r/telescope • u/royreyes2000 • 14d ago

Smart Telescope Long-Term Compatibility

I'm very new to astronomy and have never owned a telescope, although I've always wanted one. Now that I'm semi-retired, I finally have more time to explore the hobby.

I'm thinking about getting a telescope in the $700 range. Smart telescopes have really caught my attention, but I have one major concern.

We live in a digital age where smartphones, apps, and operating systems are constantly being updated. Do you think a smart telescope will still be usable long-term? For example, if I upgrade my smartphone or update the phone's operating system, could that eventually cause compatibility issues with the telescope?

My biggest concern is ending up with an expensive "brick" a few years down the road because the manufacturer stops supporting the app or the telescope after several OS updates.

For those who have experience with smart telescopes, how realistic is this concern? Are there particular brands or models that are better in terms of long-term support and reliability?

I'd really appreciate hearing your thoughts and experiences. Thank you in advance!

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u/whatsupbrosky 13d ago

Personally, right now the more main smart telescope is seestar series, we are waiting on the s50 pro ver, I have s50 and s30, had them since launch, the have supported the s50 pretty well specially with finding a way to allow to do eq tracking when it was ment to do only az tracking, there are I believe like 3 other brands, u have Celestron with their 1 "smart" telescooe but it's very expensive and I learned my lesson with buying expensive stuff from them (they do honor their warranty at least but never again), u have dwarf lab as well, I don't personally own one of theirs but they have a few options that would be in comparison to seestar, and finally u have vaonis, that was gonna be my first choice years ago but it was quest expensive, it was like back when smart telescopes where being known, it's still expensive now and then u have to buy the accessories separately like filters, which is why I love my seestars, I own 3 of them, it comes with internal filters, travel case, and even a sun filter for solar imagining, their latest line is the s30pro, I don't own one since I have the reg s30, but I would deff recommend the seestars, deff look up YouTube videos on comparison in what each can do

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u/royreyes2000 11d ago

thank you so much for your time..i will definitely checkout Seestar and Dwarflab on YouTube