CELESTRON STARSENSE EXPLORER 8 INCH DOBSONIAN REVIEW

[paulastro]

In some ways, this is more of a 'things you should know about the Celestron StarSense Explorer 8 Dobsonian' rather than a proper review.  I've recommended three excellent reviews which I suggest you read if you are new to this telescope.

 

 

I've had this telescope since early July and it has been a real game changer for me.  I've been an active visual observer for over fifty years, and lost count of the number of scopes I've owned and used.  In all this time, this scope is the only one I would call a real game changer for visual observers.

There's nothing revolutionary about the telescope itself, its an excellent example of the current range of good quality 8inch Dobsonians available that are made by several manufacturers including Synta and GSO etc  As such it give you great views of both deepsky, planets and Moon when the seeing is up to it.

What is revolutionary is the StarSense Explorer App which, in combination with any compatable smartphone, will guide you to push the scope quickly and accurately to tens of thousands of celestial objects.  Of course there are numerous goto mounts which can find objects for you, but Starsense has some advantages which make it such a good option.

 

1  It only adds around £250 to the cost of any other 8 or 10 inch dob without StarSense. A good goto will cost considerably more.

2  Unlike digital setting circle options, the night sky is shown on the display of your phone (which sits in a cradle attached to the telescope) as you push it to follow a series of arrows to your target.   You can stop to 'explore' any objects you are passing if you wish.  For each object in the data base their are excellent descriptions and data a button press away..

3 The only power source necessary is your phones battery.  I've had several hours use on cold and damp nights and still had plenty of power left.

4  There is nothing mechanical to go wrong, no wires to plug in, no computer glitches.

5  it's quicker to find things than any goto system I've ever used, and it's completely silent.

6  I've found it performs in conditions in which you'd struggle to find objects by star hopping.  Also, for this reason  you can use it in conditions you otherwise may not bother to go out. 

7  It enables you to use the majority of your time outside observing rather than finding objects, which is hugely important if you live in the UK.

8 It doesn't use your phones data as no Internet connection is necessary once the app is downloaded.

9  Apart from aligning the phone with the sky, and the phone's view with that of the scope when you first use it, it's then.quick and easy to set up.

A  Set the scope up outside on the mount.
B  Take the tube cap off and point the scope up at a clear patch of sky..
C  Switch the app on, it will take a few seconds to a minute to take a pic of the sky.  It then indicates it has found its position and tells you that it's ready to go.

D  Select an object to view, and press the 'find' button.  

It really is that easy.  Total setup time perhaps 5/10 minutes, no star alignments to do, in fact you don't need to bother putting on a finder..  This is great if, like me, you are unable to bend and twist to use a finder - I have serious hip and spine problems and it is the main reason I first considered buying this telescope.

10  It's extremely easy to use, and it's great fun.  If I can use it anyone can - just ask my daughters!  Any child who uses it will have no problem once they now how to use the scope itself, it's very intuitive and the app guides you at every step.

For more detail I highly recommend the excellent reviews by Ade Ashford (in October's Astronomy Now) and those by Alan Dyer and Dennis di Cicco which can be found on line.

If you're a potential buyer, and don't believe it's as good as I've indicated, try and arrange a session with someone who has one.   At Kelling in late September I had a few, rather sceptical,  visual observers stop by to see how it worked.  All were impressed, some actually said they were astonished how well it works.

I still am!
 

[markse68]

Nice write up Paul- it’s really a great invention!

Mark

[Astro_Dad]

That’s a good comprehensive write up Paul - covers all the frequently asked question and more! 

[bosun21]

On 01/11/2022 at 13:20, paulastro said:

1  It only adds around £250 to the cost of any other 8 or 10 inch dob without StarSense. A good goto will cost considerably more.

It’s cheaper to just buy the cheapest Starsense scope (LT70) and remove the unit to fit on your respective dobsonian. The LT70 was only £149 the last time I looked.

[paulastro]

1 hour ago, bosun21 said:

It’s cheaper to just buy the cheapest Starsense scope (LT70) and remove the unit to fit on your respective dobsonian. The LT70 was only £149 the last time I looked.

I know this, but didn't think it was appropriate to mention it in a review that I also posted on FLOs website.  There  aslo is a lot of information re this on SGL and elsewhere already.

Also, if someone doesn't already have an 8 or 10 inch dob and they don't want a bigger scope, they might well take the option of buying the Celestron StarSense Explorer  original and save themselves the trouble anyway.

