Or... you could just used Google Sky free app on your phone. It can help you locate objects in sky by telling you which direction to look.

gstmoney wrote:I bit. Point & click. Seems like a great stocking stuffer for the 8 yr old.

$100 stocking stuffers? I'm going to have to write a strongly worded letter to Santa...

SkyScout and astronomy apps have their place.

Key things that I like about Sky Scout over Sky Safari or Star Walk (ipad apps), is that you can point it to a specific object and know what that is....its hard to do it accurately with an iphone/ipad app and specifically know what the object is.

But then again, these apps help you plan what you are going to see in the sky at any future point in time, lets say you are planning an astronomy vacation ;)

sdkammer wrote:This looks really cool...and I might actually have been in for one...except..

I'm pretty sure the reason this is so inexpensive is that now, anyone with an Android phone has just about every bit of this functionality (and possibly some things this doesn't do) with the free app "Google Sky". I imagine there's something similar in IOS but I don't know for sure.

Sorry guys...don't get my money today...but you'll get it sooner or later...

I have used Google Sky on my Galaxy S while in the wilderness. If I don't have coverage, it doesn't work! You'd think that with just the GPS connecting, you'd be able to use the app, but for me it has not worked on several occasions. In town, there's too much light pollution to really see anything cool. I may get this to have something to bring to remote locations.

If I'm reading the main photo on the product page right, this will also help you locate Woot! Support. And I have to say, that family looks pretty excited about finding it.

So, am I correct in thinking the viewfinder provides NO sort of magnification - whatever I am looking at thru it is 1:1? Would be nice if it had at least a cheap 10x feature.

Russ6169 wrote:Can't my iPad do everything that this can do?

Yes....including ruining your night vision along with everyone else with you.

editorkid wrote:If I'm reading the main photo on the product page right, this will also help you locate Woot! Support.

They are pretty stellar folks.

The comedy value is worth $99 alone....

I pointed one of these at my wife's rear-end in Brookstone, and told her "I'm looking for Uranus!"

does this have a mounting slot for telescopes? can one be purchased?

Two things this does that your smartphone can't.

1. Identification of objects you're looking at. No smartphone app I've found can do this with any reasonable accuracy.

2. Control of Celestron's computerized mounts with the optional interface. If you decide to move up to a full-on computerized mount telescope, this gives your scope GPS and direct control. It also lets you skip several steps in the alignment process. I can't tell you how cool it is to point this thing at an object I want to look at and watch my telescope move to that object.

decent price, but wonder why Woot has shows list price of $380??

Even Celestron has an everyday MSRP of less than $200. It's been selling at this price for years.

msawyer13 wrote:$100 stocking stuffers? I'm going to have to write a strongly worded letter to Santa...

Santa said that due to austerity measures kids will only get star wheels this year.

nextcity wrote:After leading an effort to build an astrononomy viewing park in the City of O'Fallon, MO, several years ago when I worked there as a City Planner. I became an amateur astronomer. THIS IS A GREAT PRODUCT, BUT YES, YOUR SMART PHONE HAS DOZENS OF APPS THAN CAN DO THE SAME THING.

Good suggestion thank you.

Instead of making this purchase, I HIGHLY suggest the below set of Astronomical Binoculars from Celestron instead for $50 (they were $80 just a week ago). After you read a few of the over 400 reviews, you will see that these are an absolute steal at $50.


http://www.amazon.com/Celestron-SkyMaster-Binoculars-Tripod-Adapter/dp/B00008Y0VN/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1354528095&sr=8-1&keywords=celestron+skymaster

Good deal, but the manufacturer is selling it for $199 so it's not really 75% off but rather 50%.

I would be tempted if it came with mounts so I could just put it on my telescope and set it like I do the viewfinder. It seems like a great upgrade.

I will mull it over today.

Does anyone know if there are mounts for this so I can put it in place of my viewfinder add it too?

workinpoor wrote:Speaking of iPads, how come mine can't seem to play any videos Woot! posts these days? Little blank area comes up like it wants to show it, but nothing happens.

Your iPad won't play Flash video.

801jones wrote:Good deal, but the manufacturer is selling it for $199 so it's not really 75% off but rather 50%.

I noticed the same thing. Is Woot inflating the list price in order to make the deals look better? Hmm

mutatedbrain wrote:SkyScout and astronomy apps have their place.

Key things that I like about Sky Scout over Sky Safari or Star Walk (ipad apps), is that you can point it to a specific object and know what that is....its hard to do it accurately with an iphone/ipad app and specifically know what the object is.

