Best Smart Telescopes (Stellina vs eVscope 2 vs eQuinox 2 vs Vespera vs Dwarf 2)

The new trend disrupting telescopes is hybrid smart telescopes that have cameras built in.

They are operated by your smartphone and make astrophotography easy, plus they provide an answer to the problem of light pollution for astronomy in cities.

Right now there are six models that you can buy, each with its pros and cons:

1. Unistellar eQuinox 2 – Our Top Pick. Newly released in 2023, an upgraded version of the eQuinox with a higher-resolution camera.
2. Unistellar eVscope 2 – Our Premium Pick. This is the best smart telescope overall but also the most expensive. The only model with an eyepiece for real-time viewing.
3. Unistellar eQuinox – Very similar to the eQuinox 2 and so good value if you want to save a bit of money and go for the older model.
4. DWARF II – Our Budget Pick. New in 2023, available for a much lower price than the premium models on this list but still able to perform.
5. Vaonis Vespera – This is the premium portable option if you want great performance but also want a small and light model to travel with.
6. Vaonis Stellina – The original and complete simplicity out of the box but currently out of stock.

Read on to understand more.

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A new trend: Smart Telescopes for astrophotography & astronomy

Obviously, telescopes have been around for a while and taking photos with them has been a popular hobby in recent decades.

But what has emerged recently is a new type of hybrid telescope that can take photos with a built-in camera.

Smart Telescope Astrophotography

This means that advanced astrophotography is possible with just one piece of equipment that is relatively easy to use.

Previously, if you wanted to get into deep sky astrophotography you needed to research and buy a camera, telescope, and mount, plus any accessories, adapters and cables required to make the parts fit together and likely connect to your laptop to operate.

Getting all these pieces together and finding the right ones for you and your budget is a lot of work and creates a barrier to entry for more casual photographers wanting to take photos of objects in space.

In addition, even once you have your kit all together, taking and processing the photos is a lot of work and requires a lot of time and learning.

Of course, for many, this is part of the fun and contributes to making it so rewarding, but many others crave something much simpler and faster.

Solving Light Pollution with Hybrid Telescopes

One of the major challenges of modern-day astronomy is light pollution.

Most of us live in towns or cities where the light generated from street lights and buildings effectively brightens the night sky.

This makes it significantly harder to view the stars, planets, and galaxies through regular telescopes, astronomy binoculars, or with our eyes.

What these smart telescopes do is overcome the light pollution problem and make observing the night sky easier.

They do this by how they work – they gather light from the night sky over a short period of time (seconds to minutes) and build a digital image of the object you are viewing in space.

You are therefore looking at a picture that is built up of multiple images and enables you to view much better in less-than-perfect conditions. This compares to regular telescopes where you are observing just a single live view with your naked eye.

This means that with smart telescopes you can observe the night skies from your backyard or rooftop in a city in a way that you can’t with similar-sized regular telescopes.

Digital Telescopes for the Sharing Experience

Therefore these new telescopes are a massive breakthrough in making astronomy and astrophotography more easily accessible for beginners, and with people keen to share images on social media.

They are also perfect for those that want the results of observing and photographing the night sky without spending months or years learning and just want to grab and go outside and get instant results.

There are six main smart telescopes that can take photos on the market right now:

1. Unistellar eQuinox 2
2. Unistellar eVscope 2
3. Unistellar eQuinox
4. DwarfLab DWARF II
5. Vaonis Vespera
6. Vaonis Stellina

We examine each of these below and see how they compare to each other.

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Unistellar eQuinox 2

Our Pick – Best Value

The Unistellar eQuinox 2 is one of the latest smart telescopes to enter the market new in 2023 and is the successor to the original eQuinox (below).

It is very similar in many specifications to the first eQuinox but has a few key upgrades. This includes:

• Higher resolution camera sensor: 6.2 megapixels over 4.8 megapixels
• Wider field of view: A wider expanse of the night sky can be captured in any image. Pivotally, this means that the whole moon can be captured with the eQuinox 2, whereas it was cropped with the first eQuinox (the eVscope 2 was already wider).

The size and weight are the same, as is the aperture, focal length and focal ratio.

