Is the Unistellar eVscope 2 worth the money?

Not for taking pictures. Boiled down it is a 114 mm reflector on a computerised mount, and on the same targets smart telescopes costing a fraction of the price match or beat it. Where it shines is outreach, thanks to the eyepiece.

What does the Nikon eyepiece show?

A small screen inside the eyepiece shows the live-stacked image the telescope is capturing, so nebulae and clusters look brighter than through a traditional telescope. It is a digital view, not light straight from the mirror.

Can the eVscope 2 photograph planets?

Only just. Jupiter shows its bands and its four largest moons, but Saturn stayed a blurry, indistinct mess even with the focus as sharp as I could make it.

Does the eVscope 2 have a light-pollution filter?

It has no dual-band filter, so it struggles to bring out nebulosity, where the Seestar and DWARF smart telescopes have one built in.

Will the eVscope 2 fit the whole Pleiades or Andromeda?

No. Its field of 0.75 x 0.56 degrees is too tight for all of the Seven Sisters in one frame, and it has no mosaic mode to stitch a wider view; Andromeda shows only its core.

Can I match the Crab Nebula on Unistellar's website?

I could not. After 16 minutes my Crab Nebula was a small, soft cloud, well short of the showcase image the maker's homepage carried when I reviewed it.

How long does the battery last?

Unistellar rates it at 9 hours, longer than the small smart telescopes, though those can double their run time with a cheap power bank.

What have I not tested on the eVscope 2?

I have not tested the separately sold solar filter, the rated 9-hour battery life or the citizen-science mode, and I took no images of the Moon with the eVscope 2.

Unistellar eVscope 2 review: made for outreach, not photos

Where does it rank on our leaderboard

Nine of the 10 smart telescopes on my board, against price
Rank	Telescope	Stars for Your Buck	Recorded UK price
1	ZWO Seestar S30 Pro	99 out of 100	£649
2	ZWO Seestar S50 Pro	91 out of 100	£999
3	DwarfLab DWARF mini	89 out of 100	£399
4	ZWO Seestar S30	88 out of 100	£419
5	Vaonis Vespera Pro 2	63 out of 100	£2,599
7	Vaonis Vespera III	60 out of 100	£2,199
8	ZWO Seestar S50	55 out of 100	£539
9	DwarfLab DWARF II	22 out of 100	£369
10	Unistellar eVscope 2	8 out of 100	£4,099

Contents

01 Where does it rank on our leaderboard
02 Specifications and features
03 In the hand
04 From the review video
05 How good is it? Here's what I captured
06 Raw against finished
07 Same target, other smart telescopes
08 What is it for
09 Watch the review
10 Should you buy it?
11 Questions and more about this review

In 30 seconds

Stars for Your Buck 8/100

Reviewed 3 Jan 2024 Updated 23 Sep 2026

Rank: #10 of 10 smart telescopes
Verdict: With reservations

Written by Damon Scotting 6 min read

Buy it if

You run outreach nights or school visits and want newcomers to see nebulae and clusters through an eyepiece, not only on a phone.
You want the simplest possible night: pick a target in the app and it finds, tracks and stacks it by itself.
You mostly want to look at bright stars and star clusters, the subjects it shows best.

Skip it if

You want the best pictures for the money: smart telescopes costing a fraction of the price beat it on nebulae.
You want to image the planets: Saturn stays small and blurred.
You want big targets in one frame: its field of under a degree cannot fit the whole Pleiades.

For astronomy outreach the eVscope 2 is probably the best thing you could buy, but to take pictures of our night sky you are far better off putting your money elsewhere.

