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Antoine & Dalia Grelin

EVscope Review: Is Unistellar's Smart Telescope worth the money?

Updated: May 20, 2023


The EVscope from Unistellar PNG image

It’s been long awaited, an innovation that has finally been brought to life. The idea of the EVscope was pledged by more than 2000 backers raising 2.2 million dollars on KickStarter, an amount 15 times higher than their original goal.


Armed with an exciting marketing campaign, Unistellar also made a promise. A promise to "finally see". Now that is it available, what is the EVscope actually worth?



Table of Contents:

  • Introduction

  • What's in the Box?

  • Specs & Price

  • Size, Weight, and Mounting

  • The Unistellar App

  • Observing and Photographing Deep Sky Objects with the EVscope

  • Comparing the EVscope with our own Astrophotography rig

  • Answers to your questions

  • Final Verdict / Pros & Cons

  • Gallery of images taken with the EVscope


Review of the EVscope Smart Telescope by Unsitellar
Scroll to the bottom for the full video review!

The Evscope is finally shipping out to its backers, and tonight, I have the opportunity to try it out for about 2 hours. This will be the first time I am able to use it without rushing or waiting in line, like what happened last year during an event in Las Vegas. I will be looking at nebulae, clusters, and the moon. The location is the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. A Bortle 9 zone near the Las Vegas Strip. The moon is almost full at 97% illumination.


Did you submit your questions to our social media? If yes, answers are coming!


I will compare the Evscope with a regular rig of the same price, talk about the app, and some of the community features. I'll also cover, once and for all, common questions about the scope, for example: "is this a real image?"; "Does it pull pictures from Google?"; "What happens if you put your hand in front of it?".


I will be giving you my full and honest opinion about the Evscope, show you how it works, and discuss the pros and cons. Scroll down to the bottom of this post to watch our full review video on YouTube.


Unistellar EVscope what if you put your hand in front of it
Blocking the light from entering the EVscope's optical tube

The first time we saw the EVscope was back in January of 2018, at CES. We made a video about all the different astronomy innovations we saw at the salon, and wrote a quick post about our first impressions about the EVscope.

In our video and written post, we said that we were impressed with the product that was on display and most importantly by the promise to be able to observe astronomical objects from any light polluted environment.


Looking at the Orion Nebula through the EVscope
Dalia looking through the EVscope for the first time

One year later right after CES 2019, we attended an event at the Neon Museum in Las Vegas where the EVscope was shown in action to the public.


The Neon Museum is located near Downtown Las Vegas, so needless to say, it was extremely light polluted. We, once again, made a video about the event and wrote a post about our experience with the telescope.


Sadly, the sky was very cloudy that night and we were only able to observe the Orion Nebula.


We knew that we needed to observe fainter and smaller objects to really be able to judge the EVscope's capabilities. We knew Unistellar would attend CES 2020 as well so we told ourselves we would try our best to try the EVscope again under a clear night.


Fast-forward to CES 2020. The weather has been cloudy all week, but the sky thankfully decided to cooperate on the last day of the salon. This was our only chance to try out the EVscope.


You can find our full review video at the bottom of this page, as well as a gallery of images taken by the EVscope.

Interested in the EVscope? You can get yours HERE.


 

What's In the Box?

Because this review was initiated when Unistellar was visiting our city, I did not receive this product through the mail and therefore did not experience the unboxing of the EVscope. I wanted to know what the box looked like and asked Unistellar to send me a photo of one of their boxes. If you are a backer or bought an EVscope recently, the box pictured below is what you should expect to receive your EVscope in.


Let's go over what items come with the telescope.


Unistellar EVscope shipping box
The Box in which the EVscope is shipped

When purchasing the EVscope, you receive:

  • The EVscope and its motorized mount

  • The Unistellar Tripod

  • A Bahtinov Mask and protective cap

  • A built-in battery, which should last about 9-10 hours until needed to be recharged

  • A manual and some information about the Unistellar app

  • A Citizen Science membership


The Tripod




The Tripod that comes with the Evscope was made by Unistellar.


The tripod weighs 4.4 pounds (2 kg) and the legs can extend to your desired height.

When fully contracted, the tripod is a little smaller that the height of the Unistellar backpack.


To the touch, this tripod felt relatively sturdy. The legs may look a little thin when fully extended but are built to safely support the EVscope's weight. There was no wind during my observation but I do not think it would lose balance unless there were really strong gusts.