Coming in a roughly half the price of the eVscope 2, you get a great smart telescope for a good value price just without the realtime viewing eyepiece of the eVscope 2 and a slightly lower resolution camera.

eQuinox 2 Pros and Cons

eQuinox 2 Pros

• Cost: The starting price is lower than the first eQuinox at launch and about half the price of the eVscope 2 (note, this may vary)
• Power: The Unistellar models have the highest aperture
• Imaging: 6.2 MP resolution makes it close to the Stellina for a lower price and behind only the eVscope 2

eQuinox 2 Cons

• No eyepiece: The main downside to the eVscope 2 is the lack of eyepiece for realtime viewing (plus the lower resolution)
• Weight: Comparable to the other Unistellar models and the Stellina, but heavier than the Vespera

eQuinox 2 Specifications

• Aperture: 114mm (4.5 inches)
• Focal Length: 450mm (17.7 inches)
• Focal Ratio: F/3.9
• Weight: 19.8 lbs (9 kg)
• Resolution: 6.2 MP
• Year of release: 2023

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Unistellar eVscope 2

Premium Pick – Best Smart Telescope

Unistellar released the eVscope 2 in 2022 and is the best smart telescope you can currently buy.

It makes our premium pick as it is the best but also in a higher price bracket.

It has the same telescope tube and mount as the eQuinox 2, so it is the same size, weighs the same, and is operated in exactly the same way.

But it has two main differences:

1. A better 7.7-megapixel sensor results in better images.
2. An eyepiece on the side of the telescope allows you to see in real-time what the telescope is viewing, rather than just on your phone.

The improved sensor is much higher resolution and means that images can be captured in much finer detail. This makes it a better astrophotography telescope than the eQuinox 2.

The added eyepiece is important for some that like that experience of looking through the telescope, rather than just receiving what is sent to your smartphone or tablet. What you are looking at though is an electronic image direct from the sensor and so you can see the view improving as the telescope gathers more light to create the image.

Therefore it is slightly different from looking through a traditional telescope eyepiece, but this does result in a better view and one that is less affected by light pollution.

The original eVscope had an eyepiece but it was removed from the eQuinox. The new eyepiece was developed in cooperation with Nikon and is an improvement over the original one.

Like the other smart telescopes, it packs up neatly into its own backpack (check if included when buying):

Taking all this into account, the eVscope 2 is better than the eQuinox 2. However, it is more expensive. Therefore you have a choice of the more budget-friendly eQuinox 2, or the premium eVscope 2.

You can see a video overview of the eVscope 2 here from Unistellar:

eVscope 2 pros and cons

eVscope 2 Pros

• The best sensor with the highest resolution of any available smart telescope
• The eyepiece on the side enables you to look through the side and see the view directly, rather than just on your phone
• High aperture (the best measurement of a telescope’s viewing power)
• It enables you to join a citizen astronomy network and take part in fun and educational initiatives
• Longer battery life of 12 hours from a single charge (versus 5 hours for the Stellina)
• Smaller and lighter than the Stellina

eVscope 2 Cons

• Like the Equinox, it does require some collimation and focusing (but this is simple and the manual takes you through the process)
• Higher price. This is currently the most expensive smart telescope on the market (though please check live prices as they fluctuate)

eVscope 2 specifications

• Aperture: 114mm (4.5 inches)
• Focal Length: 450mm (17.7 inches)
• Focal Ratio: F/3.9
• Weight: 19.8 lbs (9 kg)
• Sensor: Sony IMX347
• Resolution: 7.7 MP
• Year of release: 2022

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Unistellar eQuinox

Great Value Option

The eQuinox comes from the French company, Unistellar.

Unistellar’s first smart telescope was the eVscope. This was discontinued in 2021 and replaced by the eQuinox and the eVscope 2.

The eQuinox 2 was then released in 2023 to supersede this model. However, at the time of writing it is still available and given its very similar specs to the eQuinox 2, makes a great option if ou want to save a few hundred dollars.

It is operated via a smartphone app and automatically finds objects in the night sky and captures images of them which are then sent to your phone or tablet.

