Seestar S50 Pro Review: The Smart Telescope We’ve Been Waiting For? — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00How's it going there guys? It's really
2. 0:01nice of you to join me here. Over the
3. 0:03course of this video, I'm going to be
4. 0:04giving you my realworld thoughts and
5. 0:06review based on usage of this device
6. 0:09right here, the hotly anticipated, much
7. 0:12rumored Sear S50 Pro. And uh I'm just
8. 0:16going to be straight with you right
9. 0:18away. It is going to come across as an
10. 0:20overwhelmingly positive review. And
11. 0:21that's because it is an overwhelmingly
12. 0:24positive experience for the user. as
13. 0:26I've found it is not completely perfect,
14. 0:29but my word is it good. I I have to say
15. 0:32that. Now, over the course of my usage
16. 0:34with this, I've you really have tried to
17. 0:36use it, by the way. It's been here for
18. 0:37about a month and I've done my best.
19. 0:39I've been taking notes as I usually do
20. 0:41in the style of my reviews, and I'm just
21. 0:42going to go through them with you guys.
22. 0:44And as always, just for clarity sake,
23. 0:46I'm free to say whatever I want on my
24. 0:49channel. This isn't like pre-watched as
25. 0:51to be edited or anything like that's
26. 0:53never the case. So anyway, all that
27. 0:54said, let's just dive straight into it.
28. 0:56And I want to talk to you about one of
29. 0:57the first things that I noticed and
30. 0:59that's that the major weak spot I felt
31. 1:02like on Sea Star devices has been uh
32. 1:05corrected as much as possible. So if you
33. 1:08think of these devices in a few parts as
34. 1:10in uh treat this as the head, okay,
35. 1:13treat this as the body and the bit that
36. 1:16naturally connects those two would be
37. 1:18the neck, okay? The bit up in the middle
38. 1:20right there. that's now hugely thickened
39. 1:24and increased in diameter. So, it should
40. 1:26be able to take just life coming at it
41. 1:29because let's face it, this is an
42. 1:30optical device and you are naturally
43. 1:32going to be careful with it as we all
44. 1:34would. But stuff is going to happen.
45. 1:37It's a device that's going to get used
46. 1:38outside, put away probably in the dark,
47. 1:41in the cold with, you know, cold
48. 1:42nondextrous hands at that point. It's
49. 1:45probably going to pick up some dinks.
50. 1:47You know what I mean? This thing is
51. 1:49going to be able to take them. I think
52. 1:51the plastics they've been using in the
53. 1:53device are now thicker, stronger, and
54. 1:55just of a better quality than they've
55. 1:57ever been before. I think that was um
56. 2:00one of again the immediate things that I
57. 2:01noticed upon getting it straight out of
58. 2:02the box onto the box as I was uh just
59. 2:05talking about it right there. They have
60. 2:07gone back to the original hard case
61. 2:09design that came with the Sea Star S50,
62. 2:12which I wasn't the biggest fan of. I
63. 2:14like the idea, but the original Sea Star
64. 2:16S50, its case was a bit tight, I felt.
65. 2:20So that any shocks that was like applied
66. 2:22to that case would potentially be
67. 2:24transferred straight to the device. In
68. 2:26this thing's case, not. So, if you'll
69. 2:29excuse the weak pun, it's just got
70. 2:30enough wiggle room that it's not going
71. 2:32to be a problem anymore. It's not like
72. 2:34it's going to be rattling around in
73. 2:36there or anything like that. The
74. 2:37battery. The next big thing that I
75. 2:39noticed, and it's not obviously
76. 2:41something that's going to be apparent
77. 2:42until you actually start using a device
78. 2:43like this, but the battery is the best
79. 2:46in any smart device that I've used in
80. 2:49terms of these smart telescopes. It It's
81. 2:51standing head and shoulders above the
82. 2:52rest. Uh Zo are quoting a 9hour battery
83. 2:56life and I can believe it. I don't think
84. 2:59that's an outlandish claim. It's
85. 3:01certainly a lot better than the already
86. 3:03really quite good Sea Star S 30 Pro that
87. 3:06I've got right here as well, just so you
88. 3:08can see for for size comparison sake.