Specifications and features

Unistellar eVscope 2 reviewed #10 of 10
Recorded UK price	£4,099
Aperture	114 mm mirror
Focal length	450 mm
Focal ratio	f/4
Optical design	Reflector with the camera at the prime focus, plus a Nikon digital eyepiece
Sensor	Sony IMX347
Resolution	7.7 MP
Field of view	45.6 x 34.2 arcmin
Filters	No dual-band filter
Weight	9 kg: 7 kg telescope, 2 kg tripod
Battery	9 hours
Storage	64 GB
App	Unistellar app for iOS and Android

In the hand

Six frames from my videos

Set up under the stars

On its tripod

The eyepiece and the fork arm

The Nikon eyepiece

Out of the box

With me for scale

From the review video

Three frames from my video

Jupiter in the app after 1 min 34 s

Saturn in the app after 5 min 22 s

The app's catalogue

How good is it? Here's what I captured

Eight targets

M 42 Orion Nebula, Built-in camera

Integration: 30 min
Field: 0.75 x 0.56 degrees
Telescope: Unistellar eVscope 2
Camera: Built-in camera
Mount: Built-in alt-azimuth mount
Target: M 42 Orion Nebula
Type: Emission nebula
Location: Bortle 6.8 (in my garden)

M 33 Triangulum Galaxy, Built-in camera

Integration: 35 min
Field: 0.75 x 0.56 degrees
Telescope: Unistellar eVscope 2
Camera: Built-in camera
Mount: Built-in alt-azimuth mount
Target: M 33 Triangulum Galaxy
Type: Spiral galaxy
Location: Bortle 6.8 (in my garden)

After 35 minutes it showed the spiralling arms of one of the largest galaxies in our night sky.

M 81 and M 82, Built-in camera

Integration: 13 min
Field: 0.75 x 0.56 degrees
Telescope: Unistellar eVscope 2
Camera: Built-in camera
Mount: Built-in alt-azimuth mount
Target: M 81 and M 82
Type: Spiral and starburst galaxies
Location: Bortle 6.8 (in my garden)

The final image does just about highlight the spiralling arms.

M 1 Crab Nebula, Built-in camera

Integration: 16 min
Field: 0.75 x 0.56 degrees
Telescope: Unistellar eVscope 2
Camera: Built-in camera
Mount: Built-in alt-azimuth mount
Target: M 1 Crab Nebula
Type: Supernova remnant
Location: Bortle 6.8 (in my garden)

The Crab separates the men from the boys in imaging terms, and the eVscope 2 passed by the skin of its teeth.

M 27 Dumbbell Nebula, Built-in camera

Integration: 10 min
Field: 0.75 x 0.56 degrees
Telescope: Unistellar eVscope 2
Camera: Built-in camera
Mount: Built-in alt-azimuth mount
Target: M 27 Dumbbell Nebula
Type: Planetary nebula
Location: Bortle 6.8 (in my garden)

It did a nice job of imaging the Dumbbell Nebula.

NGC 7635 Bubble Nebula, Built-in camera

Integration: 33 min
Field: 0.75 x 0.56 degrees
Telescope: Unistellar eVscope 2
Camera: Built-in camera
Mount: Built-in alt-azimuth mount
Target: NGC 7635 Bubble Nebula
Type: Emission nebula
Location: Bortle 6.8 (in my garden)

I'm quite happy with the shot I got of the Bubble Nebula.

M 37, Built-in camera

Integration: 7 min
Field: 0.75 x 0.56 degrees
Telescope: Unistellar eVscope 2
Camera: Built-in camera
Mount: Built-in alt-azimuth mount
Target: M 37
Type: Open cluster
Location: Bortle 6.8 (in my garden)

Nice views, but the clusters struggled a bit to bring out the different colours of the stars.

Betelgeuse, Built-in camera

Integration: 5 min
Field: 0.75 x 0.56 degrees
Telescope: Unistellar eVscope 2
Camera: Built-in camera
Mount: Built-in alt-azimuth mount
Target: Betelgeuse
Type: Red supergiant star
Location: Bortle 6.8 (in my garden)

Raw against finished

Same target, other smart telescopes

The 1 target, the unprocessed side against my finished image, each with its integration, the camera and the palette:

M 42 Orion Nebula: 30 min of light, Built-in camera, App-stretched stack

M 33 Triangulum Galaxy, M 42 Orion Nebula on the Unistellar eVscope 2 and three other smart telescopes; the panes pan and zoom together

What is it for

Four things it is for

A Nikon eyepiece with a screen inside

Inside the Nikon eyepiece is a small screen that shows the image the telescope is capturing. The stars look brighter and shinier than on a phone, and after a minute or so of imaging the Orion Nebula looks far more spectacular than the faint purple patch you see through an ordinary telescope.

