Celstron SkyScout vs Meade MySky ?

[Neroon]

My daughter and I love to look at the night sky to see various objects. It's not a serious hobby mind you, but it is inspiring, and it's something that she and I can share. Since my budget can exactly allow for a nice GO-to scope, the SkyScout and MySky seem well-suited. Especially since each has come down considerably in price recently, to around $150 - $200 depending upon where you by.

Celestron's SkyScout
Meade's MySky Plus

Traditionalist that I am, I would love to be able to use star charts, a planisphere, and a red flashlight. But... time and attention spans don't really alow for that much these days. These devices seem to be a good answer. Both employ a GPS and have the same aim: point the device at an object and let it tell you about wheat you're looking at. As you an see from the above links, the devices are markedly different in appearance and significantly so in operation.

What I'd like to know is who, if anyone here, has used one before? How reliable are they in terms of accuracy, battery life, etc.?

 

[Darth Picardous]

Don't worry about fancy equipment if your not deep into astronomy dude. Just buy a nice big Dobsonian scope of 10 inch f/5 for looking at bright objects which I expect will be the only things you will go for (definition of bright equals brighter than Mag 8). I expect those pieces of equipment will show the stars but nothing much more, and after a while looking at stars without high magnification will get boring.

 

[Neroon]

Don't worry about fancy equipment if your not deep into astronomy dude. Just buy a nice big Dobsonian scope of 10 inch f/5 for looking at bright objects which I expect will be the only things you will go for (definition of bright equals brighter than Mag 8). I expect those pieces of equipment will show the stars but nothing much more, and after a while looking at stars without high magnification will get boring.

Well, my aim - no pun intended - was to b e able to provide something I could easily use for the uninitiated to see and learn about the night sky. How to navigate to Antares or Algol, M51 or the Pleiades, etc. Passersby in our neighborhood will occasionally ask "where is <insert name here> ?" or "What is that?". It's nice to be able to let them learn for themselves.

Your point is very well taken, though. A common misperception is that the photos people see on the web or in a magazine are not what they will see through a telescope. It's a lesson I learned a long time ago,