But then again, these apps help you plan what you are going to see in the sky at any future point in time, lets say you are planning an astronomy vacation ;)

I am curious as to why an iPad would be any harder to point at an object in the sky than this device? Some of the apps I have seen use the camera on the back of the iPad to project the sky image on the screen of the iPad. What am I missing?

As someone has already written, the iPads and other devices will do a great job as night sky navigators. But they are also too bright and will ruin your night vision. To make them night vision friendly you would need to put some red cellophane over the screen to filter the light. Or maybe the developers have (or will) make the programs with a filtering option.

So many options for Android users and almost all of the Android apps have a night vision mode (screen changes do a muted red so not to interfere with your vision. Surprised no one mentioned SkEye Free app? SkEye is an advanced Planetarium that can also be used as a PUSHTO guide for telescopes.
If you have a telescope, just strap the phone onto the OTA and you get a PUSHTO guide

Features
 • Time machine : Jump to any date in past or future
 • Real time Alt-Azimuth and Equatorial coordinates
 • Messier objects
 • mini-NGC catalog (subset of ~180 bright objects)
 • Solar system objects including all 8 planets and the 5 Galilean moons
 • Night Mode
 • Search, with a guiding arrow
 • Alt-Azimuth, Equatorial grid

Except the smartphones have more powerful computers, more storage, better and bigger displays and are easily updated. Oh, and you're more likely to have them with you and you don't have to worry about whether the device is charged from the last time you used it three weeks ago.

nechronius wrote:Certain gadgets are worth having as a dedicated tool for the job.

If you think of a smartphone as a digital swiss army knife, what you have is a pocket full of tools that may do the job reasonably well but is seldom really stellar at certain tasks, pun intended. The apps in my smartphone are for when I don't have access to *real* tools. At about the cost of a single Benjamin I'd snap this up if I didn't have two already.

Another gadget that falls along these lines is a portal car GPS. Squinting at my smartphone for directions makes me feel pretty stupid.

Lots of talk about phone apps. This one is by far my favorite for iPad/Phone: http://skysurvey.org/

editorkid wrote:Here's the manual.

(And look! I linked it, which Woot forum commenters never do. Seriously, why don't people take the five seconds to add the two tags?)

Well look how awesome you are.

Woody1 wrote:So many options for Android users and almost all of the Android apps have a night vision mode (screen changes do a muted red so not to interfere with your vision.

Unfortunately, that only really works if you've got a phone with an AMOLED screen. Traditional LCDs can't shut off all other colors like an AMOLED screen can (light still bleeds through "off" pixels while with AMOLED black = off).

This is also available at Telescopes.com for 99 bucks right now too.

http://www.telescopes.com/telescope-accessories/general-accessories/celestronskyscoutpersonalplanetarium.cfm?RNtt=skyscout

+1 my friend.

dliidlii wrote:Does it come with lifetime maps? I hear the universe may end soon and the night time sky will need to be completely updated.

surfcasper wrote:does this have a mounting slot for telescopes? can one be purchased?

this has a threaded receptacle that can be used with a tripod or adapters. same as on the bottom of most cameras.

i believe celestron and others sold adapters that allowed you to attach to a telescope and use it like a view finder.

you can google too see if it is actually practical, because its still more fun to hold it in your hand and be able to quickly point at different things and pass it on to your neighbor.

also it might not like magnetic interference of metal objects. it has an icon to warn you of that.

Edit:
http://www.celestron.com/c3/support3/index.php?_m=knowledgebase&_a=viewarticle&kbarticleid=2171

We don’t recommend use of the SkyScout as a finderscope.

There are two reasons.

First, the SkyScout is built to be sensitive to magnetic fields in order to determine orientation of the unit. Mounting on a telescope with its metal tube, mount castings and drive gears, counterweights and tripod will significantly affect the SkyScout’s magnetic accuracy and will probably give you a magnetic icon warning.

This is true even if you use a non-magnetic bracket, like the one supplied with the SkyScout Scope 90.

