Last night was a very clear night.....my Skyscout had it's first outing.
I put the batteries in and turned it on and stood out in the back garden waiting for it to acquire the GPS satellites lock. After about 2 minutes it had my location. Pointed at a few objects in the sky and it locked on and gave full info on the small LCD screen. To confirm what it was telling me was accurate I had my laptop next to me with Stellarium working. This is a free program that tells you whats in the sky and where in real time.
You have the option to point at something and ask the unit to identify it. 100% accurate. You can locate a named star/plant/galaxy etc and it guides you to it in the sky. 100% accurate. It can give you a tour of the sky and take you to suggested views but I didn't try this part.
I played with the unit for about 20 minutes then went to my telescope which was also new. My wife then played with the Skyscout and absolutely loved it. She couldn't put it down and after half an hour or so had visited most of the constellations in our view.
Well recommended.
Is there any element of magnification with the viewing - if not how do you get the granularity to point at lots of things.
There is no magnification so I can see this as a problem with densely populated areas of sky. The scope is pretty accurate though. There was a couple of occasions where I put a star in the centre of the scope, pressed target and it didn't lock on. There were a few stars in the area and I obviously didn't get it bang right in the middle. Tried it again making sure it was bang centre and it locked on straight away.
Overall it's a play thing for budding astronomers.....it's quite educational but it does have it's limitations.
Overall I'd still recommend it.
I have an app for my iPhone 3GS called Starmap which is absolutely great. Using the GPS and compass it shows you what is in the sky in front of you, but I must say the Skyscout does sound a neat little toy.
I have a similar program on my blackberry called MicroSky, that's quite nifty too.
It's my turn now. data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7Mine top one is not that cool as yours but i bet it's more brighter. That's the 35W 3700 lumens(lol) xenon hid flashlight torch from Greenlaserpointer.org . It's ultra bright at night. I sought a high power laser pointer(not recommended coz it injures the retinadata:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7) but finally chose this less dangerous & much brighter gadget. I'm a student and don't use it often, but it turns me on everytime i point it at the buildings far far away.
Got to be Sky HD for me.
Don't seem to watch anything unless I've recorded it!
Only trouble is we record to much and If we watch TV else where the adverts drive us mad!
I use HID for mountain biking, on 700 lumens but bright enough for 6 hoursnight riding.
Really？I think i need get a 700 lumens torch. 6 hours, that's cool. I had a 250 lumen flashlight collection, and just plain.
Thanks, anyway.
It is a Light & Motion bike light, arc ultra has the 6 hours life, most people are getting the cree LED ones now though, 900 lumens for them.
I have also go a 300 lumen cree torch, great for winter nights.