I have an interest in astronomy. For several years I try and get out now and then to stargaze. My tool during these episodes: a good pair of binoculars. I have thought about buying a telescope- thanks to China there are some very good ones, very cheap, but I decided to build my own- 1/3 of the way done, but on hold now while I work on my new house.
I was never a big fan computer controlled “GoTo” scopes because finding the object in the night sky was half the fun. In fact, actually seeing some of these objects is a bit of a dissapointment compared to the full spectrum images from the hubble and other high end sources.
Celestron has come up with the “Skyscout“. Its a hand held optical device that can not only enable you to find objects in the sky, but you can also point it at an object and it will tell you what it is. And I mean it can really tell you- it has audio capability. That ID feature is great, but what makes me interested is that the Skyscout only weighs about a pound. With some kind of a mount it can make any telescope a goto, and an ID scope- all for $399. Cool beans.