At the base of the tripod is a bubble level, important to make sure you are on a flat ground before clicking the EVscope onto it, and a knob to tighten the grip of the base.



The BAHTINOV MASK


EVscope Bahtinov Mask and how to use it
The Bahtinov Mask attached to the EVscope

Just under the telescope's protective cap is a Bahtinov mask.


I am glad Unistellar decided to include this in the box because its design does not allow it to automatically focus. It is small, fits nicely on the optical tube and barely weighs anything.


I explain how to use this mask and how to achieve perfect focus easily later in this post if you are not aware of how a Bahtinov mask works.




 

Specs & Price


Let's talk about the stats of this telescope before we see how it handles on various astronomical objects.

The EVscope is a custom reflector telescope with an aperture of 114mm (4.5 in), a focal length of 450mm, and a focal ratio of f/4.


The sensor is a Sony IMX224 which has a resolution of 1.2 Million pixels (1305 x 977). This is the same sensor used in some astrophotography cameras like the ZWO 224MC for example.


The mount is a motorized Alt-Az mount that is attached to the scope itself. The telescope weighs 15.4 pounds. For comparison, our Newtonian 8" Astrograph weighs 17.5 pounds, while our Meade 70mm APO weighs 4.5 pounds.


Unistellar EVscope primary mirror
The primary mirror can be seen when looking down the tube

The EVscope can save images on your smartphone or tablet. From what I was told, the company is working on ways for the user to retrieve their raw data from the device.


At the time of writing this review, the EVscope costs $2,999 + tax in the United States. It costs 2 999 € in Europe.


Unistellar EVscope specifications
Full specifications sheet

 

Size, Weight and Mounting

  • Weight: 15.4 lb (7 kg)

  • Length: 25.6 in (65 cm)

  • Width: 9 in (23 cm)


EVscope graph with dimensions

The EVscope weighs 15.4 pounds (7 kilograms) while the tripod weighs 4.4 pounds (2 kg). It has a size of 25.6 x 9 inches (65 x 23 centimeters).


The telescope and its accessories fit nicely in the large Unistellar backpack I was using (which should be available as an extra), while the tripod is attached on its side.


This bag should be able to fit in an overhead bin of an airplane and into any vehicle easily.




How to set up the EVscope?


Setting up is very straightforward. It only takes a couple of minutes from start to finish and definitely is easier than setting up a full astronomy rig. Let's go over the few steps it takes to install the telescope.


  • First, extend the tripod's legs to your desired height and set it down. Use the integrated bubble level to make sure it is on flat ground.


How to set up the EVscope tutorial
  • Then, carefully grab the EVscope and click it on the tripod. The opening of the optical tube should be facing straight up.

  • Tighten the knob on the side of the tripod to ensure the telescope is firmly attached on the tripod.


  • You can now remove the cap on both the tube and the eyepiece, and turn the telescope on by holding down the ON/OFF power button for a couple of seconds.


Your EVscope should now be ready to be used! Simply launch the Unistellar app on your phone or tablet, and let it calibrate itself. Before you can start observing deep sky objects, you will first need to manually focus the telescope! Here is how you do it:


  • Attach the included Bahtinov mask at the end of the optical tube

  • Using the app, slew the EVscope to a bright star of your choosing (we usually pick Vega in Summer, Betelgeuse in Winter)

  • Using liveview on the app, slowly rotate the focusing knob on the back of the telescope until you achieve perfect focus (all the star spikes should cross at the center of the star)


For a complete tutorial on how to focus using a Bahtinov mask, check out our "How to Focus" tutorial.

 

The Unistellar App


So what about the app? Let's talk about it before we attempt one last target, the Flame Nebula.

The app is pretty straightforward, and I was able to use it without having to ask questions. In it are five tabs:


EVscope app first tab

1) EVscope

The first tab is is where you can control the telescope manually.

There are arrows you can use to go any directions, and three other buttons on the right side. One of these three buttons is to activate the enhanced vision, which we will talk about later.


At the top is the live-view window where you can see the current area of the sky your telescope is aimed at.

The text below that window updates depending on what task the EVscope is currently doing. In this case, slewing to Betelgeuse.


