Celestron SkyScout - Astronomy for Beginners Expansion Card: Has anyone bought and used one of these?
1269421
I finally received this card. Regretfully, I'd recommend skipping it and just getting a good astronomy book.
1510207
I called Celestron and yes they are identical. You are paying more for the "Comsos" brand. Get the InfiniView model and save money.
2137030
Loretta; It came with the unit that I bought. I assume you can search at the Orbit Site and re-download if necessary.. If you have a particular question, possibly it could be answered if you pose it.
1384887
That looks like a nice telescope! According to the literature, the SkySync GPS works with all nexstar computerized, non-gps telescopes, which should include the 127. You could contact Celestron via their website and ask them, or just order this from Amazon and give it a try. I am sure you can return it if there is a problem.
925016
It's a start...hopefully it will pique your interest in astronomy...it's a fair telescope. ..start out on low power in a very dark area till you get familiar with it...good luck!
546828
I'm not sure. Having bought it for my 10 year old Grand Daughter, it has never crossed my mind. I'm sure you can contact Celestron and ask them though.
73552
Yes it is. However, I highly recommend that you replace it with the BARSKA binocular tripod adapter. The BARSKA adapter is made of metal and will help reduce, but not totally eliminate all vibration. The Celestron adapter is made of plastic or resin. I have several of the BARSKA adapters and they have helped a great deal. If this is your first set of astro binoculars, please consider a heavy tripod as well. It will make night sky viewing that much more pleasurable. Take a look at the Orion Paragon XHD tripod. It has a very good fluid head. You can always add a heavy "bean bag" type of weight from the center column of the tripod to assist vibration dampening.
2210053
Skyscout is supposed to identify objects in the sky. Mine was pretty useless, working only on rare occasions. I gave up on mine long ago.
1282541
I can't say I'd recommend it but it can be used for some DSO's - a DSLR is better. It has a pretty small field of view since it's meant for planets. If you use a long exposure, you can see Deep Sky objects but you have to have good tracking at that magnification. Having said that I was able to get a decent picture of the Eskimo Nebula. I took a video and stacked the frames with Registax. The image was noisy but cleaned up pretty well in Photoshop.
459592
The Celestron is quite a good beginner scope,and is intuitive and simple to use. If you want to get into astophography,you can easily purchase an adapter for your camera.One caveat,however:begin with the planets and Moon,also read afew basic astronomy books.Good seeing!
1636835
The GPS only captures time, date and location information so that you don't have to enter it manually. If you do have the GPS, make sure to enable the functionality through the NexStar menu. SkyQ Link allows the remote operation of the telescope but the alignment process still needs to be done manually. I agree with Doug, I would save my cash and get something more usefule like a Televue Barlow lens. You'll get more value out of it.In short, I find that Celestron makes good optical equipment and portable mounts but their ancillary products are yet to be desired. I have a few of these items and there aren't any that have been trouble free. Tech supports common boiler plate response is to 'replace' the item. The GPS only captures time, date and location information so that you don't have to enter it manually. If you do have the GPS, make sure to enable the functionality through the NexStar menu. SkyQ Link allows the remote operation of the telescope but the alignment process still needs to be done manually. I agree with Doug, I would save my cash and get something more usefule like a Televue Barlow lens. You'll get more value out of it.In short, I find that Celestron makes good optical equipment and portable mounts but their ancillary products are yet to be desired. I have a few of... » Read More The GPS only captures time, date and location information so that you don't have to enter it manually. If you do have the GPS, make sure to enable the functionality through the NexStar menu. SkyQ Link allows the remote operation of the telescope but the alignment process still needs to be done manually. I agree with Doug, I would save my cash and get something more usefule like a Televue Barlow lens. You'll get more value out of it.In short, I find that Celestron makes good optical equipment and portable mounts but their ancillary products are yet to be desired. I have a few of these items and there aren't any that have been trouble free. Tech supports common boiler plate response is to 'replace' the item. « Show Less
1998799
It will work fine, just don't expect scientific quality. The star maps are not extremely bright or very accurate.
1664769
I have not seen the Simmons. I am very pleased with my Celestron up thru 40X or maybe 45X. Above that, the optics are not as clear, and detail is not much more visible, even though the image is larger. Most of my useage is 1.5-2 miles looting at wildlife. At shorter ranges, the higher magnification would probably be adequate as well, that's just not what I use it for. Moon shots are impressive!
314461
Yes, it works well & the pictures of planets on the disc are quite nice. It runs on batteries so if you leave it on all night the batteries wear out quickly.
1002713
I just found this information on another dealer's website. From: JIM EDMISTON Sent: Monday, May 22, 2006 1:55 PM Subject: SkyScout Production Update Importance: High Unfortunately, we have run into problems securing the GPS crystal for the SkyScout. This crystal was substituted by the factory with a part that we did not specify and resulted in inconsistent GPS readings. We were not informed of this by the factory and discovered it only during our testing of the initial production models. We want to make sure that we put out the best product possible , so we will need to delay our first shipments of SkyScout until mid to late June. The potential of SkyScout is so great that we cannot risk it by sending out product that performs inconsistently. We do not have a firm handle on the initial production quantities at this time, but it is anticipated that they will not be large. Production will be fairly allocated to the major accounts that have placed orders . Please express our apologies to our customers over this situation. Please be assured that this project has the highest priority of all relevant departments at Celestron. Jim Edmiston, Vice President of Sales, Celestron, 2835 Columbia Street, Torrance, CA 90503
529133
Probably. I don't know much about telescopes. It's really nice. My teaching partner bought it but no longer works with me. You can buy it from me for quite a discount.
248227
There are solutions which are easier. I wouldn't recommend this unit for just the time card function for a beginner. The software works but not very well. One of the more time card centered products would probably be better. When I have to replace this, I will go that route rather than repurchase.