Second, the SkyScout is simply not accurate enough to point a telescope, as it was meant to be used with the unaided eye. It should point you to about two to three degrees of the target (within the unmagnified view in the viewfinder). It is not accurate enough to place an object within the (usually) much narrower field of view of a telescope’s eyepiece.

but its possible even if not necessary:

lokeyslave wrote:So, am I correct in thinking the viewfinder provides NO sort of magnification - whatever I am looking at thru it is 1:1? Would be nice if it had at least a cheap 10x feature.

correct. magnification is 1x

the reason for it is accuracy i believe, you don't hold it to your eye, you hold it at about half of arm length away. with magnification you wouldn't be able to hold your hand steady to point at the object. you can use GoTo or other computerized telescopes for that.

powermatt wrote:Unfortunately, that only really works if you've got a phone with an AMOLED screen. Traditional LCDs can't shut off all other colors like an AMOLED screen can (light still bleeds through "off" pixels while with AMOLED black = off).

Wow! Like it really matters? I haven't had an LCD bleed from the edges since the '90s. As of 2012, AMOLED technology is used in mobile phones, media players and digital cameras,and continues to make progress toward low-power, low-cost and large-size (for example, 40-inch) applications.

The Samsung Galaxy II and III have a Super AMOLED Plus screen.

Don't know what your point was anyway? Free apps on devices you already own that not only have and are more powerful as well as the whole interface and scripting can be manipulated vs. what? A toy that is limited.

If I wanted to really be PHD or Doctorate serious about finding a specific star or planet (and I would rather know what the Mayans were thinking first), I'd go to an Observatory to get a real look.

jamesbottomtooth wrote:but its possible even if not necessary:

That looks like my telescope. Hmmm... Now to convince the g/f

gstmoney wrote:I bit. Point & click. Seems like a great stocking stuffer for the 8 yr old.

"Stocking Stuffers" in your family are $100 items? I wish I grew up in your family.

Woody1 wrote:Wow! Like it really matters? I haven't had an LCD bleed from the edges since the '90s. As of 2012, AMOLED technology is used in mobile phones, media players and digital cameras,and continues to make progress toward low-power, low-cost and large-size (for example, 40-inch) applications.

The Samsung Galaxy II and III have a Super AMOLED Plus screen.

Don't know what your point was anyway? Free apps on devices you already own that not only have and are more powerful as well as the whole interface and scripting can be manipulated vs. what? A toy that is limited.

If I wanted to really be PHD or Doctorate serious about finding a specific star or planet (and I would rather know what the Mayans were thinking first), I'd go to an Observatory to get a real look.

If you stand outside for about 30 minutes on a moonless night and bring up a smartphone with an LCD screen, you'll easily see the backlight bleeding through the "black" pixels. I've got a Galaxy Nexus with an AMOLED screen. Google Sky works great on that because when it's in night mode, the black pixels are off, and the screen is only putting out red light. This makes a huge difference if you want to spot the milky way or other reasonably bright deep sky objects like Orion's nebula or the Pleiades. But unless you leave your phone's screen on the entire time, at some point you're likely going to wipe out your night vision with the lock screen. I'm not saying your can't do some casual observing with a smartphone and an app, but there's plenty of things you can see with the naked eye or a good pair of binoculars that a smartphone is going to have trouble showing you. That's where something like Celestron's sky scout does a much better job. The myth that you need to spend a ton of money to see the good stuff just isn't true. You'd be surprised what you can see with nothing more than a pair of binoculars after standing outside in the dark for a while. I picked out Jupiter's moons with a lowly pair of 8x30's once.

ThunderThighs wrote:They're playing on mine just fine. Any video in particular? I played the one linked on the Features tab of this sale. It shows a generic YouTube graphic for a moment but then it loads and plays just fine.

Any of them. It's been this way for a few days, perhaps even a week or so. Any Woot video, any site. if I go to YouTube, I can search for it and view it (I know, I have no life).

Mescalero wrote:Well look how awesome you are.

No foolin'. Thoughtful and kind, too.

:|

Ironic... I wrote the review for this for Astronomy Magazine years ago when they first came out. Bluntly - it's a great unit, and well worth $100 even in the age of free smartphone apps. Heck I'm tempted by it and I certainly don't need one.

ragsys wrote:

Warranty is amended to say must be be purchased from Celestron dealers.

I just looked at their online warranty, where does it state the product must be purchased by a Celestron dealer?

jmulek wrote:This is also available at Telescopes.com for 99 bucks right now too.

http://www.telescopes.com/telescope-accessories/general-accessories/celestronskyscoutpersonalplanetarium.cfm?RNtt=skyscout

I just looked it up - it's $180

Russ6169 wrote:Can't my iPad do everything that this can do?

You can not mount your I-Pad to a telescope and use it as a finder scope. This you can.