On the very top right of the screen are three small buttons. The left one is to download the current image to your phone. The second button is to export it and share it. The last one is to open up the manual adjustments settings window. There you can change the gain, exposure time, and can tweak the contrast, saturation, and other basic options to get a better looking image.





EVscope app Explore tab

2) Explore

This is the catalog of objects you choose from.


When selecting an astronomical object from the database, a window such as the one on the right opens.

On this screen, you can see the name of the selected object, its type, its location in the sky, and a description. A "Goto" button is also visible on the right, which you can tap to tell the EVscope to slew to that target.


Currently, there are more than 4,000 objects in the database, 180 of which have descriptions, like the one seen on the bottom of the screenshot on the right. This number is likely to grow as Unistellar releases updates in the future.


This tab is accessible even if you are not connected to the EVscope.




EVscope app science tab

3) Science

This is where you will see community events.


When an event is in progress, you can look for Asteroid occultations, exoplanet transits, cometary activity, and more.


Most of these were greyed out when we were trying the EVscope, but here is how we believe it is supposed to work:

When an even is in progress, click on one of these options. In the next window, the app will tell you where the target is located (with Ra/Dec coordinates) and you can simply tap the Goto button to slew to it.

Once centered on the object, you can tap on the "Launch" button to start recording the data. The exposure time and gain will be set automatically by Unistellar but you might have the option to change these.




EVscope app Gallery tab

4) Gallery

This is where you see all the images saved within the app.


When you save an image in the app, it will automatically appear in both your Photos file on your phone, and in this 4th tab, the gallery.


The images have a circular frame with Unistellar copyright text along with the name of the object, the total exposure time, your coordinates and the date it was taken.



EVscope app User Profile tab

5) User Profile

Finally, the last tab is the User profile tab.


Here, you can see your statistics, update the Evscope/app when a new patch is available, check the status of battery, see how much storage has been used, batch download the images, park your EVscope, and change your settings.


You can notice a "Connected as: Operator" text near the bottom. When tapping the "Release" button, another person with the app installed on their device can take control of your EVscope, allowing them to slew to their desired target and take photos. When this happens, you will be a "Watcher" and you can see everything that is happening but without getting the controls back until they in turn release theirs.



Overall, the app is great, and does not feel difficult to use. During the couple of hours I was using the EVscope, I have to say that the app did crash a few times. Thankfully, when this happens, you can simply launch the app again and jump back to whatever you were doing. The progress or current action (slewing, enhanced vision...) do not reset and you should not have to recalibrate or re-select your target.

Unistellar told me they were working on fixing this crashing issue for their next update, so it should be resolved pretty soon


 


Observing Deep Sky Objects with the EVscope

It is now time to see what the EVscope is really capable of. I decided to try the telescope from a very light polluted area: the University of Nevada Las Vegas, located just minutes away from the Las Vegas Strip.


I used the EVscope for about two hours, and observed one star cluster, one galaxy, three nebulae and the moon. If I ever have the opportunity to try the EVscope again in the future, I will use it under a very dark sky and see how it compares. I will update this post with our results when this happens.


I set up the EVscope on the parking lot by the stadium, as you can see in our video, and decided to pick the Orion Nebula (M42) as my first target.


1) Messier 42 - The Orion Nebula


The photo on the left shows the "liveview" of the nebula as seen as soon as the telescope reached its target. The photo on the right was taken a couple of minutes after activating the "Enhanced Vision" feature.


In both cases, the nebula looked better when observed through the eyepiece than when looking at it on the phone.


My thoughts: M42 looked impressive, colorful and well detailed. Sadly, I am concerned about how quickly the core became blown up soon after activating the enhanced vision. On December 5, 2019, Unistellar announced on their Twitter feed that they were working on HDR to fix the cores of bright objects getting blown up.



What is Enhanced Vision?


The letters "EV" in the name "EVscope" stand for the telescope's main innovation, the "Enhanced Vision" feature.


Activating the Enhanced Vision will allow you to see the object you are looking at in color and great details. The technical aspect of this feature is actually very simple, and you should already be familiar with this if you practice astrophotography.


Once the Enhanced Vision is ON, the integrated computer will start stacking images on top of each other. For those of you who do not know, stacking images is how astrophotographers are able to get incredible shots of astronomical objects. Usually, the more total exposure time you stack together, the better looking your image will turn out (to a certain point).

