Skyscout

[sharpy]

Hi All
Can anyone advise - Is the skyscout universal meaning does it have special software for southern or northern hemisphere - I ask because I have the opportunity to have one brought in from the USA at considerable less cost. If it is universal does it have adequate detail of southern skies?
thanks
David

[Blue Skies (Jacquie)]

It is universal but people have found that there aren't as many southern hemisphere objects programmed in as there is northern ones. You can still identify bright stars its just a bit lacking in the deep sky dept.

There have also been problems with dud ones - some seem to work brilliantly and others just don't seem to go. Seems to be the luck of the draw. But hopefully they've fixed it now, too.

My info is a few years old now, perhaps someone else has something more up to date.

[sharpy]

Thanks Blue Skies - appreciate the advice
David

[BlackWidow (Mardy)]

Hi David. I can help you with this one as I have a Skyscout that I purchased from Scope City in Las Vegas when on holiday.. The simple answer is yes it is the same unit all over the world and has all the same info in it. I love my unit and have used it alongside of a Dobsonian to find objects and to identify them. I made a mount to put it on the telescope, but it nedds to be mounted with distance due to magnetic problems... The comment that blue Skys has made about more northern objescts is a little true, but Their has been heaps of updates and lots of deep sky stuff and more southern objects.. I have not had a problem yet of not being able to find what I am looking for in the menu of objects (I live in Adelaide). I would see things in Magazines and then go and find them with the skyscout and look at them with my telescope..

Anyway Yes you can purchase then far less overseas. If you are purchasing a new one just be aware that the warrenty will not be covered here. My first on I got did not work and Celestron would not cover it here in Australia. I had all sorts of problems getting it replaced. It was a good thing that Celestron were the sponsors of the International year of Astronomy. A few E-Mails to the organisers expressing my concers over Celestrons warrenty policy soon got some attention from celestron (Funny that!). They agreed to replace the item and I am very happy with it.

you will also still be able to get all the online updates as they become avaliable. Great to show freinds and children and is really good with a speaker attached so you can here all the audio on the objects you are looking at. You can just use a cheap Ipod or MPS external speaker rather that using the overpriced Celestron Speaker..

With all that said, Yes it will work and if the price is good, I would grab it with both hands. You will have alot of fun with it..


Cheers

[wavelandscott (Scott)]

I echo BlackWidow's comments (except mine always worked)...I had no problem with my North American purchased one working in Southern Hemisphere.

My kids love it!

[gmbfilter (Geoff)]

I love mine
I use it with Farpoint binomount
http://www.farpointastro.com/farsight/skyscout.php

I have seen one of these, scopescout working on a GSO dob http://www.astronomy-shoppe.com/

I wished you could an external power supply and leave it turned on all night

[Allan_L (Allan)]

Originally Posted by gmbfilter

I wished you could an external power supply and leave it turned on all night

I second that wish!!!

[sharpy]

Thanks all for the replies and the advice - I am going to go ahead with the purchase and will let you know how it turns out
thanks
David

[Newtownian]

I've just bought one. I was dubious but it seemed a potentially useful device when visiting friends to help them learn the heavens.

Amazingly it appears to work as described bearing in mind the wobbly nature of compasses. Some points of notes:

1. Compared to the as received version software there have been a lot of firmware updates which can be downloaded from Celestron. The major last one a few years old has a lot more interesting objects and starts to look for or locate approximately. Notably it has now in addition the Messier objects lists of calder objects ngc and herschel 400 items plus a lot more stars.

2. I had a bit of a problem getting the USB drivers needed to transfer the new firmware from the computer to the skyscout. If you have trouble be patient and just keep working at it. I had to reload the main program and update it a couple of times but it didnt hurt the units.

3. Regarding batteries I have 2400 mAh NiMH. These work well for at least 30 minutes straight and I have spares so no big deal there. I've seen complaints but its more of a nuisance - to change that is. The web site says dont use NiCds but these are inferior so there is no reason anyway.

4. You cant properly explore the unit options without taking a fix first outside.

5. Oddly position is only reported in degrees but in the suboption menu you do get minutes as well.

6. If two bright stars are close together like a centauri and hadar it may not identify the dimmer star correctly. It seems to have a probability function which lists the most likely candidate - but this is minor criticism.

So far so good.

[PlanetMan]

One more pointer with Skyscout - don't store it inside any case or along side your eyepieces/diagonals. Mine worked great until one unfortunate evening when I had the idea of storing my skyscout actually inside one of my cases alongside a bunch of astro bits and pieces (ie.metal objects). Initially, I couldn't get it to work but once I did manage to get it working again the accuracy in terms of the identify and locate functions have never been the same/as good.