Seben Big Boss 150/1400 6" EQ3 Reflector Telescope Astronomy Scope Astronomical

I have not had so much fun with a science experiment kit so quickly since my undergraduate physics years 35 years ago. The instruction manual was written in a broken English that had been spun round a couple of partial figures. Fortunately every piece is different so that it became clear what to do to put the stand and instrument together. About half an hour of tinkering finally put everything together. A full manual is at Seben which is recommended reading in advance. I have doubts over their ideas about sun filters and would not recommend the circumstances they say would be safe to look through the telescope at the Sun. Two photos: the instant the apparatus was built, and then the first handheld photo through it. I had hoped for Jupiter but as the North Atlantic Drift floated overhead a local LBJ had to suit as an alien.One note of disappointment but not regret is that the instrument is advertised as 1400mm focal length when the primary mirror is only 700mm (f/4.7), but is good for a whole disc of the [suitably filtered] Sun at prime focus in a DSLR. The suggestion is to use a 2x barlow to reach the specification but the barlow supplied is not achromatic. But the magnification with the 25mm Plössl is a comfortably wide field of 28x which works with the crosshairs finder supplied but is a bit tight for a 1x red dot finder so be warned. The 6mm Plössl looks and feels like a keyhole and at 117x is a it of a step from the 25mm. It's a joy to tinker with and in careful hands shouldn't break.Eureka! Found it! The problem in using the laser collimator on this 'scope, to make the 1400mm focal length in 700mm they have not just included a 2x barlow in the kit but also incorporated one at the diagonal end of the focuser drawtube. The laser gets reflected back from its eyepiece side surface making a strange red dot in the collimator looking like perfect collimation but the laser is diverted away from centre by the barlow lens making the rest of the collimation problematic. It unscrews easily and then the alignment by eye then works for the diagonal! So it should work now! The figures for the magnifications should now match what is seen through the eyepieces. But it took a bright day to see that the barlow was there.

Everything spot on just needed extra weight for balance,other than that could not fault product or service.

Excellent telescope if bought from Seben direct. DO NOT BUY FROM CHINA. Fantastic views of the moon and the night sky.Lots of accessories available from Seben all excellent quality, if you buy from Seben direct. I think that the negative comments were not bought from Seben, but via EBay etc.

On the plus side, this telescope and associated kit is about half the price of other 150mm reflector telescopes but unfortunately it's only got a fifth of the ability. The image quality is way behind the equivalent Skywatcher 150 or Celestron Omni 150 reflectors and with a bit of investigation it's not too hard to see why. It appears that the primary mirror is spherical in design rather than the parabolic mirrors used in most modern newts. It also has a built in barlow to acheive the 1400mm focal length but it's poor quality and this also affects the image quality.You'll get much better performance from a Skywatcher 130p for the same sort of money.

Out of the box the telescope did not just look new - the smell of newly painted metal stayed with this instrument for at least six months. The overall quality is great, with some exceptions. The equatorial mount is sturdy for the most part although the 3mm pins holding the tray onto the tripod legs do tend to slip out and need to be checked regularly.Observing the moon is easy with a crisp punchy image through the eyepiece, Saturn displays it's rings splendidly and the four Jovian moons around Jupiter easily observed.My only reservation with this reflecting marvel is the finder scope mount which is just not rigid enough and has to be set every time the telescope is used. But this is not too onerous a job.The 25mm eyepiece is my favourite and returns a magnification of around 60x. The field of view of the high power 6.5mm is limited and targets hard to find.The scope also comes with a Barlow lense and a lunar filter. Remember, never to point a telescope directly at the Sun.In summary, for the first time astronomer or occasional hobbyist, this is a great piece of kit and will impress at any star party - especially when you tell them the price

My wife bought me this telescope as a present neither of us knew anything about telescopes. We contacted Seben and they suggested their "Big Boss". We both have to say what a brilliant telescope it is, idea for star gazing and landscape viewing. really good value for ,money.

I purchase one of these a while ago and from the description it sounded amazing. In reality if is complete rubbish and does little more than the cheap telescopes made for kids. It looks ok but the optics are poorly made. It came with extra lenses but none really work so don't let that fool you. Do some reasearch and you will soon see there are much better alternatives out there for the same if not less money.

All the advertising makes you think this is an incredible telescope. After all, it has a 150mm (6") mirror and 1400mm focal length! It is a bird-jones design, which in theory should work, but not when using inferior quality materials. The amount of negative reviews for these types of telescopes is astounding. I believe the same chinese company has been putting these out and partnering with other companies under names like Bresser Pollux, Seben Big Boss, and Optron. Keep looking for other telescope models. Stick with brands like Celestron, Meade, and Orion. If you want true performance for the price, I recommend one of the Orion XT model dobsonians with a set of quality extra eyepieces for different magnifications. Good luck!