ZWO Seestar S30 Plus review: the best Seestar under $500

In 30 seconds

Stars for Your Buck 85/100

Reviewed 10 Nov 2026 Updated 10 Nov 2026

Rank

#4 of 11 smart telescopes

Verdict

Damon's pick

Written by Damon Scotting 8 min read

How I tested it

Side by side with the S30 Pro, the S50 Pro, the original S50 and the DWARF mini on the same nights in my garden (Bortle 6.8), every telescope's own stacks through one identical processing chain. How I test

Who should buy it

• You want a first smart telescope under $500 that sets itself up, finds targets and stacks by itself.
• You want sharp stars and a tight field for galaxies and nebulae without paying for the S30 Pro.
• You want the Moon as well as deep sky from one small, light telescope.

Who should not buy it

• You want the widest field and 4K frames: the S30 Pro takes in 4.6 degrees at 3840 x 2160.
• You want the most detail: the S50 Pro's 260 mm lens showed finer structure in most of my matched fields.
• You mainly want the planets: Saturn came out tiny and faint.

“The Seestar S30 Plus sits nicely in an affordable bracket and takes the crown as the best Seestar you can buy under $500.”

ZWO $499

Where does it rank on my leaderboard

Nine of the 11 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 Plus	85 out of 100	£499
6	Vaonis Vespera Pro 2	74 out of 100	£2,599
7	DwarfLab DWARF 3	61 out of 100	£459
8	Vaonis Vespera III	60 out of 100	£2,199
10	DwarfLab DWARF II	22 out of 100	£369
11	Unistellar eVscope 2	8 out of 100	£4,099

Contents

1. 01 Where does it rank on my leaderboard
2. 02 Specifications and features
3. 03 How good is it? Here's what I captured
4. 04 Planets and the Moon
5. 05 Raw against finished
6. 06 Same target, other smart telescopes
7. 07 What is it for
8. 08 Versus the ZWO Seestar S30 Pro
9. 09 Tested numbers and the download
10. 10 Should you buy it?
11. 11 Questions and more about this review

Specifications and features

Against the smart telescopes I have reviewed

Compare with

ZWO Seestar S30 Plus reviewed #4 of 11	ZWO Seestar S30 Pro #1 of 11	DwarfLab DWARF mini #3 of 11	ZWO Seestar S30 #5 of 11	DwarfLab DWARF 3 #7 of 11
Recorded UK price	£499	£649	£399	£419	£459
Stars for Your Buck	85/100	99/100	89/100	81/100	61/100
Aperture	30 mm (telephoto); 3.4 mm (wide-angle)	30 mm (telephoto); 3.4 mm	30 mm (telephoto); 3.4 mm	30 mm	35 mm (telephoto); 3.4 mm
Focal length	160 mm (telephoto); 6 mm (wide-angle)	160 mm (telephoto); 6 mm	150 mm (telephoto); 6.7 mm	150 mm	150 mm (telephoto); 6.7 mm
Focal ratio	f/5.3 (telephoto); f/1.75 (wide-angle)	f/5.3 (telephoto); f/1.75	f/5	f/5	f/4.3 (telephoto); f/2
Optical design	4-element apochromatic lens with ED glass; separate wide-angle camera	4-element apochromatic lens with ED glass; separate wide-angle camera	Six-element apochromatic lens; separate wide-angle camera	Apochromatic triplet with ED glass; separate wide-angle camera	6-element apochromatic dual-camera lens group
Sensor	1/1.8 inch (telephoto); 1/2 inch (wide-angle)	Sony IMX585 (telephoto); Sony IMX586	Sony IMX662, 1/2.8 inch, 2.9 um pixels (telephoto); OmniVision OS02K10	Sony IMX662 (telephoto); separate wide-angle sensor	Sony IMX678 Starvis 2, 1/1.8 inch (telephoto); 1/2.8 inch
Resolution	2560 x 1440, 3.7 MP (wide-angle cropped)	3840 x 2160, 8.3 MP	1920 x 1080, 2 MP	1080 x 1920 (telephoto); 1920 x 1080	3840 x 2160, 8.3 MP (telephoto); 1920 x 1080
Field of view	3 degrees (telephoto); 43.5 degrees cropped (wide-angle)	4.6 degrees (telephoto); 63 degrees	2.45 degrees diagonal (telephoto); 50.59 degrees diagonal	2.46 degrees diagonal (telephoto); 23.2 degrees	3.38 degrees diagonal (telephoto); 50.6 degrees diagonal
Filters	UV/IR cut; dual-band (OIII 30 nm, H-alpha 20 nm); dark field	UV/IR cut; light pollution (OIII 30 nm, H-alpha 20 nm); dark field	Dark frame; astro 430 to 690 nm; dual narrowband H-alpha and OIII	UV/IR cut; light pollution (OIII 30 nm, H-alpha 20 nm); dark field; magnetic solar filter	Visible, astro and dual-band (OIII 500.7 nm and H-alpha 656.3 nm); magnetic solar filter in the box
Weight	1.65 kg	1.65 kg	840 g	1.65 kg	1.35 kg
Battery	6000 mAh, up to 6 hours	6000 mAh, about 6 hours	7,000 mAh built in, USB charging; about 4 hours	6000 mAh, about 6 hours	10,000 mAh built in, USB charging; up to 5.5 hours
Storage	64 GB	128 GB eMMC	64 GB built in	64 GB eMMC	128 GB eMMC built in
App	Seestar app	Seestar app, free with no monthly fee	DWARFLAB app	Seestar app, the same app as the S50	DWARFLAB app