Go-to that corrects itself

The eVscope 2 works out exactly where your target is, wherever you are on Earth: it takes images of where it thinks the target should be, then adjusts its position based on what it can actually see. That saves hours of searching for the dimmer objects.

Enhanced Vision stacks as you watch

It takes a series of 4-second images and stacks them live before your eyes. The longer it images, the more detail and beauty it reveals in our deep-sky wonders.

A Bahtinov mask in the cover

Embedded in the telescope cover is a removable Bahtinov mask, which gives a razor-sharp view as you adjust the focus at the base of the tube.

Watch the review

What YOU can SEE with a $4,000 SMART Telescope (Unistellar eVscope 2 Review) · published 3 January 2024 · 14:20 · Watch on YouTube · 83,106 views, 1,596 likes on 2 Oct 2026

Jump to

1:30 Self-correcting go-to on M 33
2:38 Galaxies: M 81 and M 82
3:30 Nebulae and the Crab
5:34 The Nikon eyepiece
7:57 Single bright stars
9:24 Planets: Jupiter and Saturn
10:40 My scores and the price
13:13 Who it is for

Transcript of the review video 2,695 words · 12 chapters · searchable

Press a time stamp to play from there.

0:00 Intro

0:01 in tonight's video I'm going to be reviewing the Unistellar eVscope 2 this exciting new smart telescope costs almost 4,000 us it's very expensive but 0:10 that's because it's jam-packed with unique features tonight I'm going to be putting to the test in a number of different targets and we're going to 0:16 find out once and for all if it does live up to its expensive price tag I'm Damon Scotting and this is astronomical what you are seeing right now is me

1:04 The Orion Nebula from my phone

1:05 capturing the Orion Nebula through the use of my smartphone as the eVscope 2 not only locates and images my selected Target but also continues to track it 1:14 automatically very cool and after only a handful of TAPS and 30 minutes of Imaging time later we have an image of the great Orion Nebula 1:24 not bad but given the price tag what else can it image in our night sky let's try an entire galaxy how about M33, the

1:30 Self-correcting go-to on M 33

1:31 Triangulum Galaxy first the telescope automatically figures out for itself exactly where your target is regardless of your location on Earth this is because it takes images of where it 1:40 thinks the intended Target should be and then adjusts its position based on what it can actually see is extremely intelligent and saves us amateur 1:47 astronomers countless hours by not having to adjust our telescope's positions aimlessly as we search for the more dimmer objects in our night sky the 1:54 eVscope 2 then proceeds to take a series of 4 second images and stack them live before our very own eyes the longer we image for the more detail and beauty 2:03 within our deep Sky Wonders that we reveal after 35 minutes we've obtained an image that showcases the spiraling arms of one of the largest galaxies in 2:10 our night sky but let's cut the rubbish scrap the upbeat music and focus on the elephant in the room if you've spent $4,000 on an all-in-one telescope setup 2:21 and this is the image it produces are you happy before we can answer that question I'm going to show you all the images I captured with this unique 2:28 telescope setup as well as explain more impressive features then I will give my conclusion on who this telescope is actually perfect for even with this eye 2:36 watering price tag so our first Target category is galaxies since we' just imaged the Triangulum let's move on to a couple more they are M81 and

