danny linguini

If nothing else, just knowing this could be an issue should remind me to put it in airplane mode on the way out the door. 🙂

That’s exactly what I was thinking, on all points, and why I’m leaning heavily toward a Starsense setup. I don’t like the idea of having to rely solely on computermotronics. I’m not planning on doing any imaging, so I don’t need automatic tracking, just some assistance with finding stuff to look at.

Just curious - do you know what those folks don’t like about StarSense?

I have not - I didn’t know that model existed - it’s not listed on any US sites. I will give it a look. Thanks!

Great point - I hadn’t thought of the light from the phone.

Thanks, but wrong side of the pond!

Hi all, I’m seriously considering getting back into the game after about a 20-year hiatus. I had a Meade 80mm refractor way back in the ‘90s, and in fact faintly witnessed the meteors crashing into Jupiter with it. Since then, though, life got in the way, the scope got moved, bumped, knocked over, generally subjected to things no precision instrument should be subjected to, and eventually and regrettably got tossed. I still have the case with a handful of eyepieces and filters and odds and ends. I’ve recently been on the hunt for a replacement, preferably better and easier to haul around and set up for casual viewing of planets and whatever bright DSOs I can find. I’ve narrowed it down to a scope that unfortunately is out of stock everywhere: a Celestron StarSense DX 5”. I don’t really want/need a fully computerized mount system, though I haven’t totally ruled one out, either. I really like what StarSense offers and think it would satisfy my simple viewing needs, and I don’t have to worry about a power supply. But there are none to be found at the moment - everything is computerized. So, a couple of questions … Is there anything else out there in a 5” SCT or Mak with a manual mount and smart phone-enabled compatibility similar to StarSense? Other than availability, are there any good arguments for computerized systems over manual? Any other suggestions or recommendations for an old coot returning to the fold are most gratefully welcome.