 "AWESOME" | 2008-04-24 |
| - Reviewed By Karen S |
| Worth Every Penny. My kids love the product and are learning a lot. I would recommend this product to anyone. |
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 "Pretty cool device" | 2008-09-30 |
| - Reviewed By mjadamci |
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. |
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| "Very Enjoyable!" | 2008-09-27 |
| - Reviewed By User: AAKW0QPUMCT1A |
| Got these as a gift for my husband and, WOW, how wonderful for him to look at the constellations and be able to identify what he's looking at. Very nicely made and easy to use. A nice idea put to use for our enjoyment! |
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 "A very fun product" | 2008-09-24 |
| - Reviewed By keithrule |
I was given a SkyScout as an award at the company I work at (it would have never occurred to me to buy one). I've had it out several times with my kids (11 and 7) this summer.
My kids love the SkyScout. All you do is point it at an object in the sky and press identify and it will tell you what it is (very cool). If you want to find something you just look it up in the UI and then follow the read lights in the view finder (even cooler).
My kids love to look at the sky in the summer and this has given them all the more reason to learn about astronomy. They've been asking me to get the telescope out so than can see even more.
Pros:
Easy to use. Very cool features. It always draws a crowd at night. It helps the kids learn astronomy in the best way I can think of - they get immediate answers questions while looking at the stars. That's way better than looking up info on Wikipedia any day.
Cons:
I can't read the display at night without my reading glasses. The GPS can take several tries to find its position (even with an open sky). The list of objects to find isn't filtered when objects are over the horizon. It's often close but not always exactly on the object we're looking for.
All-in-all it's a great learning tool. It makes learning for my kids (and for me) fun. We've really enjoyed it. Having used it, I would highly recommend it to parents who value educating their kids about astronomy.
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| "Good for eduation; better with improvements" | 2008-09-04 |
| - Reviewed By User: AOUG7UMHV246W |
We are new to astronomy and have used this for over a month. To date,we are pretty much satisfied with this product. The upgrade went smoothly and battery use not bad (though we are using rechargeable). My only dislikes are:
1. Screen is difficult to read (for older, over 40 eyes that is; younger folks might not have issue). It could be the color and I wish there were a way to change it.
2. You need to use a headphone or external speaker. Minor nit, but when you have a group of younger folks enjoying this product, it is nice to point and all listen at the same time so that everyone can find a unique object.
3. Sighting is a little awkward and many choices sometimes come up (big circle and shaky hands, though a tripod might help the latter), so you need a little more background information to correctly identify what you saw.
Other than that, we have been quite pleased. |
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| "Great star-finding tool!" | 2008-08-31 |
| - Reviewed By johnmevik |
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. |
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 "Fun for the whole family" | 2008-08-18 |
| - Reviewed By User: A18PBWPQQC2Z1G |
| We purchased this for my parents in their 70s but everyone enjoyed it, even our 9 year old son. It is a wonderful way to learn more about the night sky. |
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| "Better than I expected" | 2008-07-23 |
| - Reviewed By User: A2P0SI8MUN1BFG |
| I bought this as a present for my husband and he loved it. I was impressed with the precision and quickness of targeting a star. We also have a Celestron telescope so we may be inclined to be thrilled by things that supplement our stargazing habit. This is a nice hand held tool for quickly figuring out what you're looking at in the sky. |
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| "better with a low ratio telescope" | 2008-07-14 |
| - Reviewed By User: APDH7GHDH15EE |
| It is a easy-using, informative tool for astronomy lovers, however, for person without sharp vision like me, I still like to observe through a 2* or 5* lens instead of just a 1* tube. hopefully there will be some upgraded stuff that can fix that disadvantage. |
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| "skyscout" | 2008-06-28 |
| - Reviewed By lhill0349 |
| Love it. I've used it many times already and have had no problems with it. Helps me find sky objects to view with my 10" Dob. |
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| "Fantastic with a gripe not yet mentioned" | 2008-06-25 |
| - Reviewed By peterglenrock |
| Before I go into my gripe, I must say the Skyscope is so much fun, I love it. I am not going to give a complete review because I agree with most reviews like the battery life and slow to lock on to a satelite but it's worth putting up with that because it does what's expected with very little learning curve and it does it very well. My gripe is the screen, small fonts and not easy to read in the dark. I have pretty decent vision, I don't use glasses and newspaper is easy for me to read but when I use the Skyscope, I must borrow my wifes reading glasses. For me the screen would need to be improved and then I would give 5 stars. Again, I want to state that I have so much fun with this expensive toy, worth every penny. |
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