Is it worth upgrading to Sky Safari 4 Pro?

[Droogie 2001]

Hi,

Having used Sky Safari 3 Pro for a couple years now I am tempted to upgrade to Sky Safari 4 Pro.
I have stayed with SS3 for quite some time as I had an old iPhone 3G which was not compatible with SF4.

That said I think Sky Safari 3 Pro is still excellent and apart from the poor built in search engine i.e. any single letter spelling mistake results in no search results at all.
Can I justify the upgrade?

Aside from the graphical make over and updated data I see a couple of new interesting features.

One of which is that I believe you can add your equipment to the database so you can get a form of FOV viewer?

This would handy but for the best part of £30 I am not sure. I know there are the lesser versions but I would really want the full product as this is what I have with SF3.

Can anyone advised me if it is worth the upgrade?

Thanks

[Paul73]

For me. Being able to add my equipment makes all the difference.

I believe that the search engine still struggles with spelling mistakes but I do like just keying in the number or part of an NGC number and getting the choice to click on.

Paul

[Droogie 2001]

Thanks Paul.

I am trying to picture the layout is it like a basic version of Cartes du Ciel?

Any other benefits?

[lukebl]

I have the upgrade and, to be honest, it wasn't worth the additional expense. It's a truly fabulous program, but version 4 doesn't seem to offer anything more than ver 3. To me, anyway.

[Droogie 2001]

Thanks Luke for the honest answer. That one for and one against

Like you say its an excellent product so difficult to decide...Will see if anyone else has any thoughts...

[Paul73]

I haven't tried v3 pro. But I do have v4 pro and would happily pay £20 to have the FOV circles.

So it is actually 1 against and 0.5 for

Paul

[Owmuchonomy]

I can't comment on your upgrade query but the SS4 Pro app for iPad is excellent. I paid £9.99 (50% off) for it from the App Store. It's worth checking as they discount it.

[Zeffer]

Seems to be £30 now! Should I wait for an offer? Hoping to use this to control my scope.

[Droogie 2001]

Oddly after the threads yesterday I went back to my SF3 Pro and noticed that there is a Field of View setting is Settings, Display.

From here you can input either Finder / Eye Piece FOV's in degrees or Camera FOV in degree's

I have inputted my FOV for my Canon 1100d in FOV degrees of W 3.64deg x H 2.43deg
When I then view an object the rectangular box does seem to match my imaging FOV, however I have not fully confirmed the details above are exactly right but they look pretty close.

So in effect it seems to offer at least some of the abilities I am looking for from SF4.
That said if I could buy it for £9.99 then it would be an instant purchase. As it stands at the moment I am going to hold out.

BTW. I also downloaded the 'Pluto Safari' free app from the same developer. Bit of fun really, it gives you real time data such distance to go and time of arrival. Also contains nice News Updates sections. Well worth a look.

[Droogie 2001]

If anyone is interested Sky Safari Pro 4 has been reduced by 50% to £14.99, this is to celebrate the forthcoming flyby of Pluto.

I downloaded it on Monday and whilst I have not had much time to play with it I have to say it appears to be about 95% the same. Even the description of objects such as DSO's are all the same which is a shame.

You can also get the basic Sky Safari 4 for £2.29.

Still need to look at the FOV option to see if this is any different to Sky Safari 3 Pro.

At the moment I would say the upgrade was probably not worth it but at least I will get new versions and bug fixes where as that stopped a long time ago with SF3.

It will update Pluto with new imaging data when it is ready... I do wonder if a Version 5 is in the works hence the sale....

Edit: Just tried to look in the App Store but I now only get an Open option instead of the price. So apologies if it is back to £29.99. When looking via the Internet it seems to report £29.99?

[happy-kat]

On android I have the plus version as that can control a scope I didn't bother paying more for the pro version.

Not tested it yet though.

[spaceboy]

I found the plus version caters for my needs and if a skyfi turns up at the right price I can control my scope as well.

[melsky]

I find Sky Safari 4+ is good enough for my needs, you can input all your equipment to give accurate FOV (field of view) and your own custom landscapes which are invaluable for predicting what will be visible and what ends up behind a pesky tree. FOV is also brilliant for Iridium flares, you can time to the second when a satellite will enter the frame.

[beatlejuice]

A new version will almost certainly be released within the next 12 months.  When that happens it is usually half price for the first month.  Thats when I might go from plus to pro.

Eric

[Tinker1947]

I just downloaded the pro version, its got quite a few more DSO's than plus version, much deeper Mags....

[Droogie 2001]

Looks like there is currently a 33% discount limited time discount on Sky Safari Pro again.