Unistellar Odyssey Pro – Verdict
The Unistellar Odyssey Pro is a excellent premium smart telescope that you operate with your smartpphone.
It makes astrophotography a breeze and provides an amazing astronomy experience via its unique eyepiece.
Pros:
- Setup is extremely easy – You just extend the legs of the tripod, pop the telescope body on top, press the on button, and you’re good to go. No collimation is required, which is what sets it apart from the Unistellar eVscope 2.
- Operation is slick – Simply download the app to your smartphone and connect via WIFI. It then tells you what is in the sky above you and takes you to it at the press of a button.
- The eyepiece sets it apart – The eyepiece means that you can look through the telescope, rather than just viewing the images sent to your phone. I felt this made it feel more “real” and my breath was taken away when I first looked through and was looking at the Pinwheel galaxy in just minutes from setup. This also makes it better for sharing the experience with others.
- Astrophotography is easy and impressive – It takes the photos and sends them to your phone with no processing needed. If you do want to go to the next level, you can also download the raw data and process it yourself with advanced software.
- It looks amazing – It’s a visually appealing device and impressive to have on display, to no need to hide it away when not using.
Cons:
- Imaging – The images you can produce are great but they won’t be winning any astrophotography awards. It can’t compete with advanced custom astrophotography setups or giant remote telescopes. The imaging for me is more about the experience of seeing these far-off objects and remembering the occasion.
- Weight – It’s actually one of the lightest smart telescopes but is still reasonably heavy. The box it comes with is fine for transporting in a car but if you wanted to walk with it you’d probably need to buy the additional backpack from Unistellar.
- Price – It’s a premium product. Check prices with the buttons below.
Read on for further detail or you can watch our video review here:
Unistellar Odyssey Pro Review
The Unistellar Odyssey Pro is a smart telescope, which means:
- It is a fully automated astrophotography telescope with a camera built-in
- You control it via app on your smartphone and it takes images of astronomy objects for you at the press of a button and sends them to your phone.
It was released in 2024 alongside its sister product, the Unistellar Odyssey, which is exactly the same apart from it lacks the eyepiece.
In this review, I give my views on how it shapes up on the below criteria:
- Ease of Use
- Imaging Quality
- Portability and Convenience
- Value for Money
Ease of Use
Setup
Setup of the Unistellar Pro is extremely easy:
- You extend the legs of the sturdy tripod
- Pop the telescope body on top
- Tighten two screws
- Press the ‘on’ button
You can watch a video here of me setting it up in less then 1 minute:
No collimation is required. If you don’t know, collimation is a manual adjustment process that is common with many telescopes. It is not difficult if following a tutorial but it is a barrier to having seamless grab-and-go usability.
Not having to do this is a big plus for the Unistellar Odyssey Pro and makes it much easier to use as a grab-and-go telescope.
Knowing that you can pull it out at any time and use it without having to follow a tutorial to make adjustments is a huge plus for anyone without a lot of experience in doing this.
This is a positive for the Odyssey Pro compared to Unistellar’s other smart telescopes – the eVscope 2 and eQuinox 2 – in that you do have to occasionally collimate them.
Operation
To use it you simply download the app to your smartphone and connect to the telescope via WIFI, then it tells you what is in the sky above you and takes you to it at the press of a button.
The app is excellent and the usability that is up there with the best for any smart telescope.
I never had any issues with connectivity or operating the Odyssey Pro with my phone.
The Eyepiece
The Odyssey Pro features an eyepiece for live viewing – no other smart telescope from any manufacturer has this other than the Unistellar eVscope 2.
This eyepiece means that you can look through the telescope, rather than just viewing the images sent to your phone.
I felt this made it feel more “real” and my breath was taken away when I first looked through and was looking at the Whirlpool galaxy in just minutes from setup.
I’ve tried to capture this experience in this short clip here:
The eyepiece also makes it better for sharing the experience with others.
If you want to use the Odyssey Pro with friends or family, having them take turns looking through is a much more impressive experience than showing them the images on your phone.
Add to this, the eyepiece shows the image digitally as it improves when more light is gathered as you stay focused on the object for longer.
This gives you a stargazing experience that is difficult to have these days with a regular telescope due to light pollution.
Imaging Quality
The telescope has:
- 85 mm (3.3 inch) aperture
- 320mm focal length
- f/3.9 focal ratio
This puts it above the Vespera II and Vespera Pro in terms of aperture and only behind the Unistellar eVscope 2, eQuinox 2, and Celestron Origin.
The camera inside has 4.1 megapixel resolution.
Here are some of the photos I captured – all are completely unprocessed and as they are sent to my phone from the Odyssey Pro:
The Odyssey Pro also offers the capacity to download the raw data of the images to your computer and process them using advanced software like Photoshop or PixInsight.
This gives you the ability to take the imaging to the next level.
Portability and Convenience
The Odyssey Pro telescope weighs 4 kg (8.8 lbs) with the tripod adding an additional 2.5 kg (5.5 lbs), so totalling 6.5 kg (14 lbs).
