SEESTAR S50 SMART TELESCOPE

I’ve only ever used really small and basic telescopes or binoculars before, but I’d been looking to purchase a telescope for a while, I couldn’t decide what kind of style to buy or how much to spend. I wanted something which had a “goto” mount and that could get me into astrophotography as well. Learning about recently released smart telescopes, they appeared to have everything I wanted at a reasonable price point. While ~$900 isn’t cheap by any means, I didn’t want to spend thousands on something that might just end up sitting in the cupboard.

Reading about the Seestar S50 I was impressed by it’s features, “goto” mount, auto focus, easy alignment, triplet optics, dual band filter AND solar filter, this seemed like the obvious choice. It really is packed with features at a solid price point.

My order arrived quickly from Testar, I was able to get the telescope set up and imaging very quickly. The included carbon fibre tripod is light and sturdy, it feels very well made, the included case is also very good. Being day time, my first target was the sun, it was glorious to see the sun up close, observing the sunspots, I was very impressed. I spent some more time playing with the features of the telescope in “scenery” mode and found the zoom to be quite impressive although the sensor quality wasn’t excellent. *Note, I used to using DSLR with lenses up to 400mm, so my expectations here might be a little high.

Luckily, that night I had clear skies so I was able to set the telescope and start viewing the heavens. I found the results out of the Seestar S50 to be incredibly impressive. Some galaxies and nebulae are immediately visible just on the preview screen in the app, even though they are not visible to the naked eye. Once the image stacking and enhancement begin, the photos really come in to their own, even though I had seen some sample images before I was still not prepared for how impressive the unprocessed images would be straight out of the Seestar. On my first night I was in awe of images of M42 (Orion Nebula), B33 (Horsehead Nebula) and 30 Doradus (Tarantula Nebula), DSO viewing is clearly the standout feature of the Seestar S50.

While the Seestar S50 does not have the magnification for good planetary viewing, I was still able to see Jupiter (with some red cloud banding visible) and 4 moons.
The software (phone app) is very good, I had to hunt around for one or two functions here and there, but I was able to use all features intuitively without having to refer to the help guide at all.

Pros
Excellent DSO viewing with impressive images
Impressive optics
Accurate goto mount, tracking and auto focus
Solar viewing
Very good software with regular updates and added features and inbuilt image stacking
Easy to set up and use
Top quality tripod included
Being able to view images remotely and not be out in the cold while observing (see cons)

Cons
Image sensor quality, I would be willing to pay more for high resolution and quality sensor, I believe this is the Seestar S50’s weakest point.
Insufficient zoom for planetary viewing.
No included charger/power adaptor (a USB cable is provided for charging), could be an issue for some users.
Only being able to view images remotely and being able to view celestial objects directly through an eyepiece, see users may have a strong preference for direct viewing.
If the Seestar app become unavailable in the future the telescope hardware will be rendered useless.

Overall, I was very impressed, the Seestar S50 is a fully featured smart telescope at a very strong price point, for me the choice was a no-brainer. If DSO imaging interests you and you can afford the ~$900, I say go for it! I would love to see a planetary capable smart telescope from Seestar, if we see a Seestar S100 in the future with 100mm aperature, upgraded sensor with standard and telephoto lenses there is no doubt I’ll be purchasing it!

I hope this review has helped you.

This little unit is a great addition to my Astro Photography equipment. It is a great grab and go scope and it performs really well. It will not replace my main astro photography rigs, but it definitely has a place.

I am beyond impressed with the Seestar S50, it suits my needs perfectly. I needed scope to use for EAA stuff with the kids but also something that can produce decent quality shots and video.

The software in incredibly good for a Chinese manufacturer and the updates are adding additional features consistently.

Well worth the buy if you are after something simple to setup and capture very good images imo.

Fantastic product and the service is outstanding. Highly recommend.

As an active member of an astronomy society (Sydney City Skywatchers) who loves doing outreach events, I was looking for a scope that would be quick a fool-proof to use at event. The SeeStar delivers and allowed me to show deep sky objects rarely seen in light polluted areas. When the Moon and Saturn were too high or blocked by the landscape we were able to find fun and colourful objects for the public to view on a hazy, partly cloudy night at Luna Park…between a brightly lit building and the ferris wheel the glow on the left is the ferris wheel! My husband and I are looking forward to trying out some of the more advanced features with fellow amateur astronomers from our club.