Meade mySKY Personal Guide for Sky Exploration

by Meade

Product Details

• Item Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B000P9ELC4
• Item model number: 04540
• Average Customer Review: 1.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: April 2, 2007

Product Description

Manufacturer Description

Meade introduces a revolutionary way to explore our universe. The new Meade mySKY is an easy-to-use multi-media device that will guide you through the night sky better than if you had your own private astronomer standing next to you. Meade’s patented technology allows the mySKY to out perform every other hand held night sky exploration device on the market.

Featuring a full-color LCD screen and the added ability to control a Meade computerized telescope, MySky is a fun, interactive, multi-media, hand-held guide to the universe that locates and identifies celestial objects in the night sky. MySky aligns itself by pointing it at a celestial object and pull the trigger to identify planets, stars, nebula, galaxies and more with over 30,000 objects. Your exploration starts with a simple video introduction of how to use MySky. Real-time, Color SkyMaps Guide you to the objects you want to locate. Sandy Wood, the familiar voice of StarDate the syndicated daily radio program, provides you with audio descriptions of the objects you have found. MySky also takes you on guided tours of the best objects in your sky tailored to your time, date and location.

mySKY Highlights

The ultimate in simplicity No knowledge of the night sky is needed. mySKY aligns itself without any input from the user. Turn it on, point it at a celestial object, and pull the trigger to identify planets, stars, nebula, galaxies and more -- over 30,000 objects. Featuring open aiming sites that do not restrict your field of view, finding your target is easy.

Multi-media presentation on the full-color LCD screen Your exploration starts with a simple video introduction of how to use mySKY. Real-time, color SkyMaps guide you to the objects you want to locate. Sandy Wood, the familiar voice of StarDate -- a syndicated daily radio program, provides you with audio descriptions of the objects you have found. mySKY also takes you on guided tours of the best objects in your sky -- tailored to your time, date and location.

Product Description

Featuring a full-color LCD screen and the added ability to control a Meade computerized telescope, MySky is a fun, interactive, mu hand-held guide to the universe that locates and identifies celestial objects in the night sky. MySky aligns itself by pointing it at a celestial object and pull the trigger to identify planets, stars, nebula, galaxies and more with over 30,000 objects. Your exploration starts with a simple video introduction of how to use MySky. Real-time, Color SkyMaps Guide you to the objects you want to locate. Sandy Wood, the familiar voice of StarDate the syndicated daily radio program, provides you with audio descriptions of the objects you have found. MySky also takes you on guided tours of the best objects in your sky tailored to your time, date and location. Positioning Electronic accelerometers to determine pointing Power save features - Advanced power saving features to extend battery life 4 AA batteries required (not included) Battery Life - Up to 7 hours Just point and shoot to identify planets, stars, constellations and more See images, watch video and hear audio descriptions Take guided tours of the night sky Simple controls that are intuitive and easy to use MySky incorporates full GPS Auto Alignment, which does not require any user input MySky provides information to the user in true multi-media formats - Video, Audio, Still Images, Sky Maps and text Updated object information, tours and program improvements downloadable from the Internet.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Didn't Work Out of the Box, October 3, 2007

By 

D. Martin "davemartin88" (Romney, WV United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Meade mySKY Personal Guide for Sky Exploration (Electronics)

Received mine last week, didn't work at all. Appeared to power up and get a GPS fix but couldn't identify any object. Upgraded the program using the included disk but no change in behavior. Liked the way idea of this device as opposed to the SkyScout but sent it back this morning and decided to stay with the SkyScout. I was going to give the SkyScout to my son if the Meade device worked because I generally prefer Meade equipment but decided to just return this one and wait to see if the reported problems I see on other sites are corrected down the road.

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Waste of Money!, November 8, 2007

By 

Rick Clow "rcc1123" (Keller, TX United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Meade mySKY Personal Guide for Sky Exploration (Electronics)

Mine was bad out of the box too. Has been back to Meade for OVER a month now and every time I call Meade they say "We'll get that shipped out to you tomorrow". I had problems with my Celestron SkyScout when I first got it but Celestron got it back to me in about a week and it's been GREAT since then. Save your money and buy a SkyScout from Celestron and avoid Meade. I know I will from now on and I own several of thier scopes.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Awesome, But ..., October 30, 2007

By 

F. Plumbo "whiskerbiskit" (Indiana, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Meade mySKY Personal Guide for Sky Exploration (Electronics)

UPDATE:

After three days of use my mySky is now dead. It just died. Won't work at all. Meade is going to have me mail it back, wait a few weeks and then have a $400 refurb and less than a year of warranty.

If I could change my rating for the mySky, I'd now give it no stars.

Very lame.

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Functionally perfect. And what an incredible functionality! Being able to point and shoot at celestial objects is even cooler than it sounds.

A little cheesy to look at though and the rubberized plastic construction has too much of a "cheap" feel for a $400 toy. Plus, the audio, video and overall production values of the multimedia leave much to be desired, although the content itself is great.

One last criticism - the software is on a standard, removable SD card, and yet you need to use Meade's proprietary, Windoze-only software to update it. Who's the genius behind that?

My verdict: if you have the cash and the desire and can overlook some minor aesthetic shortcomings, this thing is the stuff. Although, sadly, Mac-owners need not apply.