2:38 Galaxies: M 81 and M 82

2:49 M82 as I'm sure you've already figured out I've sped up the Imaging process but you can use the enhanced Vision time as your point of reference to what targets 2:58 look like after being imaged for certain period of time the final image does just about highlight the spiraling arms of M82 one kind of cool feature from 3:06 Unistellar is that when they save the image they will also overlay a fairly neat graphic that details the user's rough location the Imaging time and the 3:14 date granted in this image it's cropped off both of the galaxies but it's generally helpful as it gives the rest of us an Insight on what it would take 3:21 to replicate a similar type of image I'm going to give its Galaxy Imaging capabilities a 5 out of 10 moving on to nebulae I've gone for the

3:30 Nebulae and the Crab

3:31 first nebula on at least one astronomer list this is Messier object one more well known as The Crab Nebula I've generally found that this is an object that 3:39 separates the men from the boys in terms of what your Imaging capabilities are and I'd say the eVscope 2 has passed by the skin of its teeth however one thing 3:48 that I do believe is worth noting and don't get me wrong practically every telescope retailer does this but featured on Unistellar homepage is this 3:55 image of the Crab Nebula hm here's the thing I live in Fairly light-polluted skies the exposures I've taken aren't particularly long and I've done very 4:04 limited editing but the image they're showing seems well beyond the capabilities of what a regular amateur is able to achieve with their telescope again I won't argue that you can or 4:14 cannot get some terrific images with enough patience and the right conditions but when I saw this image on their page as I waited for their telescope to 4:21 arrive I was very eager to replicate it as I believe the telescope could but something just seemed really fishy to me about this the last thing I'd expect to 4:29 see from a telescope this price is to be baited into believing I can take images like this when I actually can't maybe it's all in the editing who knows anyway 4:37 moving on to another popular Target the Horsehead nebula this is actually a dark nebula so it's not the easiest DSO to capture but given enough time you'd hope 4:45 to bring out some of its shape and features I'm quite happy with the shot I got of the bubble nebula and it cannot be understated how incredibly useful it 4:54 is to have a telescope that allows you to easily select any region or object in the night sky and start taking long exposure images in a matter of 5:02 minutes it also did a nice job of Imaging the dumbbell nebula as well all in all I'm going to give it 5 out of 10 5:08 in terms of Imaging nebulae this is one of the largest smart telescopes on the market so I was expecting it to take some high quality images especially with 5:16 its 7.7 megapixel resolution but even with an optical tube 144 mm in diameter the focal length is just 450 mm not the worst thing is it means the focal ratio 5:26 is lower and therefore we receive a lot more light so our images are brighter but this doesn't seem to be the case however unexpectedly perhaps my favourite

5:34 The Nikon eyepiece

5:34 feature was in fact the Nikon eyepiece technology it made observing these nebulae especially beautiful I imagine that last statement might rub some people up the wrong way but please take 5:44 into account that many of our fellow amateur astronomers are not quite as Nimble as before therefore easy to set up all-in-one telescopes like this are a 5:52 godsend okay so just over here we have this eyepiece I'm going to bring it more Central uh so it's a Nikon eyepiece and basically what you have inside here is 6:00 actually a small screen that displays the image you're actually capturing right now on your smartphone what I've noticed about looking through the eyepiece is that the image projected is 6:08 a lot more dazzling than what it is on a smartphone and what I mean by that is that the stars all appear a bit brighter 6:16 and shinier and it just looks more wonderful when you look through the eyepiece than opposed to on your phone as someone who has been an amateur 6:22 astronomer for more than 10 years now it's very easy for me to look at something like this and immediately hate it and say I don't like that they've 6:29 introduced this new feature it removes yourself from what the authentic astronomy experience really is and that is wonderful in the sense that you can 6:35 observe on night sky with your naked eye and you don't need any uh computers involved what this is doing is kind of taken away from that experience in some 6:43 sense but I will give it some credit and say that the night sky can often be disappointing when people look at it through a telescope things like the 6:50 Andromeda galaxy for example aren't quite as exciting as they seem to be when you look at photos on the internet the Orion Nebula is very special when you 6:57 look at it you see it as this faint Purple Patch of light but when when viewed for this eyepiece after it's been Imaging for at least a minute or so it 7:03 appears so much more spectacular so I think this telescope might not be perfect for someone who's getting into amateur astrophotography because there's so much more you could spend your money 7:13 on as opposed to this all-in-one setup but if you're interested in astronomy Outreach if you want to showcase what you can see in our night sky to other 7:20 people perhaps you're taking us to schools or just showing it to General Public then this isn't the worst idea in fact I think this may be the best 7:27 suitable telescope for getting people interested in astronomy because it allows you to take this light easyto pack setup around with you travel around easily pick out targets any Target you 7:37 like let it do all the work for you and then the image that's produced through here is more spectacular than you would see with a traditional astrophotography 7:44 astronomy setup another cool feature is that embedded in the telescope cover is a removable Bahtinov mask that allows you to achieve a razor sharp view when

