Starsense Dobsonian

[bosun21]

I have transferred the starsense unit from the Celestron LT70 that I bought specifically for this purpose. I basically followed @johninderby and the mod that he did.(with a few different details). I even bought a rough and ready phone that works with the Starsense Explorer app to use more or less exclusively for Astro. I’m not a DIY person as a rule so be gentle 😂

 

 

Edited June 13, 2022 by bosun21
Typo

[johninderby]

Now that”s what I call a set of finders. 🙂

Well done. 👍🏻

[Knighty2112]

Nice work. Been looking at one of these too to mod onto a larger scope. So the phone doesn’t sit parallel with the scope then, but at a slight angle upwards is that correct? 

[bosun21]

3 minutes ago, Knighty2112 said:

Nice work. Been looking at one of these too to mod onto a larger scope. So the phone doesn’t sit parallel with the scope then, but at a slight angle upwards is that correct? 

Yes it’s inclined at a slight angle to ensure an unobstructed view of the night sky. 

[Ratlet]

The Starsense LT70 is going to be celestron's most popular scope and nobody will have looked through one 🤣.

[bosun21]

1 minute ago, Ratlet said:

The Starsense LT70 is going to be celestron's most popular scope and nobody will have looked through one 🤣.

Yeah, they will definitely see a blip in their sales graph. I actually looked through the little LT70 the other night and optically it’s not too bad. There’s not a lot of chromatic aberration considering the price. The diagonal went in the bin though and the focuser is plastic but useable. I’m going to give it to one of my grandkids.

[Ratlet]

2 minutes ago, bosun21 said:

Yeah, they will definitely see a blip in their sales graph. I actually looked through the little LT70 the other night and optically it’s not too bad. There’s not a lot of chromatic aberration considering the price. The diagonal went in the bin though and the focuser is plastic but useable. I’m going to give it to one of my grandkids.

To be honest, given the price of astro stuff, if someone said £169 and you can get just the Starsense module and software I honestly don't think many people would blink. Clearly cause people are already paying that for it.  

Perhaps it's a cunning plot to make sure that the optical department keep good sales.

[johninderby]

Now if they sold the Starsense as a stand alone unit for say £99.00 they would sell a shed load of them. 

[DaveL59]

On 13/06/2022 at 19:24, bosun21 said:

Yeah, they will definitely see a blip in their sales graph. I actually looked through the little LT70 the other night and optically it’s not too bad. There’s not a lot of chromatic aberration considering the price. The diagonal went in the bin though and the focuser is plastic but useable. I’m going to give it to one of my grandkids.

I have the same and made my own carrier to use on other scopes, but yeah the LT70 itself isn't so bad considering if you fit a decent diagonal and eyepieces. While its sat at my house I do use it perhaps more than the others since its so light and quick n easy to pop outside for a quick look. It'll be gone to my daughter's in a couple months tho, hopefully once she's moved house. She'll get the LT70 starsense, sybony dielectric diagonal and svbony 7-21mm zoom once they've settled in and done any remodelling works.

[bosun21]

16 minutes ago, DaveL59 said:

I have the same and made my own carrier to use on other scopes, but yeah the LT70 itself isn't so bad considering if you fit a decent diagonal and eyepieces. While its sat at my house I do use it perhaps more than the others since its so light and quick n easy to pop outside for a quick look. It'll be gone to my daughter's in a couple months tho, hopefully once she's moved house. She'll get the LT70 starsense, sybony dielectric diagonal and svbony 7-21mm zoom once they've settled in and done any remodelling works.

I followed your advice you gave me about the focuser and I’ve fettled it as much as I can. Stripped and cleaned the super sticky grease and fitted a couple of Teflon strips into it. I have also fitted a dielectric diagonal. I’m the same with just grabbing it and popping outside for an hour 😂. It’s a travesty my other scopes are gathering dust. My problem is deciding which grandkid do I give it to without disappointing the other. My other two scopes are full go to so don’t merit me buying another. 