89. 3:10There's quite a difference between the
90. 3:12two, but more on that later. One of the
91. 3:14major thing that I noticed upon starting
92. 3:16to actually use this is the autofocus
93. 3:20always catches focus. I've not had it
94. 3:23fail in a month of usage. Another
95. 3:25upgrade that they've given I guess owing
96. 3:27to the fact that they've got a bit more
97. 3:28room through to that thickened neck and
98. 3:31overall size of the device as it's I
99. 3:33think the biggest sea star yet. It's
100. 3:35body is just that bit larger than all
101. 3:37the others really. Even the the S50
102. 3:40the baffling internally has been
103. 3:42uprated. So uh that was another problem
104. 3:45previously that could occur for people
105. 3:47is stray light entering your uh your
106. 3:49telescope and washing out the contrast
107. 3:51in your images or causing strange glows
108. 3:53and things like that. It's one of those
109. 3:54things where some thought clearly has
110. 3:56gone into it and I've had no problems at
111. 3:59all. And as you can possibly see on
112. 4:01screen if I overlay some footage or a
113. 4:03photo, I've no shortage of stray light
114. 4:06in my garden to put that claim to the
115. 4:09test. I've got to call this now. I think
116. 4:10at this point the grab and go king. It's
117. 4:13been in the gym. It's been putting on a
118. 4:15few pounds in all the right places. I
119. 4:18think it's it's fair to say. Um, but
120. 4:21it's not the sort of device I personally
121. 4:23would want to take uh backpacking up a
122. 4:26bling mountain or something like that.
123. 4:28I'd be more looking at, you know,
124. 4:30something more handleable like this,
125. 4:32which is going to be a much more
126. 4:33friendly device to move around. One
127. 4:35minor drawback. I found that the
128. 4:37in-built polar alignment routine is
129. 4:39really quick and easy to follow.
130. 4:42Sometimes it disagrees with itself very
131. 4:45slightly. So, it can be worth running
132. 4:47your polar alignment procedure and then
133. 4:49running it again from scratch. I found
134. 4:51that on nights when I didn't want to do
135. 4:52that and I just put it down and I I go
136. 4:54until the app says you're good. Um, I
137. 4:57can consistently achieve 30 secondond
138. 4:59subs with a very high keep rate, about
139. 5:0190 95% keep rate oftent times. Um, 1
140. 5:05minute subs are probably down more at
141. 5:07this 70% keep rate range I would say,
142. 5:10which isn't awesome. Also isn't
143. 5:12terrible. But uh no doubt with a more
144. 5:14careful alignment uh a sturdier head
145. 5:18even sturdier tripod things like that
146. 5:19you could definitely get that keep rate
147. 5:21up I would think it's just the polar
148. 5:23alignment might be the part that's
149. 5:25letting it down. Just one of those
150. 5:26things I wanted to uh to mention and
151. 5:28make you aware of. Of course the app
152. 5:31experience. Now this is going to be
153. 5:32another
154. 5:34really key point I think for this
155. 5:35because it's something that's paid well
156. 5:38no attention to in much of the telescope
157. 5:41gear out there on the market. you're
158. 5:42just expected to figure it out.
159. 5:45Basically, find whatever software
160. 5:46package works for you and and get on
161. 5:48with it. But for something like this,
162. 5:50the app is the beating heart of the
163. 5:53whole thing, right? If the app isn't
164. 5:54good, it doesn't matter how good the
165. 5:56device is because you're not going to be
166. 5:57able to interface with it in a uh in a
167. 6:00way that really makes sense to a person
168. 6:03who's a beginner, for example.
169. 6:05I think that the app has gone so good
170. 6:08now on the Sea Star devices that I would
171. 6:10I would have no hesitation recommending
172. 6:12it to a true beginner. As long as you
173. 6:16can use a smartphone or a uh an iPad or
174. 6:19something like that, you could operate
175. 6:21this smart telescope. And I really do
176. 6:22think that cuz as I mentioned before,
177. 6:24Altasmouth mode works really, really
178. 6:26well. And that requires you to have no
179. 6:27knowledge of what any of this stuff down
180. 6:31here does. You know what I mean? You can
181. 6:32just put it down. You don't have to know
182. 6:34where north is or anything like that.
183. 6:35Just put it down, [snorts] power it on,
184. 6:38use the NFC, you know, connect up
185. 6:39however you want to do and start
186. 6:42imaging. It takes care of the rest of it
187. 6:43in in true one tap fashion. That's their
188. 6:47term. They call it like one tap imaging.
189. 6:49And yeah, it's one tap imaging.
