Vaonis Hestia Smart Telescope Ultimate Pack (HE30-ULT)

I put this to the test at night and was very impressed with the results. Out of the boxes its ready to good, I downloaded the App which its a great help[ if your not familiar with the night sky, from pointing you to Consolations to Planets and the position of the Moon. I was able to see the M42 Nebula Star formation but looking furtherer into space for did=stan planets then I would need a much more powerful Telescope. Once set up on the tripod it took me a few attempts to get my Pixel 7 Pro lined up but the Magnetic guides help greatly to hold the position of my mobile. The app assists, given me a guide to move left or right to centre the subject I want to find and it will also assist, getting the perfect clear shot also allowing you to clean up your image too. It comes with a Sun filter which will allow me to view the Sun too but as of yet I've not been able too due to heavy cloud cover. The Filter should allow me to see the Sun Spots very clear and also capture them in a Photograph. So How does the Hestia Telescope work. With its patented optical design with six lenses, a 30mm (1.2") lens, and prisms to collect and focus the light directly into your smartphone's camera sensor, Hestia pushes the boundaries of miniaturization. Thanks to a system of removable magnets, Hestia adapts to all sizes of current and future smartphones. Hestia gets better with time. Hestia works at its core without electronics and relies exclusively on an optical design system. This means that no battery is required, there is no risk of power failure, no headaches due to ageing and definitely no frustrations!

Not so good results for this cost. App constantly loses orientation.

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Taken with a Samsung Galaxy s24 ultra. The unit is a bit of a pain to set up but when you get the setup and mark the positions on the magnetic plate after aligning the lens it's actually decently good in the early evening in the city. It's pretty solid feeling and has some heft to it about a few pounds and larger than I pictured. To adjust the lens you can't focus on close objects it will always be blurry up close. Focus on an object 50 feet away or more to figure out the better adjustments. I used a palm tree about that distance and it got very clear. I also got an attachment piece for the stand, it's a battery powered remote control diagonal moving camera base that makes minor adjustments on the tripod so much easier to work with. It's also so much better when showing people what you can see since it's on your screen they don't need to touch the telescope which always throws my other ones off target.

The app that this 'telescope' works with is incredibly buggy. I have never been able to get the assisted finder feature to work even on nights with perfectly clear skies and many stars visible. I did manage to use this to photograph the Moon and the partial eclipse in March. The photos are beautiful, but it's clear the Hestia is limited to viewing just the Moon and the Sun if you have the solar filter. I only used this a handful of times and stored in its case after use, but within 6 months, it was broken and unusable. Issue with the lenses. Can't fault Amazon customer service. For the cost, I expected much better longevity. Ended up purchasing a Seestar S30 for the same price, which does all the same stuff automatically and with better quality.