How good is it? Here's what I captured

Eight targets

Planets and the Moon

The planets and the Moon

Raw against finished

Image: Damon Scotting

The 4 targets, the raw combined stack against my finished image, each with its integration, the camera and the palette:

• NGC 7000 North America Nebula: 2 h 35 min of light, light pollution filter, the raw combined stack with one automatic stretch
• M 45 Pleiades: 41 min of light, UV/IR-cut filter, the raw combined stack with one automatic stretch
• M 31 Andromeda Galaxy: 42 min of light, UV/IR-cut filter, the raw combined stack with one automatic stretch
• M 42 Orion Nebula: 43 min of light, light pollution filter, the raw combined stack with one automatic stretch

Same target, other smart telescopes

NGC 7331 and the Deer Lick Group, NGC 1499 California Nebula, NGC 6960 Western Veil Nebula, M 45 Pleiades, NGC 7000 North America Nebula, M 31 Andromeda Galaxy, M 42 Orion Nebula, M 16 Eagle Nebula, IC 1805 Heart Nebula on the ZWO Seestar S30 Plus and four other smart telescopes; the panes pan and zoom together

What is it for

Two things it is for

Versus the ZWO Seestar S30 Pro

M 31 Andromeda Galaxy on both, the same night, plate-solved and star-aligned (residual 0.33 px per 1000)

The same target on the ZWO Seestar S30 Pro, the same night

Target	Telescope	Integration	Filter
M 31 Andromeda Galaxy	Seestar S30 Plus	42 min	UV/IR-cut
M 31 Andromeda Galaxy	Seestar S30 Pro	39 min	UV/IR-cut

Tested numbers and the download

Finished image

• Download the raw stack JPEG · 4.5 MB · 4,096 x 2,303
• Download the finished image JPEG · 1.7 MB · 4,096 x 2,303

Licence: for personal use, credit Damon Scotting. Both JPEGs 4,096 x 2,303 px.

+23 C sensor temperature during imaging

163 mm focal length, plate solved ZWO states 160 mm

2.6 x 1.5° field of view 2,560 x 1,440 px on 1/1.8 inch sensor

3.7 MP 1/1.8 inch sensor 2,560 x 1,440 px, 7.4 x 4.2 mm

Should you buy it?

85/100 Stars for Your Buck

Pros

• Surprisingly impressive images for the price: the Pleiades, Andromeda and the North America Nebula all came out well from a Bortle 6.8 garden.
• Tighter stars than the S30 Pro on 9 of the 11 targets both shot on the same nights: a median star size of 12.6 arcseconds against 13.9.
• “On the Moon it does a better job than the S30 Pro.”
• It keeps on stacking: about 37 minutes of every scheduled hour went into the stack, against about 29 for the S30 Pro and 27 for the S50 Pro.
• A four-element apo with ED glass, a built-in dual-band filter and a 6-hour battery in a 1.65 kg body.