190. 6:51Basically, if you select something to go
191. 6:53after a tap later and it just takes
192. 6:56over, it'll go to the target. It will go
193. 6:59through a brief calibration procedure
194. 7:01where it will it will get rid of some of
195. 7:03the drift that might naturally occur.
196. 7:05It'll take some darks at the start of
197. 7:07your session to help with your
198. 7:08calibration.
199. 7:10It'll autofocus before it starts and
200. 7:12then it'll just begin. And uh I really
201. 7:16appreciate that kind of thing when it
202. 7:17lowers the barriers to entry which can
203. 7:19only ever be a good thing. the more
204. 7:22people who want to look at the night sky
205. 7:24who now can who are not blocked by you
206. 7:28know software barriers mechanical
207. 7:29barriers or otherwise that's always good
208. 7:31thing in my eyes and and this is just
209. 7:34another step in the right direction and
210. 7:36it's a big step as well I would say
211. 7:39finally to finish off I want to talk
212. 7:41about the the overall imaging experience
213. 7:43so just on the app once again the inapp
214. 7:47editing options now are slicker than
215. 7:50ever more powerful than ever too, I'm
216. 7:52glad to say. So, it can pass the frames
217. 7:54that you've captured uh or rather the
218. 7:56master that you've captured through its
219. 7:59uh its own editing suite that runs
220. 8:02through some AI tools in order to
221. 8:04optimize the amount of noise in your
222. 8:05image, the star size and details, that
223. 8:09kind of thing without being like a
224. 8:11generative mess. It's still your data.
225. 8:14Very clearly your data blemishes and
226. 8:16all. By the way, if you get things like
227. 8:18satellite trails creeping in and you
228. 8:19haven't used the, you know, skip
229. 8:22satellite trails mode, which is on this,
230. 8:23which again is another thing I really
231. 8:25appreciate, you're going to see them.
232. 8:27It's it's your data at the end of the
233. 8:29day that's getting processed. But the
234. 8:31onapp um experience for getting a nice
235. 8:34sharable image, even just for yourself
236. 8:36or for your friends on social media,
237. 8:39yeah, again, it's another step in the
238. 8:41right direction. And
239. 8:43like I said, this is coming across no
240. 8:45doubt as overwhelmingly positive. And
241. 8:46that's just because it's an easy device
242. 8:48to like and uh I I appreciate that kind
243. 8:51of thing. So overall, I'm I'm going to
244. 8:54say to you this, it's it gets my easy
245. 8:56recommendation. It is not any longer
246. 8:59something that could be described as a
247. 9:01truly cheap device, but given how close
248. 9:04it's gotten that gap now between a
249. 9:06discrete rig, you know, made up of
250. 9:08individual parts, a camera and a
251. 9:10telescope up and a mount and a imaging
252. 9:12computer and all the rest of the stuff
253. 9:14that goes along with that. Um, how close
254. 9:17it is to a similarly sized and spec rig
255. 9:20now is is ridiculous at this point. And
256. 9:24uh yeah, it's an easy recommend. If if
257. 9:26you're in this price budget and it fits,
258. 9:30I can't see you being unhappy. So, if
259. 9:32you're interested in purchasing one of
260. 9:33these and you've liked my review and
261. 9:35feel like it's been useful to you in
262. 9:36making a decision, I would massively
263. 9:39appreciate your support if you'd be so
264. 9:40kind as to use one of the links in the
265. 9:42description box just down below. If you
266. 9:45want to try and take your images from
267. 9:46the sea star to the next level, I have
268. 9:49my own processing software out as well
269. 9:52now completely free of charge and that's
270. 9:54called Astro Wizard. Again, you can find
271. 9:56that link down below as well as many
272. 9:58videos on my channel and I'll be doing
273. 10:01some sharing of data from this device
274. 10:03for you as soon as I'm able. So you can
275. 10:06download that and try it out if you
276. 10:08would like as well and just see what the
277. 10:09device like the data looks like in
278. 10:12practice for you. And uh hopefully you
279. 10:15enjoy that too. But I think that's about
280. 10:17everything from me. I've gone on at
281. 10:19extreme length now and I do want to try
282. 10:21to respect your time as much as
283. 10:22possible. But there's a lot to say about
284. 10:24something like this. So I hope you've
285. 10:26enjoyed this one and uh until the next
286. 10:29time, look after yourselves and clear
287. 10:31skies.