Celestron SkyScout Personal Planetarium -

Customer Reviews:

A Revolution in Astronomy
I have literally been waiting for the Skyscout all my life. I always wanted to be able to look in the sky and identify celestial bodies but just didn't have the kind of brain that could wrap itself around star charts. Nor did I know anyone who could stand there and discuss it with me on a chilly night.

The Skyscout is like no other astronomy-related device because for the first time, you can just take it out of the box, put in the batteries, wait a few seconds for it to find its location via GPS (same as a car navigation system), point at something in the sky and press the IDENTIFY button to have it identified to you. Think about that for a second. At last, you have an easy-to-use handheld device that can tell you what star or star formation you're looking at!

Or you can work the other way. Have it list celestial bodies and formations for you, press the LOCATE button, then helpful arrows in the readout will blink until you've pointed it in the right direction. And many of the entries in its database have audio accompaniment so you can learn about them through the included earphones! How cool is that? It has a slot that will eventually accept cartridges with more stuff as time goes by, but the built-in database is pretty big as it is.

And for what it's worth, because the Skyscout uses built-in GPS, you can use it to display your locaiton using GPS coordinates. I have a nav system on my car but the SkyScout is still better than that, because I can't figure out how to get that info out of the car! on the Skyscout it's just one button.

All this stuff is particularly easy to access, and even the error messages are helpful. For example, on one particularly cold Seattle night I tried to use it from inside my car. A magnet icon popped up, and an error message explained that magnetic interference by something such as the chassis of an automobile was impeding it. Slick.

The gizmos currently included with high-end telescopes come nowhere near this facility. First off, you need a telescope with you. The Skyscout is the size of a hotel alarm clock and has its own (non-magnified) viewer. Just whip this thing out of your pocket and go to town. Second, the ones with telescopes are agonizingly slow to calibrate, like half an hour or so, and must be reoriented every time you pick up the 'scope and move. Plus you have to enter all kinds of location and time information on many of them; the Skyscout just finds itself. And finally, none of them of course can simply tell you what you've pointed the 'scope at. The Skyscout can. I also need to emphasize that it neither needs nor comes with an 80-page manual like the ones that come with telescopes. It's like 1 printed sheet, and that's plenty. The UI is very, very simple.

This is a revolutionary 1.0 product. My only complaint is that goes through batteries like I eat Lucky Charms. Bring an extra set when you go out. Oh, and one reviewer said that for $400 it should come with a lens cap. Fair enough. But remember that the optics are almost irrelevant--it's just a plastic cover so you can see the lighted guides pointing you in the right direction. Get a fingerprint on it, fine--just wipe it off with any lens tissue. The unit won't be damaged, nor will its usefulness be affected in any way by a dirty lens. Your telescope has the magnfication and the useful optics. If you even brought it with you--I never have, so far!

--2006-12-18

Works very well, educational, and plain fun
After seeing some of the other reviews which rank it low, I can only imagine they had a bad batch. Mine works flawlessly, aquires a GPS signal within about 1-2 minutes, and I have no problems with magnetic interferance. In terms of battery life, I've used it for about an average of an hour over 5 different nights and I am still on my first set of batteries (regular AA Alkalines). The product is well made, sturdy, and has a solid feel.

My 9 year old daughter has invented a new verb "skyscouting", and we have been "skyscouting" almost every night we've had clear skies and learning more about the night sky more quickly than ever before! She loves the "Identify" mode and enjoys targetting stars. I especially like the constellation image feature and Tonight's Highlights. I did notice that the audio and text descriptions differ slightly so listen/look at both.
--2006-12-13

Great Product! A+
I am very satisfied with this product. It performs exactly as advertised. The GPS system acquires surprisingly quickly. When I first brought it outside, the first thing I did was point it at the star Altair as a test. Bingo! I just couldn't believe it. Then I listened to the audio message on it. Even though it does chew batteries, don't let that keep you from buing this product. It is truly amazing!
--2006-12-12

Wait for the next version
I too am disappointed with this product, despite my high hopes. I found the same problems as others have already posted on Amazon.

I suggest that you wait for the improved product. I'm sure Celestron has read these reviews and is working on improving device. They must know how many sales they have lost from all these negative postings.

At $400 for a toy, uh, tool, I will wait for a better product.
--2006-12-10

It's a 5 star product when (and if) it works.
After anticipating it for several months my SkyScout arrived. It was defective out of the box. The magnetic warning symbol would turn off only if I held the unit horizontally. When I tilted it up or down, the warning would reappear. Sent back to Celestron (I had to pay postage) for repair.

The replacement worked - for awhile. I must have used it no more than 15 minutes before it failed with a D in the upper left corner of the LED screen. It stoped identifying planets and major stars and only identified minor ones nearby the target. I turned it off and then on. It then decided it couldn't get a GPS sync. Back to Celestron a second time, again at my expense.

I'm waiting for the replacement but so far my failure rate is 100%. I haven't been able to use it enough to run into battery-eating problems. I noted as others have that the GPS takes an inordinate time to sync.

I'll be happy to revise this rating once I get a device that works more than a few days. This is my first Celestron product and it makes my happy that I got a Meade telescope.

Still, I have to say that when it works, the SkyScout is a wonderful device for learning the night sky.
--2006-12-07

Celestron SkyScout Personal Planetarium

- Celestron