Celestron SkyScout Personal Planetarium
by Celestron
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Celestron SkyScout Personal Planetarium
Customer Review: Great star-finding tool!
Summary: 4 Stars
This is really a must for amateur sky watchers. The Celestron SkyScout Personal Planetarium is extremely easy to use and enables you in an instant to locate and identify any celestial object that is visible to the human eye, be it constellations, stars, nebulas, star clusters, planets or our moon, even if the object you want to locate is not visible above the horizon. So, if you would like to locate the moon (or any other celestial object) even if it should happen to be below the horizon, you just push the locate-button, then find the name of the object in the digital database of the SkyScout, highlight the name and push "Select". In an instant the bright red directional arrow (one of 12 pointers) inside the SkyScout`s window is lighted up blinking, and the closer you get to target, the faster the pointer(s) oscillate, and when the object is centered in the view finder, all 12 directional arrows encircling the window are lit indicating exactly where the object is located in the sky.
If you wonder what star or object you are looking at through the SkyScout`s window, you just push the target-button, and in an instant the SkyScout lists the name of the object or other neighbouring objects on the digital screen on its side, with accompanying scientific data and other popular information about the object(s). If you find it more convenient to listen to a pre-recorded audio text about the object than to read on the digital display, you just plug the ear phones which are included.
The SkyScout Personal Planetarium cannot be operated from inside a house, from outside near large bodies of metal (e.g. a car) or when it is cloudy, because the SkyScout uses GPS signals from 8 to 10 satellites to locate a star, and needs therefore free airial access to the satellites.
One little drawback is that the SkyScout`s nightvision LED screen on its side and the pointers inside the view finder provide a little too much light inside the view finder, so when it is real dark outside and you`re trying to focus on an object you want to identify, it can be a little difficult to target the object due to the red light inside the SkyScout.
The SkyScout can be connected to the Internet through a USB-cable for updates, and can easily be fastened to a tripod.
So all in all this is a great accompanying field tool for the amateur astronomer in that it provides a much easier access to information about any star`s location in the sky and essensial scientific data about targeted celestial objects than any sky chart or astronomy book.
Customer Review: grand gadget flawed by a few warts
Summary: 4 Stars
Spending many weekends recently under the dark skies of Santa Fe, NM reawakened a lifelong interest in astronomy. At the age of 50+ I bought this and the two very popular Dickinson books in the hopes of finally learning the night sky. The skyscout has worked marvelously towards that aim--after 3 weeks I know parts of the night sky better than the back of my hand. I think what helped most is locating with absolute confidence particular stars that anchor their respective constellations--say Arcturus/Bootes, or Spica in Virgo. That because of the skyscout.
From there, use of the books and several star mapping websites has allowed me to find just about any constellation I want. I think Vance Dickinson and many others are so right in suggesting that this is where you start, and not by buying a scope or even binoculars. You gotta first familiarize yourself with the sky, figure out how it rotates depending on latitude and season, and then look for a higher powered view.
In that regard, the Skyscout has been a great help. Now for the negatives: the gps takes too long to lock and is inconsistent. With my car's navigation system I can get a lock within 30 seconds anywhere, night or day and within 10 meters. The skyscout takes 1-2 minutes every time, and more often than not, requires a couple of attempts. It is no Garmin.
But my real irritation is with the software. This is where the product fell from a super gadget to merely very helpful with annoyances. Everytime you fire it up, it starts from scratch (almost) and spends 1-2 minutes searching for a GPS lock. Most of us tend to use from the sme place--why not default to the last used coordinates and ask if you are in a new location instead? In a roundabout way you can get there sort of--allow it to semi fix on the satellites, and then just add the universal time offset.
But sooo much easier had it recalled the last stats and asked whether you are in a new viewing location! Except for use with a telescope, one simply doesn't need the accuracy of a new sat update, accurate to billionths of a second.
Maybe this is a filter down efffect from the "Go-To" technology used with telescopes. But IMO Celestron should have thought this out more carefully. It mars what could have been a super product into a pretty darn good one. Waiting two minutes for it to acclimate for a five second sighting contributes to battery eating. Instead keep a good clock and the last known coordinates. IMPERFECT BUT STILL PRETTY COOL.
Customer Review: A four-star rating with a huge WOW factor !!