7:45 The Bahtinov mask in the cover

7:51 adjusting the focus located at the base of the telescope tube this is especially important because we are now going stargazing I mean I guess we already

7:57 Single bright stars

7:59 were but we're now focusing on some of the single brightest stars in our night sky and immediately it has to be noted that this is one of the eVscope's 8:07 strong points the diffraction spikes caused by the crosshairs that hold the camera in place produce these gorgeous Stellar images Betelgeuse looked spectacular with its orange Hue becoming 8:18 very apparent equally Bellatrix also looked amazing albeit this time with a nice baby blue shine so as far as observing individual stars go I think 8:28 the eVscope 2 does a very a good job which is why I'm giving it a 9 out of 10 staying with our stellar companions our

8:34 Star clusters

8:35 next category is star clusters and this time I decided to pick three neighbouring star clusters M35 M36 and M37 as I've already mentioned there's something 8:45 about viewing these objects for the eyepiece that makes them all the more dazzling and stunning this was the first time in a while that I had the urge to 8:51 show someone what I was seeing through the eyepiece you can nitpick over the fact that you're seeing a stacked long exposure image of the object as opposed 8:57 to seeing it live in real time but but at the same time you are basically still seeing it live only now your eyes are 9:04 being given a boost that lets you observe the night sky in more detail than ever before I still do have mixed feelings over it but I won't deny it's a 9:12 very cool and unique feature so for me the star clusters get an 8 out of 10 nice views but they struggled a bit with bringing out the different variation of 9:20 colours within the Stars which leads us to the final category planets this is a hurdle that previous smart telescopes had fallen at but with its far superior

9:24 Planets: Jupiter and Saturn

9:30 aperture size this is the moment to shine for the eVscope 2 immediately we can see several similarly bright Points of Light surrounding Jupiter these are 9:39 its four largest moons we are looking at long exposure images right now but once we start Imaging our exposure is reduced and the planet reveals itself straight 9:49 away we can see the distinct bands of Jupiter and as more time passes our image becomes less noisy and slightly more structured we are presented with an 9:57 okay view would expect something a along these lines for a telescope of this size but how does it fare against the ringed gas giant Saturn the focus was as sharp 10:07 as I could make it and in the live feed it was almost clear to see the gaps in between Saturn's rings but disappointingly even as time progressed 10:15 the view achieved of Saturn was nothing short of a blurry indistinct mess I am very upset by it extremely limited planetary Imaging capabilities I really 10:25 thought that this is where it was going to shine but even with a smartphone and a 4-in reflector telescope you can achieve better results than this it's 10:32 because of this I have scored its planetary Imaging capabilities at a measly three out of 10 I suspect now would be a good point to reiterate that

