Meade mySKY Personal Guide for Sky Exploration

My first MySky had to be returned - it was literally falling apart in the box. When I finally received the second - it actually worked, but I had terrible problems trying to upgrade the software - SO... Meade replaced the entire unit. I recently attempted to upgrade my replacement unit with the latest software - and wound up with a calibration error. So - Meade replaced my MySky with a MySky Plus - what they fail to tell you is THEY SUBTRACT OUT THE GPS - and the only way to set the location is by scrolling through a long list of choices. There's no way to set your own longitude and latitude - so you have to use a nearby city.

The new unit works - but it is terribly inaccurate.

DO NOT BUY THIS PRODUCT - I know I regret doing so.

As a budding backyard astronomer, I was hoping for an aid to my exploration. I bought this pretty much on release and now, about a year later and after getting the latest software shipped to me by Meade, I have decided to call this a total loss. Out of the box, it had an "identify" function that was supposed to allow me to point to a celestial object and the mySKY would identify it. I never got that far as the mySKY could not ever get calibrated (i.e. GPS fix). I thought it was me and so I would pull it out of the box every few months but I could never get it to work. I finally called tech support and after having to pay for the latest software which was on backorder for a month, I received the "definitive" software edition. Now, you have to pick the nearest city (i.e. you can't define your own location) and then allow the sensors "adjust." I don't know if this means it is attempting to get a GPS fix but it does do this rather quickly. This got me excited and I hoped that it would finally work as advertised. I shouldn't have been surprised that the excitement quickly went away when the identify function was no longer in the software. You can pick a star or constellation from a whole slew of them (it lists items not even visible in your location at the current time) and it will try to direct you to it but trying to get the lights and your vision aligned is a miserable experience. That Meade still lists this thing at $399 is shameful. In my opinion, it should be a $25-50 toy sold in the toy department of your local superstore. I'll be buying a Celestron SkyScout which is what I should have bought in the first place. I've never written an Amazon review before but felt obligated to warn nice people from buying this worthless product.

I thought I had carefully compared the MySky and the celestron product, and made the right choice. BIG MISTAKE. This product took quite a while to set up as far as getting the GPS to work. The pointing is not accurate--it identified Jupiter as a star on the first attempt, but then it worked out. The videos and audio are minimal, not very informative at all. This is WAY overpriced for what you get, and it doesnt seem well made. I plan on returning it and trying the Sky Scout. Hopefully, it works better. Meade promotes its product as having a larging database of celestial objects to find, but does it matter if it doesnt work? LM

I tried to rate it as ZERO stars but I'm forced to give it the undeserved single star.

Oh my goodness. I should have visited the review forums before buying this overpriced miserable piece of junk.

The quality of the materials is well below what you might expect of a $300 device (valued at $500 by Meade). Without exaggeration, I must tell you that I have seen happy meal prizes of better construction and made of better materials. The resolution of the video screen when viewing the skymap is comparable to images produced by an Atari 2600. (for those of you who may have just crawled out from under a rock...the Atari 2600 was a video game system produced in the late 70s...yes the skymap is rivaled by technology of 30 years ago)

It is completely worthless as an educational tool. When I first pulled it out of the box I pointed at Polaris...bing, it told me all about Polaris. Then I directed it towards the stars of Cygnus...bong, it got every one of them wrong (a very jumpy screen that is always about 5 degrees off of what I am pointing at).Frustrated, I made a list of accurate readings...out of twenty-five visible stars, my Mysky named two correctly (and I held that thing as steady as can reasonable be expected of a human being). I then tried the 'goto' function. This is where you pick an object from a list and the mySky directs you to it with arrows and a crosshair. When you point the device close to the object the crosshair appears. I think the crosshair is supposed to represent the position of the object, but it keeps jumping around on the screen. Choose something like Deneb and point the mySky in the general direction of Cygnus and the crosshair bee-bops around the image of the constellation on the screen as if Deneb is not fixed relative to the constellation. Unless you were asking the device to find the Moon, I doubt an amateur could learn anything about location of celestial objects from this device. I you don't already know the layout of the night sky do NOT expect this device to help you. Considering the materials are utterly & unbelievably cheap and the functions are accurate less than 10% of time, why does Meade say that this thing is valued at 500 dollars? I know that they are currently selling for $300, but think of what you can get for $300. One electronic gadget that comes to mind is a new 3G iphone ($299). Have you seen the functionality of that thing! I know they have two wildly different functions but...one is an electronic gadget with lights, video screen, and buttons and the other is an electronic gadget with lights, video screen, and buttons. One is a multifunctional device and one is dedicated to identifying celestial objects. One works amazingly well in performing its multifunctions and the other cannot adequately perform its singular purpose.

I really would like to know what the magazine reviewers for this device received for their favorable reviews. Either the reviewers are simpleminded morons who are easily impressed by flashing red lights or their reviews are easily bought.

Good Grief. Do not waste your money on this thing. It is a worthless piece of junk.

I bought a MySky in February. When it arrived, from the first time, it woudld not work: It would lock up whether you had it look for birds or you entered data manually. I sent it back. Waited weeks. Got replacement. It worked once. Next time, buttons failed to work and parts falling out of battery door. I sent it back again, had to pay this time because I had it more than 2 months (never really got to use it, it was cloudy during the midwest floods!) still have not heard or seen any sign of a replacement after a long wait.
Do the magazine reviewers get special units? Checking online I see that nearly everyone here as well as on other forums has been unable to get a reliably working unit.