It’s a sleek, black telescope that looks a lot nicer than the original eVscope. The battery life was improved and it is easier to set up (it can be done in under a minute).

It’s very similar in terms of specifications to the original eVscope – a 4.5-inch aperture reflector telescope with the same focal length and the same Sony sensor.

One fairly big change was that Unistellar removed the eyepiece that was on the side of the original eVscope.

You may or may not care about this but to some it was a big positive versus the Stellina as it allowed it to be used as an observing telescope. This was great for those living in light-polluted areas where observing is very difficult. Instead, now you can just see the images on your smartphone or tablet. This eyepiece was re-added for the eVscope 2 (above).

However, it is the removal of the eyepiece that has resulted in improved battery performance.

You can watch a quick overview of the eQuinox from Unistellar here:

eQuinox pros and cons

eQuinox Pros

• It has a high aperture (the best measurement of a telescope’s viewing power)
• It enables you to join a citizen astronomy network and take part in fun and educational initiatives
• Longer battery life of 12 hours from a single charge (versus 5 hours for the Stellina)
• It is cheaper than the Stellina (although please check live prices)
• It is smaller and lighter than the Stellina

eQuinox Cons

• Does require some collimation and focussing (but this is simple and the manual takes you through the process)
• No Eyepiece – this removes the element of taking it out and using it like an observing telescope that you had with the original eVscope.

eQuinox specifications

• Aperture: 114mm (4.5 inches)
• Focal Length: 450mm (17.7 inches)
• Focal Ratio: F/3.9
• Weight: 19.8 lbs (9 kg)
• Sensor: Sony IMX224
• Resolution: 4.8 MP
• Year of release: 2021

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Dwarflab DWARF II

Budget Pick – Cheapest Smart Telescope

The DWARF II is a brand new budget smart telescope released in 2023.

It is much cheaper than the other options above yet I have found that it can really deliver and is a lot of fun to use.

Dwarflab kindly sent me my very own one of these telescopes – you can see my full hands-on Dwarf 2 Review.

It is small and light and comes with tripod, carry case and filters – everything you need to get going.

To get it going you need to download the free app onto your smartphone and connect it to your telescope. This is all fairly easy to do and I also had to install a firmware update which was a slightly less intuitive process (the step-by-step guides on the Dwarflab site are easy to follow though).

The appeal with this model is first and foremost the cheaper price. The others can’t compete with the budget price.

It is also extremely tight and portable. I fully plan to take mine on vacation and have confidence that the carry case will keep it protected.

The downsides in comparison to the above models are that it has much lower specifications – particularly in terms of aperture and focal length.

This means it can’t really compete in terms of the images it can deliver. However, many have had great success taking photos with it and I’m going to see what I can do with it this spring and summer.

DWARF II Pros and Cons

DWARF II Pros

• Price: Substantially cheaper than any of the other options. This opens up the possibility of owning a smart telescope to many more people.
• Weight: Far lighter than any of the other options and comes with a snug carry case to make it easy to travel with.

Dwarf II Cons

• Image quality: The lower spec inevitably has a limiting impact on the level of images you can expect to produce.
• Planetary photography: The short focal length does not lend itself to taking photos of planets. Deep sky astrophotography is what it is best used for.
• Ease of use: The setup and calibration processes are pretty easy to follow but not seamless.

DWARF II Specifications

• Aperture: 24mm (1-inch)
• Focal Length: 100mm (4-inch)
• Focal Ratio: F/4.2
• Weight: 1.2 kg (2.6 lbs)
• Resolution: 8 MP
• Year of release: 2023

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Vaonis Vespera

Premium Portable PIck

The Vaonis Vespera is a premium portable smart telescope.

Offering some of the advantages in terms of size and weight as the Dwarf 2, but with better specs and performance. Although naturally coming in a a higher price.

It is essentially a mini-Stellina – the same easy-to-use smart telescope with many of the same advantages, but substantially smaller, lighter, and cheaper.

Its big differentiating characteristic is its size – it is much smaller and lighter than any of the other premium models.

At 11 lbs, it weighs around half the Unistellar models and even more than that with the Stellina.

This makes it much more portable and easy to store and transport.