10:40 My scores and the price

10:40 these ratings are irrespective of the telescope's price they are judged solely on its ability I believe the eVscope 2 should be rated a 6 out of 10 which put 10:50 in comparison with other reviewers is three stars out of five maybe I've not given enough credibility to its incredible go-to capabilities but given the recent rise of smart telescopes this 11:00 feature although immensely useful and an overall Game Changer is becoming more and more common even in setups less than 10% the cost of this entire telescope my 11:11 only concern with this entire setup is the price that's literally the only downfall I have towards it if it wasn't $4,000 $5,000 whatever it is now listed 11:19 as then I wouldn't have too many quarrels with it in fact if this was all listed as $999 I'd be seeing it from the 11:24 rooftops get it it's amazing but due to introduction of newer smart telescopes that cost under $500 it kind of restricts the benefits of this smart 11:34 telescope as a whole because you can achieve even better images with smart telescopes that cost less than $500 than what you can with this the dwarf and 11:42 Seestar telescopes both have dual-band pass filters built into their telescopes which allows them to capture much more of the nebulosity and deep Sky targets 11:51 whereas this standard reflector telescope really struggles with it yeah I've actually looked at a lot of other people's reviews for this telescope before I received it myself and the 11:59 general impression I got from all the reviews I read was five star five star amazing it incredible and I thought that's saying quite a lot for what its 12:07 specs are giving out cuz when you boil it down it's less than a 6in primary mirror reflector telescope and you can buy that kind of thing for about $100 to 12:18 $200 what's really special about it is the fact that it's on this computerized Mount that you can control from your smartphone the eyepiece is of course a 12:25 major plus the Bahtinov mask that's built in to the telescope cover also a major plus but I don't think it's enough to Warrant the extreme cost that this is 12:35 listed at if I had to rate it out of 10 based on its actual pricing then I would say 12:43 if I had to rate 12:56 this out of 10 based on the $4,000 price tag I would probably give it a 2 out of 10 which sounds incredibly harsh if it 13:03 was somehow priced at $999 I'd probably give it a 9 out of 10 because I think that's much more within the budget constraints but this is a 13:11 luxury astrophotography item I do however believe that it's perfect for astronomy Outreach so if you are buying this because you want to get others

13:13 Who it is for

13:19 interest in astronomy and astrophotography go ahead this is honestly probably the best thing you could possibly buy it produces incredible images that I have no doubt 13:27 will get many more people interested in this wonderful hobby but if you are buying this to take pictures of our night sky you are far better putting 13:33 your money elsewhere than throwing $4,000 at a telescope like this so there we go let me know what you think in the comments down below thank you 13:41 Unistellar for letting me try out your telescope I have really enjoyed it and I'm going to continue using it in the future to Showcase to family members and 13:48 friends what we can see in our night sky because it's so easy to set up in the garden in a matter of minutes and then 13:53 give them a spectacular view through the Nikon eyepiece I'm Damon Scotting and this was as

Check out more videos on the Unistellar eVscope 2

Is THIS the BEST SMART Telescope in the world?

5 Apr 2024

Should you buy it?

8/100 Stars for Your Buck

Pros

“Perhaps my favourite feature was the Nikon eyepiece: the image in it is a lot more dazzling than on a smartphone.”
“Single bright stars are one of its strong points: the crosshairs that hold the camera give gorgeous diffraction spikes, and Betelgeuse looked spectacular with its orange hue.”
“The go-to is extremely intelligent: it images where it thinks the target is, then adjusts itself, which saves hours of hunting for fainter objects.”
“A removable Bahtinov mask is built into the telescope cover for a razor-sharp focus.”
“It sets up in the garden in a matter of minutes and does all the work, which makes it ideal for showing family and friends the night sky.”
The battery is rated at 9 hours, longer than the small smart telescopes run without a power bank.

Cons

“The price: boiled down it is a reflector with a mirror under 6 inches on a computerised mount, and smart telescopes that cost under $500 take better images.”
“Planetary imaging is extremely limited: Jupiter shows its bands, but Saturn was nothing short of a blurry, indistinct mess.”
“It does not even have a dual-band filter, so it really struggles to bring out the nebulosity in most of its images.”
“The narrow field cannot fit big targets like the whole Pleiades without a mosaic feature, and every star carries diffraction spikes.”
“At 9 kg with its tripod it is far heavier than the small smart telescopes.”

The eyepiece is of course a major plus, and the Bahtinov mask built into the telescope cover is also a major plus, but I don't think it's enough to warrant the extreme cost.

