The next thing I noted was not quite as impressive. Yeah, it’s like a camcorder, but think “big, honking 1990s analog camcorder.” It’s not heavy, but it feels solid, and looks that way with its brushed chrome panels and rubber-armor fittings. My buddy and long-time observing pal, George Byron, had brought one out and was kind enough to let me take it for a quick spin.įirst impression? It’s bigger than it looks in the pictures. My first hands-on with the ‘Scout came at a recent club star party. How did I come to this conclusion? I got my hands on a SkyScout in the flesh and tried one rather than just speculating. And it’s actually useful for both amateurs and younguns. The SkyScout is not perfect, but it is amazing. I predicted that, far from hooking 'em on the sky, the SkyScout would almost instantly lose its allure and chase ‘em back inside to the Playstation 3, sending Mummy’s and Daddy’s 400 pieces o’ eight down the ol’ tubes.

B-U-T… “If you already know the stars, what good is that? And if you don’t know ‘em, a paper planisphere and a red flashlight are one hell of a lot cheaper.” I also doubted whether the young-set would like this thing much.

What, after all, was it good for? It might be able to identify naked eye objects or lead you to them via a zero-power sighting window. My uniformed conclusion, though? This thing, no matter what kind of technological advance it represented, would be of limited interest to amateur astronomers. Oh, I admitted the concept was “interesting”: a little handheld camcorder-like “starfinder” that worked magic with a built-in GPS receiver, digital compass, accelerometers, and a computer brain. So it was a couple of years back when I offered my initial and uninformed opinion of Celestron’s latest fillip, the SkyScout.

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while now, if you’ve been aboard for at least the last couple of years, you know there are times (a few) when Your Old Uncle does not positively gush over the latest glitzy piece of astro-gear.

Celestron skyscout driver