow I imagine one of those Meercats reading it.......

[baggywrinkle]

This from a site (AstroshopEu) that sells the Seben's.....puts on Meercat voice...

Give it a real piece of Mars and surprise to acquaintances, friends and relatives on special occasions like Christmas or birthdays.

Here you get the chance to buy a real piece of Mars rock NWA 4925th Sample sizes between 7 and 14mg.

These rocks from Mars was replaced by a meteorite struck the earth and one (here NWA = Northwest Africa)

Altogether there are about 100 kg of Martian meteorites around the world and only a small portion of it is even available in stores. NWA 4925 there are only 282.3 grams!

The contrast between his light-colored rather weathered reddish bark with their pure Olivineinschüssen and his dark green interior makes the beauty of the rock. This property does not appear the meteorite only visually attractive but is also of scientific interest because it weather the surface of Mars on display.

Overall, a very interesting and visually attractive, new Martian meteorite that came from a rare species.

A real "must-have" for every meteorite collector who thinks highly of itself.

We guarantee the authenticity of the rock.

[nephilim]

Haha, excellent grasp of the english language there!

[TonyD]

Brilliant review link there, John.

And sometimes one takes those first few looks and realizes that something is horribly wrong.

Had me in stitches!

[baggywrinkle]

For those of you who are not familiar with the Meerkats reference please see http://www.comparethemarket.com.au/meerkat/video-library/

and you will see what I mean. Yes they have moved from the UK to down under...

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

What to do, rather than sell it on:

1) Take all the glass out and fill it with concrete.... use it as a pier or a roller for the garden.

2) Fill it with compost, punch holes in the sides and use it to grow strawberries (would be an interesting conversation starter!).

3) Use it as a mortar tube on bonfire night.

4) Attach a base and use it as an umbrella bucket.

5) Attach to a motorised base and use it to mix cement in.

6) Use it as a CO2 cannon

7) Get four of them, remove the optics and put a tube on each arm/leg. Then walk around pretending to be robocop... "come quietly or there will be...... trouble"...lol.

Cant think of anything alse useful or daft, but the last thing you should use it for is as a telescope

Why would you need to first remove the glass? It cannot be used elsewhere, just plonk the concrete on top. It prevents people being tempted to use these "optics" (and I use the word without prejudice)

[Astrosurf]

Please do as has been suggested. Contact Consumer Direct (aka Trading Standards) what your legal rights are so you're armed and ready. Then contact eBay and Paypal.

I do feel for you. Good luck! Let us know how you get on.

Alexxx

[Stargazer_00]

My mate ( its always my mate isn't it) sold a slice of fried bread with marmite on a 3 day listing when he was drunk... Went for 49p free delivery.

You didn't buy that did you?

I once sold 'good advice' on ebay for £2.50. Someone bought it. I produced an A4 sheet of paper that said 'if you want to get rich, dont buy rubbish from ebay'. They gave me good feedback

[Uranium235]

Why would you need to first remove the glass? It cannot be used elsewhere, just plonk the concrete on top. It prevents people being tempted to use these "optics" (and I use the word without prejudice)

The glass could be recycled and turned into something more useful like pint glasses. Though any beer served in it may suffer from spherical abberation and coma

I quite like the strawberry planter idea, it would make for an interesting garden ornament.

lol... thats just reminded me of a rubbish astro joke:

Q: What happens if you drink beer from a newtonian?

A: You go into a coma

I'll get my coat....

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

The glass could be recycled and turned into something more useful like pint glasses. Though any beer served in it may suffer from spherical abberation and coma

I quite like the strawberry planter idea, it would make for an interesting garden ornament.

lol... thats just reminded me of a rubbish astro joke:

Q: What happens if you drink beer from a newtonian?

A: You go into a coma

I'll get my coat....

You could also use the primary as a shaving mirror

[knobby]

I once sold 'good advice' on ebay for £2.50. Someone bought it. I produced an A4 sheet of paper that said 'if you want to get rich, dont buy rubbish from ebay'. They gave me good feedback

Classic

[Hzadbhat]

I'd say don't sell it as a whole scope. Either sell parts from it, or maybe donate it to a club or society. Maybe, just maybe, it's good enough to see some detail on the moon. A little kiddie or a nervous first timer will only see the wow factor, and maybe, just maybe, the world can have another astronomer rather than a new life time employee in the railways!

[The Sailor]

A little kiddie or a nervous first timer will only see the wow factor, and maybe, just maybe, the world can have another astronomer rather than a new life time employee in the railways!

Now I mentioned this when I tried to get rid of my Seden, yes I bought one, and was shouted down, told I would be destroying some poor childs wonder of the universe

Jim

[tom33pr]

...I got very drunk and ordered a Seben Big Boss on ebay....

I actually laughed out loud reading this...

I was the same though... whenever I was to buy my first scope eBay was the place I started looking for one... I think the problem is the eBay Seben advertisements lure you in with them cool photos and impression you are buying something really cool, advanced and so on... plus the description would really make you think this is a high quality piece of kit for a very good price.

Fortunately I decided to get a Skywatcher back then; I had a lot of fun with it, and still think it was a great starter scope.

Never really had a chance to use Seben, but honestly (apart from few random, somehow positives reviews - probably posted by Seben employees ) I've never heard anyone say a good word about this piece of junk.

Regards.

[spaceboy]

As this thread was started over a year ago and the OP only has 11 posts I'm thinking either they gave up the hobby due to buying a Seben and suffering sever headaches every time they used it, they could not bear the shame of selling it on to another unsuspecting victim and has gone in to hiding or went with U235's idea

What to do, rather than sell it on:

7) Get four of them, remove the optics and put a tube on each arm/leg. Then walk around pretending to be robocop... "come quietly or there will be...... trouble"...lol.

and went on to live happily ever after as a defender of the law ......