With the EVscope, it is exactly the same idea. Every 4 seconds, a new photo will be stacked on top of the previous ones, making what you are looking at through the eyepiece or on the app more and more impressive every 4 seconds.



2) Messier 1 - The Crab Nebula


I didn't want to spend more than a couple of minutes on M42 as it is obviously a very easy object to observe and photograph. Let's put the EVscope to the test on Messier 1, the Crab Nebula.

To be honest, it is kind of unfair since the object is almost in the same field of view as the moon (which was at 97% illumination).


Liveview did not reveal anything besides the moonglow, so I waited for the enhanced vision to kick in and… it appeared.


The Crab Nebula through the EVscope

My thoughts: I'm not sure what to say here, it definitely does not look impressive, and it didn't seem to get better over time with the stacking. I admit that this is a very unfair attempt as no one would even bother observing an object so close to the full moon. This was also a couple of minutes of total exposure and I quickly decided to pick a different target.



3) The Moon


Talking about the moon... Let's give it some love!


Unistellar told me that they were still working on fixing some issue related to correctly centering the moon in the field of view, but thanks to the manual slewing on the app, I was able to find it pretty easily. I also had to manually play with the settings in order to make it look nice and not over blown.

The image below does not really give it justice because it is a screenshot from the video we took through the eyepiece with our cellphone. It was genuinely a beautiful sight though.


The moon through the EVscope's eyepiece with a cellphone
The moon through the EVscope's eyepiece

Once again, it felt much better to look at the object through the eyepiece, I think it is because of the circular field of view, and also because it is cropped in a little bit. The image seen through the eyepiece looked brighter and whiter than the one on the app. I am not sure why the colors were slightly different.


Below you can see an image comparison of the moon seen on the app, and the moon seen through the eyepiece. This one does not really give it justice because it is a screenshot from the video I took through the eyepiece with my cellphone. It was genuinely a beautiful sight though.

The left image (screenshot from the app) was rotated to match the eyepiece image.


You might realize that the distance between some of the craters and the edge of the moon does not match and seem off. I thought the same thing and got a little paranoid there for a minute but, as I explain in the review video, this was because the moon was not perfectly centered and it was difficult to tell in the circular field of view of the eyepiece.


The Moon with the EVscope, app vs eyepiece difference


4) Messier 31 - The Andromeda Galaxy



The Andromeda Galaxy through the EVscope

I wanted to try the Andromeda Galaxy before it got too low in the horizon.


M31 was still 35 degrees high when I decided to slew the telescope to it. Because of its size and brightness, I expected to see the galaxy pretty easily, but both the live view and the enhanced vision were too noisy to reveal anything.


Messier 31 was about to set over the Las Vegas Strip, where the worst part of the light pollution originates from, so this might have been why the shots were full of noise.


In any case, I did not see the Andromeda galaxy that night.




5) NGC 2024 - The Flame Nebula


Lastly, let's try one last deep sky object, the Flame Nebula.


The live-view did not show much besides the very bright star Alnitak. I activated the Enhanced Vision, and waited a few seconds for the frames to start stacking.


Below you can see the Enhanced Vision at work, going from 24 seconds (top left image) to 4 minutes (bottom right image). The total exposure time for each shot is written on each outer circle (24 sec, 28 sec, 44 sec, 1m24 sec, 1m36 sec, 4 minutes). If you would like to see a larger version of the 4-minute shot, you can do so by checking out the gallery of images at the end of this review.


From 24 seconds to 4 minutes on the Flame Nebula with the EVscope from Unistellar
From 24 seconds to 4 minutes on the Flame Nebula

My thoughts:

The Flame Nebula looked pretty good considering the low exposure time... observing from a very light polluted area... and on a full moon night.


I wish I could have spent a full hour or more on a target, but sadly I just didn't have the scope for long enough to get that much data. I plan on updating this post if I get the chance to try the EVscope for a longer period of time.


 

Comparing the EVscope to a Regular Astrophotography Rig

A lot of people have asked me to compare the EVscope with a regular astrophotography setup that is similar in price. However, what most people don’t understand is that the EVscope was NOT built with Astrophotography in mind.


