I’m starting my journey into astronomy and looking for a beginner telescope to start. I’ve found a few on telescopescanada.ca that fit my budget between $350 and $400 CAD but noticed a lot have “smartphone app-enabled” as a feature.
Over the last few years I’ve found that smart connected tech just complicates things and have been reverting my tech back, often to the point of wired over wireless. What’s the consensus when it comes to telescopes?
Is app-connection a feature you use? I’m looking at the Celestron StarSense Explorer LT 114AZ but wondering if I’ll be paying for smart features that aren’t necessary.
The only “smart” feature that I find useful is an equatorial gear/mechanism. It turns your telescope with the rotation of the earth (or fancier ones can be set to turn with the earth plus another movement so you can track objects like the moon). Just look for that.
Camera mounts, specific lens, and filters can be great additions. None of those things are “smart.” Here’s a photo I got of the lunar eclipse the other night. I didn’t use an equatorial mount or filters because I was rushing and didn’t want to set it all up, just a camera mount, so I apologize for the quality.