Sega Homestar Original Black - Home Planetarium - Star Projector

Purchased this as a Christmas gift - due to a late order, it was expected to be delivered after Xmas. I was pleasantly surprised when it showed up before :)The good: 1) Set up is simple. 2) The projected view (Northern Hemisphere disc) is fairly realistic for naked eye viewing. 3) Very quiet operation when you have the motion moving. 4) Probably the best home planetarium available, without resorting to projecting a view from Stellarium (open source program) onto the ceiling. 5) Kids with interest in astronomy should love this. 6) If you want to sleep out under the stars at night, you can see them from the comfort of your own bed without the bugs and dew! 7) We also got the "Milky Way" disc to go with the projector - Quite realistic view of the milky way that you would see 8) The constellation disc uses stick drawings to show the major constellations, but does NOT name them. You will need to do that. However, it's a good way to learn to identify them.What needs to be improved (not necessarily "bad", but is detrimental to the experience): 1) The rotational movement is far too fast compared to actual sky movement - this would be better if it were adjustable. 2) The projection covers the entire northern hemisphere - it would be great if you could set your own latitude, and project what YOUR night sky looks like. 3) Polaris SHOULD be the focal point for all rotation; unfortunately it is not.4) The projection covers an area of 8'-10' in diameter when projected from about 6' away. A fisheye attachment to the lens would help spread this out to be more "life-like", but would also add additional distortion into the display, so it would be a trade-off. 5) The "shooting star" setting is very poorly done - it is best to leave this off. 6) It would be nice to be able to toggle the constellations on/off so you can see what it looks like with and without the identifiers, but this is not possible without shutting it off and swapping the discs.Overall, would I recommend this? I'd give it a qualified Yes, primarily for the reasons above. It is probably the best home planetarium available (unless someone can point me out a better one). For viewing the stars from the comfort of your home or bedroom, it's great. It does have some limitations, but short of getting out your own telescope at night, it's pretty darn good. Yes, you can build your own planetarium dome and projection (see a website by teacher Craig Beals for his student project), but short of that, you can't beat this device.

I thought with the name Sega that this would be a quality product. Far from it. First, it is super dim so even in a dark room it is barely visible. The sphere itself looks and feels good but the most important part of the product is the lens which is as cheap as can be. It is impossible to focus without the slightest movement getting it out of focus. Most importantly, which was the total deal breaker, is that there are very visible rings that are displayed which were probably caused by cheap manufacturing. When you display the stars, the rings are more visible than anything you are displaying. Could it have been a one-off problem? NO! I returned the first one in exchange for a new one. The new one I received had the exact same issues. This would be unacceptable on a $20 product but to have this level of cheapness on a product that is over $100 is almost fraud. DONT BUY IT!

I would love to have a custom-designed starry-sky bedroom ceiling, but just don't have the tens of thousands of dollars to have one put in right this minute... So I got this product, and could not be happier. This is a fantastic little device for a child's or adult bedroom.I wouldn't really call this an educational device. Yeah, you can sit under it and point out constellations and such, but it's much more of a relaxation/decoration item. That is its sole use in my home.Do not be influenced by the "Sega" product name; this is not some flimsy, toy-like star projector. Although small, this is a sophisticated (and expensive) device. As such, small children probably should not be allowed to operate it. Older kids, after sufficient supervised training, can understand the controls and functions, and should be able to use it properly.It is not very big, so takes up little space. The power cord is relatively long (could be a foot or two longer) to support your optimal placement in the room. It has a small fan for cooling as well as the rotation motor, and both are very quiet, supporting this as a go-to-sleep device. There is a sleep timer which you can set for 15, 30, or 60 minutes. The rotation option is very nice as it presents an ever-changing view of the star field. It rotates quickly enough that you can discern the rotation readily, but not so fast that you get the spins from staring up into it.As noted by a couple other reviewers, on first use it seems that the device is not focusing properly, and it appears that the focus ring is literally unscrewing from the housing. Not quite so. Be patient and slowly bring that focus ring out and the stars will come into perfect focus.This item is best used in a very dark room, so douse all lights and night lights. If being used in a child's room, the light from this device, if left on all night, serves as a night light on its own. That being said, the light is not harsh, and provides a nice soft glow throughout the room.The shooting star function is a nice little addition, but is kind of a letdown. The product photo appearing to show a shooting star looks a lot more like a comet, but either way, know that this is NOT how shooting star function appears. It's a purely optical effect using the lens, so the shooting star is always the same; it is in the exact same position on the ceiling every time, and its path and appearance are always the same.I recommend purchasing the optional discs as well, as they are a nice change-up to your standard view.Bottom line: I wanted a detailed and diverse starry sky on my bedroom ceiling, and this device has delivered well beyond my expectations.