Normal telescope vs EVscope M16

If we were to compare the EVscope with, let's say, a Dobsonian telescope for visual, it is difficult to pick a winner. You obviously will see much more through the EVscope, but you would be looking at a tiny screen. If your goal is to show deep sky objects to your friends, and all they want is to look at impressive and colorful nebulae and galaxies, then the EVscope is great. If, on the other hand, you want the experience to be "pure" and the actual photons from these objects to hit your retina, then the Dobsonian (or any other telescope) wins.


But anyway, let's compare the EVscope with an Astrophotography setup since there were so many requests about this.


Here is a single 6 minutes RGB shot of the Horsehead Nebula taken with my own equipment. Let's add up the numbers together and see how much it costs to get something like this.


Click the image to see our final processed result on IC 434!


  • DSLR camera: $1,088 - You can find much cheaper ones out there, but let's take mine "new" as an example.

  • Telescope: $500 - Our 8" Astrograph f/4.

  • Mount: $1,200 - The Orion Sirius EQ-G, as our Atlas EQ-G is an overkill.

  • Coma Corrector: $207 - Crucial for a telescope as fast as ours.


Adding all these up, we get a total of $2,893. We did not count the guiding because you don't necessarily need it that bad for a test like this one.


If we assume that you found a camera that was cheaper than the retail price, which is more than likely, then you can even add the guiding to the rig and, in the end reach the same total cost as the EVscope. Either way, it is safe to say both can reach the exact same cost: $2,999.

We are comparing our single 6 minutes shot from a Bortle 4 with Unistellar's 14 minutes shot from a Bortle 3, downloaded from Twitter. Obviously, a regular astrophotography setup wins.


Regular Astrophotography telescope vs EVscope on Nebula

Answering Your Questions


Before heading out to try the EVscope, I asked the Galactic Hunter community on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter & Instagram to let me know if they had any specific request or questions. Below are the answers to your questions.

Questions and Answers about the EVscope

Q - Kokoro San - Why don't they make this design with a bigger mount?

Answer - I'm guessing this question is mostly about why don't they make a scope with larger aperture or focal length. The answer is that Unistellar is a brand new company and their product is barely shipping out to its customers. Just like any new product, there are lots of risks involved and they first need to know if it will be successful. There is no plan to make a bigger design of the EVscope right now but I wouldn't be surprised if they made a 2nd edition with different specs if the company gets a very large return on their investment.


Q - Scott Scott Scott - In-Town shoot? Shooting in Ha?

A - Yes, these pictures were shot from the city, Bortle 9 zone. They were shot in RGB as it is currently not possible to do narrowband imaging with the EVscope.


Q: Jochen Kraus - What are your thoughts on the EVscope? How does it compare to a scope of the same size with separate mount, eyepieces and camera? How big is the risk of growing out of it or wanting to do something it's not good at?

Answer - I believe the first two questions are answered throughout this review. As for the third one, I would say it depends on how motivated you are to do astronomy as a hobby. Some people will most likely be happy with just the EVscope for years to come as they will not want to go deeper into the hobby. Some others will fall in love with observing/photographing the stars and want more right away. Amateur astronomers who want to specialize in planetary observing/photography will be the ones who will grow out of it the soonest as the EVscope is better at observing deep sky objects.


Q - Victor - I wonder if you guys could upload the raw photos you guys take with this so other people can take a crack at stacking/processing?

Answer - Sadly there was no way for me to retrieve the photos that night (from what I understood, they were still working on that feature and it was greyed out in the app). If we ever do get a chance to try the EVscope again, we will upload the raw files on a shared folder for you guys.


Q - REDDY71

  1. What makes the EVscope "100 times more powerful than a normal telescope"?

  2. How does it "collect light in a unique way"?

  3. What data it will transmit to SETI and how useful will it actually be?

  4. How does its patent-pending Autonomous Field Detection software differ from modern Plate-solving implementations?

Answers:

  1. This statement is really, really controversial, and it all depends on how you read it. If you are comparing the EVscope with a normal telescope that you attach a DSLR camera to, then no, absolutely not, the DSLR/normal telescope combo is the one that will be "100 times more powerful" than the other. The reason why Unistellar came up with this statement is because as I said earlier, they built the EVscope to observe the stars, not to photograph them. If you aim both the EVscope and a regular telescope on the same deep sky object, then yes, after a few minutes of "Enhanced Vision", you'll probably see "100 times" more through the EVscope.

  2. It collects light in a unique way by stacking frames every 4 seconds with Enhanced Vision. This is no longer unique as a couple of other smart telescopes are doing the same thing.