This means it is certainly light and portable but does weigh more than the Vespera II and Vespera Pro (11 lbs), as well as the ZWO Seestar S50 and Dwarflab Dwarf 2 which are in the budget category of smart telescopes.
It packs up securely in the box it comes in, which means you could travel with it in a car like this.
If you wanted to walk some distance with it, maybe to take out hiking or camping, you would probably need to buy the additional backpack.
In addition, it is a great looking product and not too bulky. This means you have the option to leave it on display in your backyard or on your balcony to show off, or as a conversation starter.
Value for Money
The Odyssey Pro is a premium smart telescope, currently listed at $3,999. This makes it:
- More expensive than the Odyssey by $1,500. This is the price of the Nikon eyepiece.
- More expensive than the Vespera II and Vespera Pro which are lower spec.
- About the same as the Celestron Origin. The Origin has a higher spec telescope but also weighs substantially more.
- Cheaper than the eVscope 2 and eQuinox 2.
These prices may vary and so check the links to compare.
Overall, this is a great premium but only you can assess your budget.
If you have money though, are not an astronomy expert, and just want the best there is, then this is probably the model for you.
Unistellar Odyssey Pro: Pros and Cons
Unistellar Odyssey Pro: Advantages
The pros of the Unistellar Odyssey Pro are:
- Easy to use with no adjustment (collimation) required
- One of only two smart telescopes to feature the liveview eyepiece
- Compact size and light weight
- Good telescope and camera specifations
- Slick user experience and a great app
- Beautiful design
- You can join Citizen Science initiatives
Unistellar Odyssey Pro: Disadvantages
In terms of the downsides:
- More expensive in comparison to the Odyssey and the Vespera models (its most obvious competitors)
- Lower spec than other premium alternatives like the eVscope 2 or eQuinox 2
Unistellar Odyssey Pro: Alternatives
The main alternatives to the Unistellar Odyssey Pro are the:
- Unistellar Odyssey – the cheaper alternative that lacks the eyepiece and has a slightly lower camera resolution (see comparison video below)
- Vaonis Vespera II – lower aperture telescope but higher resolution camera, has a mosaic mode, is smaller and cheaper
See our overview of the Best Smart Telescopes to see how they all compare.
Unistellar Odyssey Pro: Specifications
- Aperture: 85 mm (3.3 inch)
- Focal Length: 320 mm
- Focal Ratio: F/3.9
- Weight: 14 lbs (6.5 kg)
- Height: 122 cm (fully assembled)
- Sensor: Sony IMX615
- Resolution: 4.1 MP
- Year of release: 2024
Our Verdict
Overall, the Unistellar Odyssey Pro is a excellent premium smart telescope.
It makes astrophotography a breeze and provides an amazing astronomy experience via its unique eyepiece.
Compared to other smart telescopes, is – in my experience – the easiest to use and this makes it great fun and its great knowing that you can just pull it out and use it whenever the conditions are righ.
It isalso the only option other than the eVscope 2 (that is more expensive and does require collimating) that has the eyepiece so you can look through it like a regular telescope, rather than just viewing the images it captures on your smartphone.
This is a key feature for many and adds a communal element to sitting around with family and friends and looking through it at the planets, galaxies and whatever else you wan to see.
The Odyssey Pro will appeal to people that want complete ease of use, a beautiful appearance, and the live viewing experience with the eyepiece.
Premium Smart Telescope - Brand new in 2024
- Easy to use and perfect for complete beginners
- Features eyepiece for live viewing of the night sky
- Portable with a compact size and light weight
- Lower spec than premium alternatives
- Premium price
How we reviewed the Unistellar Odyssey Pro
This Unistellar Odyssey Pro review is based on hands-on experience.
The model was loaned to Skies & Scopes from Unistellar for the purposes of this review. There were no conditions attached to this loan and this review is completely unbiased.
Submit Your Review of the Unistellar Odyssey Pro
If you own (or have used) a Unistellar Odyssey Pro, you can submit your review and ratings to us via this form to be incorporated in this review:
Sources and further information
- Best Smart Telescopes 2024
- Unistellar Odyssey Pro vs Unistellar Odyssey
- Unistellar Odyssey Pro vs Unistellar eVscope 2
- Unistellar Odyssey Pro vs Vaonis Vespera Pro
- Unistellar Odyssey Pro vs Vaonis Vespera II
- Unistellar Odyssey Pro vs ZWO Seestar S50
- Unistellar Odyssey Pro vs Dwarf II
- Unistellar Odyssey Pro vs Celestron Origin
- Unistellar Odyssey Review
- Unistellar Odyssey Product Page
Unistellar Odyssey Pro
Pros
- Easy to use and perfect for complete beginners
- Features eyepiece for live viewing of the night sky
- Portable with a compact size and light weight
Cons
- Lower spec than premium alternatives
- Premium price
Unistellar Odyssey Pro
Pros
- Easy to use and perfect for complete beginners
- Features eyepiece for live viewing of the night sky
- Portable with a compact size and light weight
Cons
- Lower spec than premium alternatives
- Premium price