[DaveL59]

4 minutes ago, bosun21 said:

I followed your advice you gave me about the focuser and I’ve fettled it as much as I can. Stripped and cleaned the super sticky grease and fitted a couple of Teflon strips into it. I have also fitted a dielectric diagonal. I’m the same with just grabbing it and popping outside for an hour 😂. It’s a travesty my other scopes are gathering dust. My problem is deciding which grandkid do I give it to without disappointing the other. My other two scopes are full go to so don’t merit me buying another. 

Know what you mean, Tal100RS and others sat idle mostly, but then we've not really had much decent weather for quite some time.

Funny too tho, the LT70 was the second most expensive scope I bought, but then I did get the rest pre-loved, cheapest being the little NatGeo at £10 and the vintage 3-inch brass/leather for £20 😉 

[Zermelo]

There's a second hand Starsense LT80 on the Bay at the moment, for a decent discount.
I was tempted, but it's collection only, in the Manchester area.

[Knighty2112]

32 minutes ago, Zermelo said:

There's a second hand Starsense LT80 on the Bay at the moment, for a decent discount.
I was tempted, but it's collection only, in the Manchester area.

Do we know if the code for the Starsense scope once used can be re-registered again on another device?

[Giles_B]

You can use the same code five times to register the app on different devices. Worth checking how many times the code has been used before buying.

Can't help thinking what a terrible waste of resources all these starter scopes gathering dust is - however I guess that is what happens to most starter scopes, either they don't get used, or people get the astro bug and move on.

Edited June 27, 2022 by Giles_B

[Zermelo]

51 minutes ago, Knighty2112 said:

Do we know if the code for the Starsense scope once used can be re-registered again on another device?

I've not used Starsense.

I thought I remembered from another thread that transferring was possible, but I can't find it now. As was already mentioned, a single code is good for five uses, but there was a question as to whether the app also cross-checks to restrict those five uses to a single email address.

Since the buyer will be collecting anyway, they could take along their intended smartphone handset, Starsense pre-installed, and try enabling it with the code before parting with the money.

[bosun21]

7 hours ago, Zermelo said:

I've not used Starsense.

I thought I remembered from another thread that transferring was possible, but I can't find it now. As was already mentioned, a single code is good for five uses, but there was a question as to whether the app also cross-checks to restrict those five uses to a single email address.

Since the buyer will be collecting anyway, they could take along their intended smartphone handset, Starsense pre-installed, and try enabling it with the code before parting with the money.

I had to register my email address with my new Starsense and you have to use it for each device activated.

 

[Louis D]

Sounds a lot like how ebooks have killed the concept of right of first sale that used to allow people to freely resell used books.  Celestron may have limited resellability with this new technology.  Next, they'll be requiring payment of a monthly subscription fee and internet access each time you want to actually use the product (this is the route Adobe is going with their products).  Good luck if you're observing in a remote area with no cell service if that comes to be.  My wife works with the Navy, and they nearly dropped all Adobe products because subs go for months without internet access.  Adobe had to issue a huge mea culpa for them and backtrack on their new licensing demands as a result.

[johninderby]

No problem reselling the Starsense as it seems that up to five different email addresses can be used. I sold a Starsense and the new owner had no problem  unlocking the app on their phone using their email address. Once the app is unlocked no need to ever contact Celestron again so once installed no way can Celestron stop it from working. The unlock code can only be used up to five times.

The Starsemse app is just a regular app so once installed and unlocked with no need for a WiFi connection to work.. 

Edited June 28, 2022 by johninderby

[Louis D]

So only up to 4 resells.  Maybe not a big issue for Dobs, but if they can figure out a way to do this with eyepieces which tend to be resold a lot more, look out.  I'm thinking of some sort of future electronic eyepiece that uses an app on your phone to complete its functionality.