  3. This was a little blurry when they told me about it because I don't believe it was 100% finished yet, but your observation data and pictures from community events will be send to SETI and they will regroup everything to analyze it. As for how useful it will actually be, we'll have to wait and see how their first events go.

  4. Unsure at this moment, will ask and update this post.


Q - Benrexbolt Gaming

  1. How does it image from a light polluted area without having light pollution visible on the pictures?

  2. Will this telescope ever be available to be pre-ordered in Australia?

  3. Does this telescope have batteries or does it need a power pack to run?

  4. Does this telescope require any maintenance?

Answers:

  1. I was surprised when they told me there was no light pollution filter built in. It can still image bright objects from the city because it stacks short exposure shots and will discard any that may be corrupted (example: star trails from wind gusts or a plane flying in the field of view).

  2. Yes, I was told the EVscope will be available in Australia soon.

  3. It has a built-in battery that can last up to 10 hours.

  4. Yes, you will need to clean the eyepiece from time to time and, most importantly, collimate your primary mirror once in a while.


Some people also asked if there will be diffraction spikes in the images since the EVscope has Spider Vanes?

The answer is yes, like a Newtonian telescope, the EVscope will show diffraction spikes in your images. If you do not know what diffraction spikes are, you can see some examples if you take a look at our image of the Pleiades or the Orion Nebula. Notice how the bright stars have "spikes", those are diffraction spikes caused when the light enters the optical tube and passes through the spider vanes.


Have more questions? Let us know in the comments and I'll try to add them to the post.


Final Verdict

What is my final verdict on the EVscope? What do I like? What do I dislike? Most importantly, would I purchase this product and would it be a good fit for you?


The EVscope in front of UNLV in Las Vegas

Would I get the Evscope?


Personally, no. Why? Because 99% of my time is spent on imaging, which I am interested in more than observing. Also, if I wanted to do visual, I already have the gear for that, so I simply wouldn’t need the EVscope.


Let's answer our primary question, is it a toy or instrument?


Well, that might depend on who you ask. If you gave the EVscope to someone like me, who is in love with every piece of equipment I own and loves a challenge and the rewards that come after, I would say this is a gadget and I probably wouldn't use it more than once or twice.


Now, if you are NOT a crazy astrophotographer or an old school astronomer, you most likely will enjoy having the EVscope and use it often. Most importantly, if you care more about observing but find that looking through a regular eyepiece is boring because everything is gray and hazy... then go for it!


No matter how many people say that it's an overpriced toy, or that you could build your own for much less, who cares!!?

If you have the resources and don’t intend on learning how to use a regular telescope, then treat yourself!

Both Stellina and the EVscope have been out for a little while now, and you can check them out on Instagram to see that many people are happy using them.


As I’ve said, this scope isn’t for me... But I love astronomy, and I try to embrace all the new astro-innovations that will come over time. This hobby is about exploring the universe and if a product like this one helps someone new enjoy it and explore the universe with us, then I have nothing against it.


Here are what we believe are the main positive and negative points about the EVscope:


POSITIVES:

  • Portable

The EVscope fits in a large backpack, which is great if you'd like to take it with you on a road trip or even on a hike!

Ease of Use

One of the best things about this telescope is how easy it is to use. Besides a few prerequisites, one could almost use this product straight out of the box. You also do not need to learn how to polar align, guide or balance the equipment before being able to observe, and that's great.

  • The Unistellar App

The catalog of objets to choose from is enormous at 4,000+ objects. Yes, it will not beat a GoTo mount that has 45,000+ but still! Most importantly, the live-view and the manual slewing features are very nice to have and I am glad we can see what's happening even when not centered on a specific target! Although the app crashed a few times when I was using it, I was told that it would be fixed on their next update (which is likely already out by now).

  • Community Events

Although I was not able to try any of these out that night, I believe it is a fun addition to the app, and I think many of the backers got interested in the Evscope in the first place because of this feature. Unistellar definitely cares about this and will most likely find ways to make it better over time.

  • Can introduce more people to astronomy

Lastly, I believe a smart telescope like the Evscope may encourage new people to get interested in astronomy. Many of these might not have the patience or desire to learn how to use a regular astronomy equipment and, in my opinion, that's not a bad thing.