 

 

Edited November 4, 2022 by paulastro

[bosun21]

1 hour ago, paulastro said:

I know this, but didn't think it was appropriate to mention it in a review that I also posted on FLOs website.  There  aslo is a lot of information re this on SGL and elsewhere already.

Also, if someone doesn't already have an 8 or 10 inch dob and they don't want a bigger scope, they might well take the option of buying the Celestron StarSense Explorer  original and save themselves the trouble anyway.

 

 

Yes I agree with you on this aspect, and in relevance my post may not be entirely fitting to your thread. However I was merely explaining what I did to have the Starsense unit working on my 8" Stella Lyra dobsonian.

[paulastro]

9 minutes ago, bosun21 said:

Yes I agree with you on this aspect, and in relevance my post may not be entirely fitting to your thread. However I was merely explaining what I did to have the Starsense unit working on my 8" Stella Lyra dobsonian.

No problem at all you mentioning it bosun.  It was just because it was a review that I ommited it.  In fact I've used a 10inch 'mod' myself 🙂.

[MiladyB]

Great review. 

This scope is a game changer for me. I  had been finding my attempts at star-hopping in my Bortle 6 back garden quite frustrating, but the starsense has meant I've now actually managed to see things I had struggled to find.

Even my husband - who is usually quite disinterested in stargazing - was very impressed.

I think if you have a reasonable budget, this is a scope really worth considering as a first buy. Being able to find objects without having to learn the sky is maybe not something everyone agrees with, but for the casual scope-user it makes short observing sessions so much fun!

MiladyB x 

[paulastro]

15 minutes ago, MiladyB said:

Great review. 

This scope is a game changer for me. I  had been finding my attempts at star-hopping in my Bortle 6 back garden quite frustrating, but the starsense has meant I've now actually managed to see things I had struggled to find.

Even my husband - who is usually quite disinterested in stargazing - was very impressed.

I think if you have a reasonable budget, this is a scope really worth considering as a first buy. Being able to find objects without having to learn the sky is maybe not something everyone agrees with, but for the casual scope-user it makes short observing sessions so much fun!

MiladyB x 

Many thanks for your comments.  I'm delighted that your scope is making such a difference to your observing sessions.

[ScouseSpaceCadet]

Thanks for this write up Paul and all the other positive comments. I'm very tempted to dip my toe back into the dob world!

Edited December 15, 2022 by ScouseSpaceCadet

[fwm891]

I've just bought an LT70 to do exactly that and fit the Starsense unit to a 12 inch dob. Like others my 70+ year old body isn't as flexable these days...

[paulastro]

fwm891, I'm sure you will be delighted with the outcome - it will be good to hear how you get on with it.

 

Edited December 20, 2022 by paulastro

[Elrond1998]

I just ran across your review and have to rain on it a little. I bought my 8in staesence in June (22) and have never gotten the App to work. The people at High Point Scientific offered a few tricks but nothing worked. I hade a new samsung galaxy,  tried an older Moto 6 nothing worked. They suggested I review the settings but nothing has worked.  I have never heard from celestron even after multiple attempts. I wish I had bought a plain dob and saved the money. Since then I have enjoyed the scope but the App is less than worthless, it taunts me haha.

Edited March 3, 2023 by Elrond1998

[Sunshine]

As an owner of this telescope I can agree with everything you have said, though I made two improvements to its mechanical function which make it a smoother dobsonian. 

[paulastro]

44 minutes ago, Elrond1998 said:

I just ran across your review and have to rain on it a little. I bought my 8in staesence in June (22) and have never gotten the App to work. The people at High Point Scientific offered a few tricks but nothing worked. I hade a new samsung galaxy,  tried an older Moto 6 nothing worked. They suggested I review the settings but nothing has worked.  I have never heard from celestron even after multiple attempts. I wish I had bought a plain dob and saved the money. Since then I have enjoyed the scope but the App is less than worthless, it taunts me haha.

Elrond.  Sorry you've had trouble with the scope. Obviously, there's nothing that can go wrong with the scope itself.  In a similiar way, the app works in the same way for everyone that downloads it.

The only things that can result in it not working are -

1 Your phone is not compatable.

2 Your phone is faulty in some way.

3 It is something to do with the settings.

I presume you've checked on Celestrons list of compatable phones so its not the first one?  Be aware though, they haven't checked all phones, and some phones have different names/model numbers in different countries.  Though the latter shouldn't be a problem if it was bought in the USA.

Option 2 is very unlikely, and if your phone has a fault, you would probably know about it.

If not the first two, it must be the settings.

