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Celestron SkyScout Personal Planetarium
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Availability:
In Stock
Price:
$249.99
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| Part No: | B000CNPAAA |
| Manufacturer: | Celestron |
| MFG Part: | 93970 |
| Customer Rating: | 4.0 / 5.0 |
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- Locates and identifies over 6,000 stars, planets, and constellations with GPS technology
- Red LED backlit display for easy-to-read information
- Accepts SkyTour SD multi-media cards for interactive tours of the night sky
- Includes USB port for easy download of database updates
- Measures 7.4 x 2.5 x 4.0 inches (W x H x D)
| I love this thing | 2010-07-26 | 5 / 5 |
| | I bought my Sky Scout on Jun30th and got it on july 8th. It works great it was hard to up date but it worked before and after I love this thing. |
| great for kids and adults alike | 2010-07-24 | 5 / 5 |
| | Wow, my wife bought this for me for fathers day and I can't put it down. I've gained as much knowledge from this little gadget as I did in my astronomy class in college. I'd recommend a sky scout to anyone with kids-they'll ask some tough questions and you'll sound like a genius with its help. One thing to look out for is the sleeves that you are required to place over batteries before installation do not fit all rechargeable batteries. Don't be worried about confusing instructions or a myriad of obscure functions, you'll be discovering new worlds in a matter of minutes. |
| A great tool for 'senior' astronomy lovers | 2010-06-29 | 4 / 5 |
| | I am very pleased with the unit. It is a great tool for those of us with geriatric memories (I'm 74). Many people have commented that it is a real battery hog. I found that to be true, but then the batteries are cheap (two AA batteries). The magnetic compass is so sensitive to metal objects that I can't use it on my astronomy tripod although the unit has a threaded hole (1/4-20) that could be used for that purpose. Perhaps the hole is only intended for attaching the optional speaker. I found that acquiring the GPS satellites usually takes more than one attempt. It takes long enough that once it is done, I am reluctant to turn it off to save batteries. Software upgrades from the internet are available with a PC but not a Mac (I use a Mac.) As delivered, the audio program list is rather short. The text scientific data is good, but missing a significant item: how far away is the object? It is very light weight (important for backpackers). It is especially useful in situations where clouds are obstructing enough of the sky to make identification of stars from location in a constellation very difficult. for those who have telescope drives without a GPS receiver, you can read out your location accurately enough from the SkyScout. |
| grand gadget flawed by a few warts | 2010-06-13 | 4 / 5 |
| 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.
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| Skyscout Rocks! | 2010-05-31 | 5 / 5 |
| | Recieved my Skyscout just a couple of days ago and so far it is very impressive! Only complaint I have is with the U.S.Postal Service tracking system, it really sucks! Took it out of the box, read over the quick setup guide, installed batteries and went outside to try it out. GPS was up and running in under two minutes. I am an amateur astronomer so the first several targets I tried in the identify mode were those I already knew and was amazed at how dead on it was. Next I tried the locate function and used the Tonight's Highlight's function. The arrow buttons in the view screen easily guided me to each of the targets and once again was spot on. The audio tutorial is fairly basic, but informative and has some interesting facts about each of the targets viewed. The field guide is also fairly basic but has some great features. Just about right for a beggining to intermediate amateur astronomer, not to technical but I learned a lot of cool facts! I have not had the battery problems that I have read about either. I still have about 3/4's battery life left after probably 6-8 hours use on the original set of batteries I installed. This is a wonderful product and would make a really nice gift for anybody interested in astronomy, especially for someone just starting out or maybe a kid that is showing interest! My wife is a college professor and thinks it is an amazing educational tool. I really wish that I had a Skyscout when I was a kid! Now that I know it works as well as it does I am ordering the Skyscout Connect to use with my telescope. With the features it has and it's ease of use I believe it will take my astronomy experience to a new level. All in all I am very very happy with it's performance and really look forward to learning with it! |
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