NEGATIVES:

  • Unable to add filters

At the time of this review, it is impossible to add any filter to the telescope with the exception of a solar filter. Also, it does not include a Light Pollution filter.

  • No Automatic Focus

Focusing is done manually with a knob on the back of the telescope. Thankfully, the scope comes with a Bahtinov mask which should make this job very easy. Knowing this is a smart telescope, I wish the focusing could be done automatically or through the app without touching any knob.

  • Finding an object may take time/fail if it is far away from the starting point

As you saw in the video, the slewing process itself is quick but it can take a bit of time when it is trying to center an object. There were a few times where I had to re-calibrate the telescope because it was done slewing but wasn't where I wanted it to be. This happened when choosing a target far from where it initially was aiming, like completely on the other side of the Meridian for example.

  • The objects seen on the app might have a slightly different color than when observed through the eyepiece

Sometimes, there is a slight difference in color between what you see in the eyepiece and on the app. This was only obvious when looking at the moon because it was so bright and white, but the app image of the moon had a bit of a yellow-ish feel to it. Probably not an issue for other targets, and I'm glad the eyepiece version is the most realistic one between the two.

  • Lack of Upgrades

When you purchase the EVscope, you are buying something "as is" and should know that unlike with a regular rig, you will not be able to switch out or replace any part over time. This might not be a problem for most people, but it is still important to know if you plan on keeping the product for years to come.


 

Looking through the EVscope at UNLV Las Vegas

Interested in purchasing the EVscope? You can do so at High Point Scientific.


If you already own the EVscope and have taken images with it, attach them to the comments section of this post so we can all see your work!


If the EVscope is not the right product for you, but you are motivated to start Astrophotography, check out our complete guide on beginner astrophotography equipment!


 

Example Images Obtained with the EVscope


Below you will find a gallery of images that were taken with the EVscope. These photos have been taken in a short period of time and all from Las Vegas. We will update this gallery if we are able to take more images with the EVscope in the future.




 

Our Full Review Video of the Unistellar EVscope

Watch our full review video below to see the EVscope in action! We also show how to set it up, how the focussing works, and more details about the app.




Make sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube to stay up to date with our work!


Clear Skies,

Antoine & Dalia Grelin

Galactic Hunter




 

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Beginner Astrophotography Equipment for imaging deep sky objects with a DSLR camera, a complete guide and tutorial by Galactic Hunter with telescopes, cameras. mounts and accessories

 

GALACTIC HUNTER BOOKS


The Astrophotographer's Guidebook - A Seasonal Guide to the Best Astrophotography Targets

Description: Discover 60 Deep Sky Objects that will considerably improve your Imaging and Processing skills! Whether you are a beginner, intermediate, or advanced astrophotographer, this detailed book of the best deep sky objects will serve as a personal guide for years to come! Discover which star clusters, nebulae, and galaxies are the easiest and most impressive to photograph for each season. Learn how to find each object in the night sky, and read our recommendations on imaging them in a quick and comprehensive way. Each target in this guide contains our advice on imaging, photos of expected results, and a useful information table. We've also included a few cool facts about each target, a map to find it in the night sky, and more!


The Astrophotographer's Journal

Description: The Astrophotographer’s Journal is a portable notebook created for the purpose of recording observations, cataloguing photographs, and writing down the wonderful memories created by this hobby.

This book contains more than 200 pages to memorialize your stargazing and imaging sessions, as well as a useful chart on the last pages to index exciting or important notes.

Read back on the logs to see how much progress you have made through the months, the problems you overcame, and the notes taken to improve in the future. Just as the pioneers of astronomy did in their time, look up and take notes of your observations as you are the author of this star-filled journey.


The Constellations Handbook - A Logical Guide to Learning the 88 Constellations

Description: The Constellations Handbook is a logical guide to learning the 88 constellations.

Learning the constellations is difficult. Remembering them is even harder.

Have you ever wanted to look up to the night sky, name any pattern of stars and be able to tell their stories?

This book groups the constellations in a logical order, so that the reader can easily learn them by their origin, and see how their stories interact with one another as a group.

The last pages of this book include an index of all 88 constellations, each with a slot where you can write your own personal tips and tricks in order to memorize them with ease.

The Constellations Handbook is not just another guide listing all the constellations from A to Z and their location, it is the perfect companion for stargazing, and a learning journey through the ages.


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