I would at least try get a response from Celestron again, I once registered a problem with their customer support dept online and they were prompt to respond and were very helpful.

It may help if you post on the American forums and here on SGL at ask if there is anyone using your make and model of phone successfully with the Starsense Explorer App.  If they have, it must be your phone's settings or your phone does have a fault.

Also you could try and get help from someone in a local society who may have a Starsense Explorer.

Best of luck, I don't like to think of you not getting it to work when it could be something quite straight forward.

Regards, Paul

 

 

[markse68]

When I emailed Celestron (us and uk) they were very quick to respond so i’m sorry to hear you haven’t had a reply. Uk were more helpful though… 

Mark

[Elrond1998]

Thanks,

Both phones I tried were considered " compatible" Hight Point ran me through several setting changes but to no avail.  I am a retired military scientist, nothing like others successes and being ignored by celestron to question your abilities. High Point told me that I was not alone and that it seems to affect up to 10 percent of users. I don't get enough clear skies to waist on this (about 35 hours so far) but when I hear others rave about its ease I usually try one more adjustment. Thanks 

[markse68]

How is it failing? is the app not launching at all?

Mark

[paulastro]

I find it hard to believe that 10% of users don't get it to work, if that's what the guy from HPS said to you Elrond - if that's what he meant.

The Starsense Explorer has been used on other smaller scopes than the dobs for 3/4 years, and if it was true then that would be a huge problem for Celestron.

Also HPS thenselves have some VERY enthusuastic reviews on utube which are the polar opposite from what the guy at HPS told you.  Not only that but the best reviewers (in my view), Denis d'Cicco, Alan Dyer and Ade Ashford give it excellent ratings. What's more Dickinson and Dyer in the latest edition of Backyard Astronomer rate the pre- dob StarSense Explorer telescopes as 'virtually making any other beginners telescopes obsolete'.

I know reviews aren't everything, but it's hard to understand where the 10% of people having problems comes from.

As markse68 said Elrond,  if you can be more specific where the difficulties are, perhaps someone on this forum may be able to help.

 

Edited March 4, 2023 by paulastro

[Elrond1998]

It, the app, doesn't recognize the sky and continually says do not move the scope attempting to locate. The funny thing is it will align with the telescope during the day but has some sort of breakdown at night, no matter what I do.

I didn't talk to a salesman at HPS, which is kind of what their youtube channel is, I talked to a tec expert. I also just looked at ebay and reddit where lots of people are trying to sell recently bought starsense telescopes. I like the telescope but I would have returned it with in the time limit if I hadn't been trying to make the app work. 

I wanted it to work but have gotten such a bad feeling from celestron and the cult-like following of the lucky owners where the app works that I doubt I will ever buy another celestron product.

 

[markse68]

Have you tried pointing it higher in the sky? And have you got your location turned on on the phone? I'm not sure we lucky ones are cult like are we?

Mark

[Elrond1998]

Thank you,

Yes HPS went through my phone settings with me, I can't say enough good about their tec support, we ensured connectivity, location, privacy settings and of course I would go out into the night sky for failure. Let me clarify, the tec told me that he figured about a 10 percent problem with various approved phones, but he seemed as confused as I was when nothing worked, so I assume that many of the issues were resolved. He did tell me that he had a few owners that upgraded phones due to this issue, but my phone is on the approved list and was new. We got very basic even removing some apps that may interfere with the app. 

Edited March 4, 2023 by Elrond1998

[markse68]

But it worked during the day- that's very odd. Were you able to see anything from the camera on the screen when you tried to align to a target with the alignment tool if you pointed it at something bright?

Mark

[Elrond1998]

Sorry about the cult comment,  but when I addressed this to Ed Ting and John Read both were understanding, Read even said his daughter was recently having issues with the app. Many of the happy owners are very "protective" of this app and get very personal when I share my story. I have three different scopes and some amazing binoculars and have only been disappointed by the failure of this app. I will someday upgrade my phone and I have managed to save one of my codes, in the meantime it is a great if a little overpriced scope and I will continue to look for solutions.

Thanks again.

[Elrond1998]

Yes the alignment went smoothly. I bought the scope for my grandson to use when visiting and so that we could learn more about the universe, that hasn't worked out so far but he gets a kick out of the alignment. We push the scope to items we identify using other apps and this has worked out well enough. He prefers my 90mm MAK but I wanted him to learn the sky not just depend upon a goto.

I'm thinking I might reimage the phone and just download the Starsense app to see if that would work.