Unistellar

★★★★★ I’ve had my eV scope for a few months. The app and telescope have seen a few updates. The device consists of two parts, the tripod and the eV scope itself and is extremely easy to set up. I can be setup and using it within a few minutes. The eV scope is very easy to use. It has a single button to turn it on and off, a dial for focusing the mirror, a couple screws for mirror collimation adjustment, an OLED view screen that has a lens with a diopter adjustment on it, a charging port for the eV scope and a USB port, so you can charge a mobile device. In order to use the eV scope and the app, you first turn on the eV scope and connect your mobile device to it through the Wi-Fi hotspot the eV scope creates. The app will search for the eV scope and begin displaying what it’s currently pointed at in the app and on the OLED view screen. A rough focus using the dial on the back of the scope will allow you to use the one-button alignment in the app. The eV scope will begin analyzing the star pattern using a method known as plate solving. Once the star pattern has been analyzed and matched, the eV scope will track with the star field. It’s recommended you use a bright star to complete the fine focusing and collimation of the eV scope per the instructions using the included aperture mask. Once the telescope itself has been focused, you can focus the OLED view screen for individual users by use of the diopter adjustment. The process of focus and collimation can be completed in a few minutes and is very simple. Once the collimation is complete, it shouldn’t need to be done again unless the eV scope is handled roughly. Focusing should be completed or checked every time the eV scope is used as the focus point can shift with rough handling of the scope itself from temperature changes. Once the setup is completed, you’re ready to begin viewing objects. The current catalog of objects is somewhat small when compared to other planetarium apps and programs. They are always adding new objects to the database. If an object isn’t in the catalog, you can look up its coordinates using another app or website and input those coordinates into the appropriate search field at the bottom of the list of recommended objects. The list of recommended objects is some of the brighter and more interesting objects in the night sky and consist of galaxies, clusters, nebulae, asteroids, comets, planets and the moon. The eV scope does well on deep sky objects, but the results on planets are somewhat disappointing. This is understandable though, as planets ar extremely small in comparison to some deep sky objects. You won’t see any details on the surface of planets such as Jupiter or Saturn, but you can still detect the rings around Saturn. What is interesting about some of the planets though is that you’re able to detect the moons around some of the outer planets like Uranus and Neptune. You can even see Pluto, although it will only appear as a prick of light. There are some features that aren’t currently available in the app and there haven’t been any citizen science projects that I’ve been able to take part in, but I look forward to the opportunity to use them. Here’s a list of what is available: an auto-alignment feature; the ability to live-view objects in the app; change exposure settings; an Enhanced Vision mode which stacks a new image every few seconds in order to bring out more detail; the ability to save and share images; download data from the eV scope about your observations and upload it to their servers for scientific purposes. There are only a couple of issues I’ve had with the app and the eV scope. Both were minor and resolved by restarting the eV scope or Enhanced Vision mode. The app will continue to be updated regularly and improvements will be made as time goes on. In order to update the firmware of the eV scope, you first update your app and once it’s connected to the eV scope, it will update the firmware. I look forward to continuing to use my eV scope and I look forward to future updates and capabilities of this device.

★★☆☆☆ Mean app for the brilliant telescope. With lack of its own planetarium and without connection to Sky Safari or any other planetarium app, it makes the telescope unusable for unrestricted "what's this" direct observations in the field

★★☆☆☆ I can not even git in to the app and write my girl Scout's number of my escape!

★★☆☆☆ Disappointing. I saw this at SXSW last year & it sounded interesting, but after asking them questions, I felt like this catered to the 'hipster' astronomer - someone flaunting 'fancy' tech that's less capable than anyone with half a brain doing some legitimate research and 1/3 budget can do. *If* it was in the 500-800 USD price point & worked, I think this would be a neat device (lower perf, lower barrier of entry?). Used a friend's. He was psyched to use this but atm, it fails in so many ways.

★★☆☆☆ I have not yet managed to get this scope to work. Whenever I open the app, it crashes as soon as I hit the target seeking button (or whatever it's called; it crashes as soon as I hit it.) Unusable. Waste of money and profoundly frustrating.