Cons

• Saturn is a struggle: the first captures were overexposed while the autofocus hunted, and the planet came out tiny and faint.
• No wide-angle mosaics, one-tap Milky Way arch, simultaneous dual-camera capture or comet stacking; the S30 Pro has all four.
• A 2560 x 1440 frame rather than 4K: wide targets need a mosaic.
• The S50 Pro is still sharper: its longer lens showed finer detail in most matched fields.
• About 45 GB of its 64 GB is usable: on a long night of mosaics mine filled up and stopped saving before dawn.

The S30 Plus might not be breaking any new boundaries, but ZWO continue to make the best value smart telescopes on the market.

Who the S30 Plus is for

First smart telescope

Buy

It sets itself up, finds targets and live-stacks by itself, and it costs under $500.

Budget under $500

Buy

It is the best Seestar under $500; on my board only the DWARF mini scores higher at this price.

Choosing between the S30 Plus and S30 Pro

Buy

Sharper stars and, to my eye, a better Moon for $200 less; the S30 Pro adds 4K frames, a wider field and wide-angle mosaics.

Galaxy and nebula imager

Buy

Its 2.6 x 1.5 degree field is close to the S50 Pro's, so galaxies fill more of the frame than on the S30 Pro.

Wants the most detail

Skip

The S50 Pro showed finer structure in most matched fields; it is the one to buy for detail.

Planet imager

Skip

Saturn came out tiny and faint; a telescope this small is for the Moon and deep sky.

Three alternatives I have reviewed

• ZWO Seestar S30 Pro The wider 4K step up: a 4.6 degree field, wide-angle mosaics and dual-camera capture. 99/100 £649 Read the review
• DwarfLab DWARF mini The other small smart telescope I rate under $500. 89/100 £399 Read the review
• ZWO Seestar S50 Pro The sharpest Seestar I have tested, at twice the price. 91/100 £999 Read the review

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

• 290K subscribers @DamonScotting
• 337K followers @thisisastronomical
• 148K followers @damonscotting

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 ZWO Seestar S30 Plus

Reviewed 10 November 2026 ·Updated 10 November 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. Some shop links are affiliate links: I earn a commission when you buy through them, at no extra cost to you. How this site is funded

1. Is the Seestar S30 Plus better than the S30 Pro? In some ways. On the same nights its stars were tighter on 9 of the 11 targets both shot, and I think it does a better job on the Moon. The S30 Pro saves 4K frames over a wider 4.6 degree field and adds wide-angle mosaics. Versus the ZWO Seestar S30 Pro ↓
2. How does it compare with the S50 Pro? The S50 Pro is sharper: its 260 mm lens showed finer detail in most matched fields. The S30 Plus takes in 2.6 x 1.5 degrees, close to the S50 Pro's 2.4 x 1.3, for half the price.
3. What resolution does it shoot? 2560 x 1440 pixels, about 3.7 megapixels, through both cameras; the wide-angle frame is a crop. The specifications and the comparison table ↓
4. Can it image the Moon and the planets? The Moon, yes, and to my eye better than the S30 Pro. Saturn came out tiny and faint, with the ring only just showing. Planets and the Moon ↓
5. Does it do mosaics? Yes, with the main camera: my North America Nebula and Heart Nebula are mosaics. The wide-angle mosaic and the one-tap Milky Way arch are not supported. What I captured ↓
6. How much can it store? 64 GB, of which about 45 GB is usable. On a long night of mosaics mine filled up in the early hours and stopped saving, so clear it out between sessions. The specifications and the comparison table ↓
7. How long does the battery last? ZWO rates its 6000 mAh battery at up to 6 hours, measured in their laboratory. The specifications and the comparison table ↓
8. What does this review not cover? Equatorial mode, the wide-angle camera, the solar filter and a full battery test: I have no S30 Plus results of them to show here. Tested numbers and the download ↓