Celestron SkyScout Personal Planetarium
by Celestron
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Celestron SkyScout Personal Planetarium
Customer Review: Great for learning the night sky
Summary: 5 Stars
Excellent product. I've been following the reviews here since I heard about the Skyscout so the negative writeups kept me from purchasing for about 6 months. I decided to buy one this December and it has worked great. I live in Anchorage and have found GPS units don't work quite as well here as down in the lower 48, although they do work reiliably up here. However, with the Skyscout I can get a lock from inside my house. My Etrex Legend has a problem doing that. I cross referenced the Skyscouts identify function against my computer program Starry Night, and it identifies everything correctly. The locate function can be just outside the viewfinder every once in a while but the documentation said extreme Northern latitudes may experience this. After a few nights outside with the Skyscout you almost don't need to take it with you because you become so familiar with the night sky. The magnetic interference symbol lights up consistently when I'm in a couple of locations but I move a few yards away and it goes off. The battery usage is high so I bought some quality rechargeable 2500 mAh AA's and I always have a fresh set with me. The update program is excellent as well. Simply hook your Skyscout up to your computer with the included USB cable and it updates with the push of a buttone. Overall the unit is easy to use with minimal startup familiarization involved. All said I'm very pleased with the Skyscout and it will be something I use the rest of my life.Customer Review: Celestron SkyScout is a dream come true
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm 61 years young and always wanted to know more about the night sky, the moon and stars, planets, constellations, the Milky Way, etc; I was actually researching telescopes to purchase and in several of the reviews, the experienced amateur astronomer reviewer recommended that anyone seriously interested in learning astronomy and in general more about the night sky should perhaps first consider a SkyScout. This personal planetarium, they asserted, would make the use of the telescope easier and more enjoyable and provide a better starting place from which to explore the universe - and it has. I have used the SkyScout almost every single night since I received it in the mail. I purchased the optional speaker so that others could share in the fantastic audio desriptions of the stars, planets and constellations and the two available sim cards about astronomy and the stars. In addition I bought the Celestron Sky Charts and the guidebook Night Watch. I had always felt guilty that I didn't know the names of the stars, planets and constellations, now I know them and if I don't I just point the SkyScout at a star, click on identify and the name appears in the menu complete with text and audio descriptions. Or I can use the locate button to pick a star from the list of 6,000 or more and the lighted arrows in the viewfinder guide me right to the celestial object. I now spend every available night in "heaven" exploring the universe as never before.Customer Review: Very Cool
Summary: 5 Stars
I just got a Sky Scout from Woodland Hills Camera and Telescope last night. Since they are backordered until Spring all over the country, I'm feeling pretty lucky. I brought it home and installed the batteries into their special metal shields and took it outside to try it out. I was in the middle of our apartment complex in Los Angeles with 3 story buildings surrounding me and it managed to find GPS lock in under 2 minutes.
This thing is seriously cool. The operation is very easy and I was identifying objects very quickly. I asked it to locate the moon and it took me right to it! Wow, that is cool. The audio narrations are few but very informative.
Now like people have been complaining it does have some issues:
It goes through batteries like water ( 4 power on's and they were half dead.)
The GPS is slow/under powered ( GPS lock can take up to 2 minutes, and does not store your location on power down)
It does not like to be near metal objects (Cars, Fences, Gates, Beams...etc)
Limited audio narrations
Its made of plastic
Cheap earbuds
Red lights inside the scope make it tough to spot dim stars.
No Mac support
Despite all this, I really love this thing. It works like it says it does, and it's easy to use.
If you can find one, I recommend checking it out.
Customer Review: This is F-U-N !! Wow!
Summary: 5 Stars
I have a Celestron Nextstar SLT 130 which is one of my favorite telescopes due to the ease of use. I also ordered a GPS unit to upgrade the telescope. I also bought the SkyScout to increase the ease in finding and identifying stars in my very difficult location which has too many trees and too much light pollution. I read about the SkyScout Connect and was skeptically interested. Last night, in marginal overcast, I tested my new SkyScout, SkyScout Connect with the Celestron Nextstar SLT 130. Wow, I was the man! We easily attached the SkyScout to the telescope booted-up, made our alignment (auto two star) and then located the twenty highlights for the date and night in less than one hour. There is no exaggeration here; the "point and goto" function integrated into the SkyScout worked almost too easy. Point at a star, target, hit the "goto" button and the telescope immediately slewed to the object. My star party was a success. Frankly I was very surprised at the ease, exactness and precision with which the system worked. My crowd vocalized their pleasure many thinking I was the greatest astronomer they had ever met! The SkyScout and SkyScout connect made my telescope much more productive and fun. I will now sell my GPS unit as the Sky Scout has one built-in and fully integrated.Customer Review: Makes Astronomy simple.
Summary: 5 Stars
When I first saw the SkyScout back in 2007, I thought it would be cool to have, but didn't think it was worth $400. When the price fell below $200, I had to have it. So far, I'm very happy with it. I haven't had any issues. Before using it, I upgraded to the latest firmware. Some people claim you can't use rechargeable batteries, but I'm using NiMH batteries without a problem. I wish the battery cover didn't screw closed though. It is a slight inconvenience. In my tight backyard surrounded by other houses, I locked onto the satellites with no problem. Once in awhile it may take 2 attempts, but it's a quick process. To locate a star or planet, select the object's name from the menu and follow the directional arrows through the viewfinder. To "identify" an object, simply point the SkyScout at nearly any star in the sky and click the "target" button. The SkyScout will identify and display the object you are looking at. Once you've found an object, it gives you audio and text information, including facts, history and mythology. The SkyScout seems accurate, especially "identify", and I haven't been able to confirm it's made any mistakes. All in all, I really like it at its current price.