Uncle Milton Homestar

Other products by Uncle Milton

Product Features

• Enjoy an amazing starry night view in the comfort of your own home with our pro series planetarium
• Futuristic sphere design with motorized rotation of star fields
• Two interchangeable hi-res image disks for different starfield views
• Adjustable projection angles which display up to 10,000 stars on walls and ceiling
• Recommended for 10 years and up

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 8.9 x 9.3 inches ; 2.8 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B000TKALWS
• Item model number: 12530
• Manufacturer recommended age: 10 years and up
• Batteries: 4 C batteries required.
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #62,201 in Toys & Games (See Bestsellers in Toys & Games)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #62 in	Office Products > Education & Crafts > Social Studies Materials > Globes
  #65 in	Toys & Games > Hobbies > Science > Astronomy
  #86 in	Toys & Games > Learning & Education > Geography & Globes

• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Enjoy an amazing starry night view in the comfort of your own home with our pro series planetarium. Watch as a crystal-clear, rotating field of 10,000 stars is projected on your seiling or wall - with random streaking comets.

Product Description

Enjoy an amazing starry-night view in the comfort of your own home with the Homestar Optical Star Planetarium. Watch as a crystal-clear, rotating field of 10,000 stars is projected on your ceiling or wall, with random streaking meteors. Measures 7" x 7".

Features:

• Displays up to 10,000 stars on walls and ceiling.
• Motorized rotation of star fields
• Two high-res interchangeable image disks (for different starfield views)
• Futuristic sphere design
• Optical-quality lens system with adjustable focus
• Ultra-bright white LED light source
• Automatic timer for motorized image rotation
• Random streaking meteor mode
• Adjustable projection angle
• AC adapter

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

74 of 74 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A star-lover's dream machine, November 11, 2007

By	J. Scaringe (Bakersfield, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Durability:4.0 out of 5 stars Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars Educational:4.0 out of 5 stars 

Homestar is a fantastic "toy" for all ages and all interests of the night sky whether you wish to learn the constellations or just want to gaze at a very pretty and detailed image of the night sky in the convenience of your own home. Although I've heard complaints from some reviewers about the stars being too blurry around the circumference of the image to the shooting star feature being a bit too simple or the item itself being too expensive for what it is, I, myself - an amateur astronomer who owns a $6000 telescope and is used to seeing the best views of the night sky outside of the big, professional observatory scopes - can tell you first hand that compared to the cost of a REAL Planetarium, what you DO get from Homestar is more than reasonable in both it's capabilities and price. The image of the stars and Milky Way are breathtaking at first glance and you don't find yourself doubting about it's stated feature of displaying up to 10,000 stars. Over three quarters of that number has to be in the finely detailed Milky Way part of the image alone! After a few minutes of watching Homestar you start to feel a very real sense that you are looking up at a reasonably authentic night sky. Every time. This product has brought pure enjoyment to my home and I have used it every single night since the day it arrived on my doorstep with no end of it's use in sight. If you have any New Age/Electronic/Space Music then I can't think of anything more perfect for nightly entertainment than playing those CDs with the Homestar Optical Star Planetarium. They were meant for each other. This product is highly recommended.

41 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stellar, October 29, 2007

By	Nice Marmet (Somewhere mostly harmless) - See all my reviews

Durability:4.0 out of 5 stars Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars Educational:3.0 out of 5 stars 

This is, without a doubt, the best purchase I have made in some time. When I was young, I covered my ceiling with glow-in-the-dark sticky stars, and I would stare at them for hours; I love to stare at the stars, and I always have. When I decided to see what kind of options I had as far as a star projector, based on reviews on the 'net I couldn't stand buying anything less than this machine... and I am glad that I succumbed to my compulsive spending habit. It is absolutely beautiful. Every person I show it to - and I show it to everyone I can - expresses some variation of the theme "I could stare at this for hours." I couldn't be happier that I get to gaze at this display on my bedroom ceiling every night.

It does have its downsides, though they are few and far between. The most blatant is the fact that the "random" shooting star generator is only random as far as timing; the location of said shooting stars never change. This tends to ruin the illusion, but it is quite easy to turn the feature off.

I give this product a 9/10, with one less point than perfect on account of the shooting star generator. This product is amazing.

31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic for the price, December 31, 2007

By	Rilkeanhearts (Evanston, IL USA) - See all my reviews

Durability:4.0 out of 5 stars Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars 

I have wanted to have my own "planetarium" for years and this definitely fits the bill. It took me a while to figure out the focus (I had to spin and spin and spin to get it in the right focus range). It actually has a much bigger focus range than I expected.

The projector seems to be well made and the projections look great. It works best when placed in the center of the floor of a room with no (or small) light fixtures on the ceiling. However, most of the time I use it over my bed and have it only about 4.5 feet from the ceiling and pointed at an angle. The edges are blurry/distorted when used this way, but I like to use the timer before I go to bed.

Several of the other "planetarium" units that I have looked at don't have realistic star/constellation configurations, they only project lights in random patterns. I have used this to become more familiar with the night sky.

There is a newer version of the Homestar, called the Homestar PRO that was released in Japan this year. There are a few online places importing it, but it seems to run about $300. The new version has more disks and I think it projects in color, which would be neat. If the price comes down on those, I might eventually upgrade to that model.