Who the eVscope 2 is for

Outreach and school visits

Buy

The Nikon eyepiece gives newcomers a live, stacked view of nebulae that an ordinary telescope never shows them.

Observers who find a full rig hard work

Buy

It sets up in minutes and does all the finding and tracking, a godsend when a heavy mount and eyepieces are too much.

Complete beginner

Skip

My recommendation is the Seestar S30 Pro, which scores 99 on my leaderboard.

Astrophotographer after the best images

Skip

This money buys a far better telescope and camera; among smart telescopes my pick is the Seestar S50 Pro.

Planet imager

Skip

Even with a smartphone and a 4-inch reflector you can achieve better results on the planets.

Already owns a Seestar or DWARF

Skip

The eVscope 2 adds an eyepiece and more aperture, not better pictures.

Three alternatives I have reviewed

Questions and more about this review

Reviewed by

Damon Scotting

The Telescope Man Verified

BSc (Hons) Physics with Astrophysics and Cosmology, Loughborough University PGCE / QTS, University of Nottingham

About Damon About Damon Damon Scotting is The Telescope Man. He holds a BSc (Hons) in Physics with Astrophysics and Cosmology from Loughborough University and a PGCE with QTS from the University of Nottingham, and taught physics in secondary schools before becoming an astronomy creator. He is a contributing writer for BBC Sky at Night Magazine and the author of 42 Wonders of Our Night Sky, and his photograph of the galaxy M100 with the dwarf planet Ceres was Highly Commended in the Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2024 competition run by Royal Observatory Greenwich. He has appeared on the BBC's Blue Peter. More than 750,000 people follow his astronomy channels on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok, and he has reviewed more than 140 telescopes, mounts, cameras, filters and accessories hands-on for this site. More about Damon · How I test · Damon's book

I review all kinds of gear: most of it I buy, some is gifted and some is loaned, and all of it is reviewed the same way. How this site is funded

Eight questions, answered

Questions about the Unistellar eVscope 2

Reviewed 3 January 2024 ·Updated 23 September 2026

I review all kinds of gear. Most of it I buy, some is gifted and some is loaned, and all of it is reviewed the same way: no company sees or approves a review before it is published. Shop links marked Ad are affiliate links: I earn a commission when you buy through them, at no extra cost to you. How this site is funded

Is the Unistellar eVscope 2 worth the money? Not for taking pictures. Boiled down it is a 114 mm reflector on a computerised mount, and on the same targets smart telescopes costing a fraction of the price match or beat it. Where it shines is outreach, thanks to the eyepiece.
What does the Nikon eyepiece show? A small screen inside the eyepiece shows the live-stacked image the telescope is capturing, so nebulae and clusters look brighter than through a traditional telescope. It is a digital view, not light straight from the mirror. What is it for ↓
Can the eVscope 2 photograph planets? Only just. Jupiter shows its bands and its four largest moons, but Saturn stayed a blurry, indistinct mess even with the focus as sharp as I could make it. From the review video ↓
Does the eVscope 2 have a light-pollution filter? It has no dual-band filter, so it struggles to bring out nebulosity, where the Seestar and DWARF smart telescopes have one built in. What I captured ↓
Will the eVscope 2 fit the whole Pleiades or Andromeda? No. Its field of 0.75 x 0.56 degrees is too tight for all of the Seven Sisters in one frame, and it has no mosaic mode to stitch a wider view; Andromeda shows only its core. The specifications ↓
Can I match the Crab Nebula on Unistellar's website? I could not. After 16 minutes my Crab Nebula was a small, soft cloud, well short of the showcase image the maker's homepage carried when I reviewed it. What I captured ↓
How long does the battery last? Unistellar rates it at 9 hours, longer than the small smart telescopes, though those can double their run time with a cheap power bank. The specifications ↓
What have I not tested on the eVscope 2? I have not tested the separately sold solar filter, the rated 9-hour battery life or the citizen-science mode, and I took no images of the Moon with the eVscope 2.