The skyscout - Celestron SkyScout Personal Planetarium 93970 Handheld GPS Star Guide / Locator

My need was to gain a working knowledge of the 57 (58 counting Polaris) stars used for navigational purposes at sea. I knew very little of the night sky, and thus started from scratch-- virtual ignorance. Within two weeks the SkyScout permitted a reasonable grasp of the night sky. No kidding!
The SkyScout has proved to be worth the investment as it easily fulfilled my specific need. It allowed me to quickly orient myself with all the navigational stars available from my geographic position, during the current season. Factually, I was amazed by its performance, and when used in combination with a star chart accelerated the learning curve beyond what Id hoped.
The battery life seems to run a bit over than the three hours, using 2450mAh rechargeables, which I found reasonable considering it offers both audio descriptions and a small database. The only negative Id remark on is that when two stars are close together the SkyScout will almost always identify only the brighter star as the viewfinder takes in a rather wide field of view. But, consulting your star chart in such cases can resolve such issues.
The SkyScout can detect much more than the navigational stars, and would I feel be useful for anyone wishing to acquire a basic knowledge of celestial bodies in general. In brief, the SkyScout really does work, and it works surprisingly well.
Robert Blake

This review was written in the old system and had content requirements that are different than reviews written today.