8i vs 8se

[chris1964 (Chris)]

Can anyone please tell me the difference between the Celestron Nexstar 8i and 8SE

[julianh72 (Julian)]

Marketing / branding, mainly!

I believe the 8i was just the predecessor of the 8SE. In fact, a bit of hunting around reveals a manual for a NexStar 8i SE (Special Edition):
http://www.celestron.com/c3/images/f...022-XLT-SE.pdf

Being an older unit, an 8i (non-SE) may have slightly lower specifications than a current 8SE - e.g. coatings ("StarBright" in an 8i vs "StarBright XLT" on an 8SE), hand controller software, etc.

You can get the manuals for both models (8i / 8SE) from this site, and do a detailed comparison of the specifications:
http://www.nexstarsite.com/Manuals.htm

[julianh72 (Julian)]

This site explains what was "new" in the 8i SE (late 2004) compared to the 8i, and I think the 8i SE later became the 8 SE:

http://www.nexstarsite.com/Book/Updates/N8iSE.htm

Optically and mechanically the NexStar 8i SE is identical to the NexStar 8i. The NexStar 8i SE comes standard with Celestron's enhanced XLT coatings
...
Operationally there have been big changes. The 8i SE does not have Quick Align or GPS Align options. The new Auto Two Star Alignment is similar to the original Auto Align, but the user must manually point to the first of the two alignment stars. This is to bypass the original Auto Align's requirement to start with the scope pointed north and level. Celestron removed the requirement to point north and level to avoid paying Meade 8% of the sales price of the scope

[chris1964 (Chris)]

Thanks for the replies

[brian nordstrom (As avatar)]

I can vouch for the 'Star bright XLT' coatings , the corrector in my 9.25 just disappear's it looks like the secondary is floating in mid-air , great stuff that works .
Brian.