Celestron SkyScout Personal Planetarium by Celestron
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List Price: Our Price: $191.36 You Save: $206.59 (52%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $101.45 (click here) Category: Digital Camera See more digital camera details and other models |
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Digital camera reviews of Celestron SkyScout Personal Planetarium
Digital camera Review: Fantastic gizzmo
Summary: 5 Stars
This device does everything it says it will do and it does it quickly. I have been a student of astronomy for more than 40 years and I learned many new things from the audio and written descriptions of the sky objects. It is now easy to identify and put a name to objects that before now I only guessed at. A remarkable invention to use gps in this way. Very good product!Digital camera Review: Fantastic with a gripe not yet mentioned
Summary: 4 Stars
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.Digital camera Review: Fantastic! (but get at right price and source)
Summary: 5 Stars
This Celestron SkyScout is a superb astronomical device! Works exactly as advertised and
is great as a singluar item or with a telescope. (The optional speaker ($30) is very good for
use with group viewing, especially children too young to operate it.)
Caution: The selling/list price is $200 (even direct from celestron) so don't pay more
from other vendors (e.g. Amazon Partners such as MACY'S, 7GIFTS, etc). It's in stock NOW
via several sites [amazon (varies), celestron, adorama, astronomics, etc].
Note: This isn't a toaster; therefore a few SIMPLE factors are important: fresh batteries,
initial positional settings, and a non-signal-interfering viewing area. (Also, download the latest
database and software updates.) Afterall, this is an "Official Product of the International Year of
Astronomy 2009" and also won the following awards:
INTERNATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCE: Outstanding Technology of the Year (Finalist) 2006
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC ADVENTURE MAGAZINE: Best of Adventure Gear
CONSUMER ELECTRONICS ASSOCIATION (CEA): Best of Innovations 2006
Digital camera Review: Feels like a quality piece but mine arrived dead with GPS error.
Summary: 1 Stars
UPDATE -- I exchanged my first defective one and my second unit works well, although it is slow to acheive a GPS lock (Celestron could take a lesson from Garmin here). Once you have patiently allowed the GPS to lock, this thing IS, objectively speaking, super cool. It is not 100% accurate, but it is darned close -- and the inaccuracy is likely a result of me standing near metal (it has a magnetic compass to determine your orientation which is highly precise and thus highly sensitive).
Anyway, I largely agree with the other positive reviews with my second unit. Warning -- a friend bought one to use on a cross-atlantic cruise, and it cannot be used this way, as it's a bit difficult to get away from metal when you're standing on many tons of it! However, he liked using his after he got home, and does not regret buying it.
If I rate this based on the experience with my second (non-defective)unit, and my friend's experience with his unit, I would give it four stars (it needs to be faster to acheive GPS lock and less sensitive to nearby metal for five stars).
ORIGINAL REVIEW
This looked and felt great as I unpacked it from it's box for the first time. It feels solidly constructed, was heavier than I expected, and was not cheap feeling at all.
Trouble is, it won't even boot up all the way. After splashing the start-up screen, a message reading "Error: GPS hardware problem detected. Please contact Celestron Technical Support." is displayed, and I can only adjust the brightness/contrast of the display or turn it off after this happens -- no other buttons respond.
I'm a gadget-hound and know my way around both GPS receivers and astronomy optics and other goodies, so this is not a case of technophobia. It's dead, Jim.
I see I am not the only one who recently had this error recently, based on other reviews here. I will call Celestron tomorrow and determine whether I should try to get it repaired or just ship it back for another unit. I will revise this review once I have a repair or replacement unit in hand.
Digital camera Review: For young eyes only!
Summary: 3 Stars
We bought the Skyscout for a Father's Day present. 50 year old eyes that need cheaters to see can't see the small text in the dark. We have to hand over the unit to our son to read the description! We're disappointed...