Anyone own a Sky Scout from Celestron?

[wavelandscott]

Does anyone in here own a Sky Scout?

They are the Celstron handheld unit that identifies objects (my simplified version).

I have not seen any threads here on it since launch and was curious what impressions people had.

They seem to get some good feedback over on CN but I've not seen any Southern Hemisphere feedback so I am curious.

They sound appealing to me in particular the way I tend to view with kids...

Comments appreciated.

[snowyskiesau]

There's one for sale here!

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=18155&highlight=sky+scout

[Phil]

Yep i have the one for sale as i need the money for a new scope. They are great put the earphones in and point it at the sky and press the buttom and you get a audio feed back about what you are looking at also does a lot more then that. Great for the kids as a learning tool . Or great from any one learning the night sky.

[wavelandscott]

Okay, so we have one owner who seems to have liked it but is selling their Sky Scout...

Any other feedback?

I've read lots of North American feedback and it sounds pretty good bar the battery usage...anyone "down under"???

[MikeyB]

Meade's new mySKY (https://www.bintelshop.com.au/Product.aspx?ID=7522) sounds like it comes with all the advantages of being second to the market. The ability to directly connect it to some of the existing Meade computerised scopes (ETX in particular), makes it potentially a very useful accessory after the initial 'gee whiz' novelty fades.

Given Meade's rather disappointing record with new product introductions, I'll be waiting for critical reviews and user feedback before opening my wallet, but if mySKY performs as advertised, I imagine we'll be seeing an upgraded Sky Scout II from Celestron in the near future!

[Blue Skies]

I have used one briefly and initially had some trouble pointing it the right way as it is not obvious which is the back and which is the front (this is without a manual handy). After that it was ok. Feed back from other users is that is light on with southern hemisphere objects, but has all the Messiers. I'll be hoping to see an updated database in the future to make it really useful south of the equator.

[gmbfilter]

I've had one for a couple of months, huge fun. Get out on the chair with some wild turkey and enjoy the night. First set of batteries didnt last too long switched to lithium and they dont want to go flat

[GeoffW1]

I have no Skyscout, but I got out in a chair with a bottle of Limoncelo and some paper sky charts, and I began seeing double stars everywhere I looked. :P

GeoffW1