[numinix]

I own a seben big boss and it works great, only idiots unpack a telescope and use it, with out actually making sure the alignment is correct. I've cleaned the mirror of which is the same as my Meade telescope and i cant really say anything bad about it. I think there's to many bias people who are to quick to comment when they own say s meade or celestial telescope

at the end of the day it don't matter what you own. Or what name is stamped on the side of it. If your mirror, lens are clean, aligned properly, then your good to go. I got what i could afford, and im getting nice images on the seben, it came with plossi eye piece's and they are good quality. Of corse there's going to be better, but in not rich and a 6in for the money is great for first timers, it takes a while to need something bigger, well as learning the whole astronomy side of things that don't envole looking through bits of glass. I started astronomy with s cheap 2in telescope, and that inspired me. So no bad reports on things people havnt actually tried and tested. As it makes you bias and unhelpfull

[rowan46]

I own a seben big boss and it works great, only idiots unpack a telescope and use it, with out actually making sure the alignment is correct. I've cleaned the mirror of which is the same as my Meade telescope and i cant really say anything bad about it. I think there's to many bias people who are to quick to comment when they own say s meade or celestial telescope

at the end of the day it don't matter what you own. Or what name is stamped on the side of it. If your mirror, lens are clean, aligned properly, then your good to go. I got what i could afford, and im getting nice images on the seben, it came with plossi eye piece's and they are good quality. Of corse there's going to be better, but in not rich and a 6in for the money is great for first timers, it takes a while to need something bigger, well as learning the whole astronomy side of things that don't envole looking through bits of glass. I started astronomy with s cheap 2in telescope, and that inspired me. So no bad reports on things people havnt actually tried and tested. As it makes you bias and unhelpfull

Welcome to sgl a fair point nicely made except for the bad reports untested. If you read a lot of bad reports about a scope its fair to say that it has bad reports even if you havent tried it yourself and it would be fairly irresponsiblle to suggest to someone that it 's a good scope contrary to many peoples opinion especially if you havent tried one. I am glad you enjoy your scope I was given a dept store scope when I got my first scope and I enjoyed it immensely but its also fair to say that when I got my first quality scope the difference was immense. There are better scopes than seben for the price but its fair to say that any scope is better than no scope if you use it. If its all you can afford I am not going to look down my nose at you, Galileo used a scope worse than a seben when he turned his scope on the heavens and look what he did for astronomy. We may laugh at seben scopes but we do not and will not laugh at the people who use them you and they are every bit as serious in your hobby as we are. Again welcome to sgl and I am sure that I speak for many when I say we look forward to hearing from you again. I accept we dissed your scope but there was and is never an intention to dis the person who uses them so apologies if you feel slighted.

[AlexB67]

I was the same though... whenever I was to buy my first scope eBay was the place I started looking for one...

It is the one thing I never got hooked on gladly, the good old ebay. I don't often even find it good value these days most of the time. Only recently did I start using it again because Alan at Skies the limit is a decent bloke, a good seller, spoke to him today briefly in fact, very friendly and helpful and chatty , but he happens to use ebay.

I noticed it had been something like 3 years since I last logged into ebay when I bought my first eyepiece when I got into astronomy a few months ago. There are plenty other places to buy goods at a good or better price I'd rather support. I don't really see what the attraction of ebay is these days for most things, especially for new goods anyway. I'll use it if I have to, otherwise no. I never won a bid on there, but I am quite happy for others to win them if they are prepared to overpay for something. I'll only put in a bid to a point and if I win I'll know I got it at a reasonable price.

That being said I know some occasionally still get a bargain on there now and then.

[Reuben]

Hi everyone,

I have been looking at the Seben Big Boss on Ebay...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1400-150-Telescope-motor-DKA2-digital-camera-adapter-PC-/380279278076?pt=US_Telescopes&hash=item588a6949fc

This is a big more than I can afford, I'm half way across the world from a third world country call Mauritius (Google it up - Island under the sun)

That's the only kit I've found with camera mount + tracking motor... and I was really excited about it till, well, till i googled it up and fell here...

I've read the comments and found like many negatives against one positive...

Can anyone outline exactly what's wrong with the Seben, taking into consideration that i have no prior experience with a telescope...

And can anyone recommend an alternative telescope that I could buy given that the big boss here totals $435 including shipping to my country.

I have a Canon SX50 HS that I would like to fit on the telescope to make some wonderful pictures... do let me know if anyone has any experience in that field - does zooming in with the camera increase the total zoom? Or does the camera need to be on macro shot so it focuses on the image from the lens...

Thanks a lot,

Reuben

[Reuben]

Btw, this is the best I can get of Jupiter with my camera... Full 50x Optical x 4x Digital here for that last pic of jupiter

Really want to up this to the next level with a telescope...

[Uranium235]

For now it might be wiser to put your money into the mount rather than the optics. With a decent EQ mount you can just pop your current camera + lens on it and do widefield stuff.

Have a look around for an EQ5 (or HEQ5 if youre lucky), that will see you a long way. And, once youre familiar with it all you can then add the telescope - it can take quite a while to gather all the parts you want, so until then its a case of compromises and working within the limits of your gear. Ive just checked out the advert, and a scope that size on a mount that small wont give relaible and consistent results.

Focal length seems too long as well, 1400mm is very long for a beginner in AP. You should be looking in the reigon of 600-750mm, then if you want more focal length for planets - just stick a 2x barlow lens in it. A far better alternative is the Skywatcher range of newtonians, or if you can save a little longer - a short focal length refractor (the 80ED can be gotten 2nd hand for as little as £200 - but sell very quickly).