Anyone using "Dark Sky Meter" iphone app?

[mikey2000]

I just downloaded this app a few days ago.  For .79p (the price of a packet of crisps) I though it was worth a try....

 

I've heard about SQM meters for dark sky measurements and this app says it does the same but with an iphone.  Probably too good to be true.

 

But is it reasonably close?  I've had consistent readings of around 21 (+/- 0.5) for the last two nights and the sky has seemed particularly clear (for where I live).  The app rated my location as being on the cusp between suburban and rural which seems about right (I'm on the edge of a small town but with Milton Keynes skyglow on the NW horizon.

 

Anyway, I'll give it a few more goes and see if it reports consistent scores on the same night.  In fact, I might just give that a go later on!

[The Head Gardener]

Yes, I've got it and - within a given value of "you get what you pay for" - it seems to work.

We had a play with it at Kielder in October and the readings it gave were not a million miles out from the numbers Rob Ince was getting at the same time on a proper meter.  Bear in mind we're using a mobile phone camera and an app which costs less than a bar of chocolate, and a properly calibrated meter probably sells for about £200 . . . .