Summary: 4 Stars
I ordered this yesterday morning and received it this afternoon (love Amazon service !!). The SkyScout seemed perfect to help my family locate the comet Holmes that has recently become visible in the northeastern sky. The unit I received had the latest firmware version installed. Initially I used NiMH batteries in the unit, which was a mistake (more on that later).
The SkyScout has a built-in GPS which is used to setup the unit by discovering the user location and time of day. After finding the location, extremely sensitive magnetic sensors are used to determine the direction (azimuth) and height in the sky (elevation). When I turned the unit on for the first time, it indicated an absurd location (the other side of the planet). Also, even though I was standing in the middle of an open yard, it gave an error message saying the magnetic sensors were being interfered with.
A check of the user forum uncovered the problem - my use of NiMH batteries. Apparently this battery technology generates a stronger magnetic field than normal alkaline batteries do. I swapped out the rechargeable batteries for a normal set and restarted the SkyScout. I was immediately rewarded with an accurate location.
Tonight was my first opportunity to use the SkyScout at night, and all I can say is WOW!!! I selected a star that I knew was near the comet (Mirfak) and simply followed the arrows until the star was right in the middle of the view finder. After finding the start, locating the comet was easy, it was right next to it as expected.
After everyone checked out the comet, we used the identify feature of the SkyScout which correctly identified every star we pointed it at. The more famous of which had audio descriptions which we listened to using the included headphones.
I'm giving this a four-star rating because the manual doesn't mention that only standard alkaline batteries should be used. Also the literature states that accessory "Night Sky Tours" are available on SD memory cards, but they haven't been released yet.
Easy to use and educational, this is a fantastic product that has its own place next to a telescope or pair of binoculars.
Customer Review: Pretty cool device
Summary: 4 Stars
I've wanted one of these since they came out about 2 years ago and read an article in Popular Science Magazine. They originally came out at $399 and I didn't want to pay that. But last week when I saw they were down to $199 I had to get one. I'm glad I did. The device is amazing. With its last update from July 2008, there are now more than 40,000 objects in its database.
What you do it look into the optical non-magnifying lens and little lights point which way to move the scope until the object you are looking for comes into view. Its pretty cool.
There is an LCD screen with info on it. One of the coolest things is that it has "Tonight's Highlights", telling you which object is in view right now and gives you all kinds of info on the object. With the headset plugged in, you can even hear it in spoken words.
The skyscout uses GPS and tilt sensors to figure out your position. For under $200, the unit is an excellent value and highly recommended to anyone with any kind of interest in astronomy.
The only negatives about the device are that the LCD can be hard to see even in total darkness, there isn't quite enough contrast and it takes getting used to. The GPS can take a few minutes to lock on each time you need to use it. The device should also give you the ability to research objects without the GPS, but this isn't the case, it has to lock onto GPS in order to do anything. I was sitting in my classroom and of course it doesn't work indoors and I wanted to look up some certain stars but couldn't so its basically useless unless you have the GPS locked on. Other than that the units great.
Customer Review: A problem for old eyes
Summary: 4 Stars
New telescope owners--new amateur astronomers--often give up the hobby rather quickly because they cannot align their scopes. Usually that is because they do not have the foggiest where the star named Cocab, or Tejat, or whatever obscure star their scope wants to point to actually is. Well with this instrument, they can find that star. Maybe amateur astronomy will become more popular and accessible with instruments like the SkyScout.
Things I liked:
1. Easy and fast software update (I have a satellite internet connection, and the update time was less than 1').
2. Quick GPS location of observing site
3. Amazingly accurate "Identify" function
Things I liked less:
1. I find the screen a real pain to read. Black on deep red--what's with that? At night my 65 year old eyes dilate and even +3.0 diopter glasses fail to make the screen clear, but they blur the sky, thank you. I know the "night vision" paranoia runs deep, but even gray on red would work much better!
2. I have had mostly good "Locate" experiences, although not always. Sometimes it says "go up" then "go right" then "go down" then "go left." You can spend a long evening on this merry-go-round. BTW, the object was nearly centered the whole time.
3. There's no way I can find to practice indoors. My unit complains of too much magnetic interference and shuts down. This is really a minor irritation, however.
All together--I'd buy one again, without a second though!