Watch the overview here:

The actual telescope is a quadruplet apochromatic refractor, which is perfect for wide-field imaging of deep sky objects.

It is extremely quick and easy to set up. You can watch this in this one-minute video:

The key specifications of the Vespera are weaker than the other models – lower aperture and smaller resolution will mean that the images it provides will not be as good.

This is the downside to the compact design.

Vespera Pros & Cons

Vespera Pros

• Smaller and lighter than any other smart telescope model
• Easy to store and transport
• Like the Stellina, ultra-easy to use with no adjustment required
• Cheaper than the other models

Vespera Cons

• The lowest aperture and lowest resolution of any smart telescope model

Vespera Specifications

• Aperture: 50 mm (2 inches)
• Focal Length: 200 mm (7.9 inches)
• Focal Ratio: F/4
• Weight: 11 lbs (5 kg)
• Height: 40 cm (15 inches)
• Sensor: Sony IMX462
• Resolution: 2 MP (1920 x 1080 px)
• Year of release: 2022

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Vaonis Stellina

The Original and the Easiest Smart Telescope

The Stellina telescope from French company Vaonis is the original smart telescope.

It comes out of the box looking a bit like a large router standing 68cm (26 inches) tall.

How it works is you turn it on, it takes a few minutes to automatically establish the time and date and where it is in the world by GPS and then it is good to go.

There’s not much more to it, no collimating (adjusting) the telescope or manual focusing.

It is operated via an app on your smartphone or tablet. The Stellina knows from your location what you should be able to see and gives you a list of options of objects in the night sky.

You then choose which galaxy, nebula, or another object you want it to point at and it will take the image at the press of a button and send it to your smartphone.

The images are of a high resolution of 3096 x 2080 pixels and are processed automatically and sent as jpeg files.

You can also connect a USB-C cable and get the raw FITS data, which means that if you want to you can get the unprocessed image data and play around with it yourself with post-processing software.

It is powered by a rechargeable battery that lasts around five hours and has an in-built light pollution filter built onto the front so that it can be used from within cities and other built-up areas.

It comes with a high-quality mini tripod from Gitzo (one of the best tripod manufacturers). You can also buy a separate tall Gitzo tripod for the Stellina with a height of 130cm (51 inches).

I think of this as being like the Apple version of a telescope where they have made ease of use right out of the box a priority.

This then makes it appeal to a different market from experienced astrophotographers.

This video from Vaonis gives a good overview of how it works:

The only real downsides are that it is not cheap and that the images it produces, while good, are not of comparable quality to those being taken by advanced astrophotographers with good camera/telescope/mount setups.

However, it’s about a thousand times quicker and easier and the prospect is there that the Stellina will improve in performance over time as updates take place over its internet connection, much like your laptop or phone does.

Stellinas pros and cons

Stellina Pros

• Simple, quick and easy to use with an intuitive interface
• Up to 20 users can connect to it at once to share the images which adds a social element
• Performance improvements and new features can be added after you have bought it as it receives software updates over the internet

Stellina Cons

• Not cheap (although in the ballpark of buying high-quality astrophotography equipment like a camera, telescope, and mount)
• Not so good at photographing planets or the sun, it mostly specializes in widefield deep sky astrophotography (galaxies, nebula, etc)
• Fairly large

Stellina specifications

• Aperture: 80mm (3.15 inches)
• Focal Length: 400mm (15.75 inches)
• Focal Ratio: F/5
• Weight: 24.7 lbs (11.2 kg)
• Height: 68cm (26 inches) – with tripod
• Sensor: Sony IMX178
• Resolution: 6.4MP (3096 x 2080 px)
• Year of release: 2019

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Stellina Vs eVscope 2 vs eQuinox 2 vs Vespera vs Dwarf 2: Pros & Cons

The Unistellar and Vaonis smart telescopes are fairly similar in that they are:

1. Easy to use for beginners out of the box
2. Smartphone or tablet operated
3. Have in-built cameras to provide all the equipment you need in one for astrophotography

There are a few things that make them differ from each other though and might help you choose which model is right for you.

eQuinox 2 vs Stellina

The advantages of the eQuinox / eQuinox 2 over the Stellina are:

• Enable you to join a network and take part in citizen astronomy activities
• Cheaper (at the time of writing – but please check)
• Higher aperture for better light gathering and imaging
• Smaller and lighter

The advantages of the Stellina mostly relate to ease of use:

• No focusing or collimation of the telescope is required
• Capable of higher resolution images

eVscope 2 vs Stellina

The advantages of the eVscope 2 over the Stellina are the same as the above for the eQuinox but with the addition of:

• A higher resolution sensor
• An eyepiece on the side for live viewing

The advantages of the Stellina over the eVscope 2 are therefore:

• No focusing or collimation required
• Cheaper

eVscope 2 vs eQuinox 2

As for the advantages of the eVscope 2 over the eQuinox 2, it is essentially the same as over the Stellina:

• A higher-resolution sensor
• An eyepiece on the side for live viewing

The advantage of the eQuinox / eQunix 2 over the eVscope 2 is that it is substantially cheaper to sacrifice the eyepiece.

Vespera vs Stellina

Vespera advantages versus the Stellina:

• Weighs less than half of the Stellina – 11 lbs versus 25 lbs
• Shorter at a height of 15 inches (versus 19 inches for the Stellina)
• Cheaper at less than half the price of the Stellina (always check live prices)

There are some downsides to this extra compatibility and reduction in cost though:

• Smaller aperture at 50mm (2 inches)
• Shorter focal length at 200mm (7.8 inches)
• Lower resolution (2.1 MP)

These reductions impact the viewing and imaging power of the Vespera versus the Stellina as a 50mm/2-inch aperture would be a fairly low light-gathering capacity in a regular telescope.

Therefore, the Stellina is better than the Vespera in terms of power and the images it delivers, but the Vespera cost less and is much more portable and easy to store.

Vespera vs eVscope 2 / eQuinox 2

The Vespera’s advantage over the Unistellar models is the more compact size and light weight.

The downside is the lower aperture and sensor resolution.

DWARF 2 vs eQuinox 2 vs eVscope 2 vs Stellina vs Vespera

The advantages of the Dwarf II vs any of the other options are:

1. Price – it is substantially cheaper
2. Weight – it is super light even compared to the Vespera

The downsides are:

1. Lower-quality imaging capacity. The lower aperture inevitably limits its light-gathering ability.
2. Less slick and intuitive operation. Takes a bit more figuring out to get it set up and going.

Overall: eQuinox 2 vs eVscope 2 vs Stellina vs Vespera vs DWARF II

Essentially the Stellina is easier to use and is literally a matter of turning it on. This simpler experience will appeal to many casual users that would prefer something they can just pull out and use in the backyard without having to review any manuals on how to collimate, etc.

However, the eQuinox 2 is better than the Stellina in a number of other ways. It is just slightly harder to use since each time it needs manual focusing and collimating. These processes are easy and should take around ten minutes once you know what you’re doing but it is a slight barrier to being fully ‘grab-and-go’ like the Stellina is.

The eVscope 2 is an upgraded version of the eQuinox, so it has all the above advantages plus a better imaging sensor and the eyepiece for live viewing at a higher price.

The Vespera is a smaller, more portable smart telescope but with high-quality optics, it will appeal to those who value the improved portability of a more compact and lightweight body, and the lower price.

Finally, the DWARF II is the smallest and cheapest smart telescope. This is the best for those with lower budgets.

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Other Smart Telescopes

There is another smart telescope from Vaonis to go alongside the Stellina and Vespera – the Vaonis Hyperia.

Also, newly announced in April 2023 is the ZWO SeeStar S50.

Vaonis Hyperia

The Vaonis Hyperia is a completely different beast from the Stellina or the Vespera.

It is a big powerful smart telescope that comes at a premium price.

It will be substantially larger and more powerful than any other model:

• it stands at 6ft 9 inches (210 cm) tall, and
• it weighs 165 lbs (75 kg)

It’s a triplet refractor telescope (great for astrophotography) with a 6-inch (150 mm) aperture.

It also has a 61-megapixel sensor, which is huge.

Vaonis are currently pricing it at $45,000, so this is a serious telescope aimed at those with observatories and similarly high-priced telescopes and mounts.

ZWO Seestar S50

The ZWO Seestar S50 was announced in April 2023 with a planned July 2023 release. It is available for pre-order now.

Retailing at $399, it is looking to be a rival to the DWARF 2 in terms of cost, but potentially also the Vaonis Vespera in terms of spec and performance.

It is a triplet apochromatic refractor with a 50mm aperture, 250mm focal length and F/4.9 focal ratio.

2023 is really looking like the year that smart telescopes became affordable.

See our overview of the Dwarf II vs ZWO Seestar S50 to see how these budget smart telescopes compare.

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FAQs

Do the Stellina/Vespera and eVscope/eQuinox take good pictures?

The answer is yes they do.

Many experienced astrophotographers do prefer the results they get from their conventional telescope/mount/camera set-ups, however the time and dedication required to get to this level is beyond most casual users looking for an easier way to get into astrophotography.

Here is an image of the Carina Nebula taken with the Vaonis Stellina:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Vaonis (@vaonis)

Here is a collage of images taken with the Unistellar eVscope:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Unistellar (@unistellarscope)

To see galleries of images taken with the eVscope and Stellina, check out:

eVscope images

• eVscope and eQuinox images on Instagram
• eVscope images on Flickr
• eVscope images on Astrobin

Stellina images

• Stellina and Vespera images on Instagram
• Stellina images on Astrobin

What’s the difference between smart telescopes and GoTo / computerized telescopes?

The difference is that these new “smart telescopes” have cameras built-in and that they automate many of the setup processes required for regular telescopes.

They use the same “GoTo” technology utilized by computerized telescope mounts that enable you to choose an object for the telescope to find for you from a database at the click of a button.

The difference is that conventional telescopes need you to connect an external camera to take pictures and then go through a rigorous manual process for capturing the image.

Can you attach your smartphone or digital camera to a regular telescope to take pictures?

Yes, you can. This is what the vast majority of people do to take night sky photos.

Quite a lot of beginners’ telescopes now come with smartphone adapters (or they can be bought separately). Similarly, DSLR cameras can be attached to telescopes with the right adapters.

See our guide to astrophotography for beginners for a good introduction to this, as well as the best camera for astrophotography and the best telescopes for astrophotography.

How do you collimate an eVscope or eQuinox telescope?

One of the things to consider with an eVscope 2 or Equinox is the collimation process.

This video from Unistellar takes you through it so you can understand the steps:

What is the most powerful smart telescope?

The Unistellar eVscope 2 is the most powerful smart telescope. It has the highest aperture and highest camera sensor resolution of any available model.

What is a digital telescope?

A digital telescope is another term that is sometimes used for a smart telescope (as well as hybrid telescope).

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Verdict: What’s the Best Smart Telescope to buy?

Right now there are six available smart telescopes on the market each with its own advantages:

• Unistellar eQuinox 2 – The best value premium option combining high performance with a mid-range price.
• Unistellar eVscope 2 – The most expensive but the best in terms of specs and also the only model with a real-time viewing eyepiece.
• Unistellar eQuinox – A good option if you want to save some money on the very similar eQuinox 2
• DWARF II – The best option for those with smaller budgets of less than $500
• Vaonis Vespera – The premium portable option if you want top perforamnce combined with smaller size
• Vaonis Stellina – Still the slickest looking and easiest to use but hard to find in 2023

For most it’s a question of weighing up the cost and functionality:

1. The Stellina will suit those that regardless of cost never want to think about maintenance and just want a sleek bit of gear to pull out and use at will.
2. The Vespera also boasts the same ease of use but it is cheaper and smaller. However, it will not provide images of as high quality.
3. The eQuinox / eQuinox 2 will appeal more to keen astronomers who don’t mind the small setup steps and might want to get involved in citizen science initiatives and hunt asteroids, etc.
4. The eVscope 2 also has the citizen science capacity plus the eyepiece which makes it great for observing sessions under light-polluted skies
5. The Dwarf II will appeal to those that either want to have a go with a smart telescope but don’t want to spend thousands of dollars or just want the most portable option.

Please let us know which one you favor and why in the comments below!