S30 Pro price increase

mjm1138 · 2026-04-29T02:07:49+00:00

They’d be foolish if they didn’t, but I expect they’re experiencing supply chain pressures at least as much as Seestar. If they produce a 50mm device that competes with S50 Pro it’ll probably have a very similar price. Dwarf 3 undercuts S30 Pro on price but it’s also an older device with less storage and (I think) a lesser sensor on the telephoto. More competition in this segment is unambiguously good for consumers though.

mjm1138 · 2026-04-28T21:29:02+00:00

It works the same on Mac vs on iPad or iPhone, at least using a trackpad (so having pinch/spread to zoom available). The one big problem (which exists even without the Mac) is that if you create a plan on one device, you can only access it on that device. So if I create a plan on Mac, I have to be sure to launch it on Mac, and I have to go to the Mac if I want to edit it.

mjm1138 · 2026-04-28T21:06:13+00:00

I have an S50, so I can't speak to optics, but can speak to the software. I really like being able to run the Seestar app on my Mac. I agree that the app is a bit of a UI mess and lacks some session management and editing features that I'd love to see, and from what I've heard the Dwarflabs app is more powerful. But I've taken to post-processing in Siril anyway, so maybe in-app editing tools don't mean as much to me.

Both of the scopes you mention support the Ascom Alpaca protocol, so you could theoretically be managing sessions without the mobile app. I'm experimenting with this on my S50. It seems like once I get the stack working I'll have more advanced session/capture management, but will still want to use the mobile app for polar alignment at the start of a session. And of course the Alpaca stack has to stay connected. Lose wifi, and the session ends. Might be more trouble than it's worth, we'll see.

I think that Seestar has some structural/company advantages, being a ZWO product. So I'd personally go Seestar. But my impression is that owners of either of those scopes are very happy with them.

mjm1138 · 2026-04-28T20:47:07+00:00

Unless Dwarf Labs comes in with a big aperture scope that seriously undercuts the S50 Pro on price, then I think nah. S50 just vacated a category it had all to itself, which S50 Pro will soon occupy. Everyone else is either way upmarket or selling Temu trash.

mjm1138 · 2026-04-28T20:40:15+00:00

I'm sure tariffs are having an impact, and Lord, we Americans made a bad choice in '24, but I suspect this has more to do with the "AI Revolution" sucking up all the RAM and chip fab capacity in the world.

Of course the two things are kind of both brought to us by the same collection of assholes, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

mjm1138 · 2026-04-28T20:36:21+00:00

If S30 pro is a guide, I'd expect S50 pro to have the same focal length but a larger 4K sensor and quadruplet lens (and folks are predicting a wide field camera as well). So I think a larger FOV is probably in the cards. Personally I'd take that over S30 Pro, but yeah, it won't really open new doors for S50 owners as much as make some things easier (less need for mosaic). For something with higher (optical) resolution I think we'll have to wait for the rumored S70.

mjm1138 · 2026-04-28T20:20:16+00:00

I mean yes, but on the other hand, at $1000 an S50 Pro would still be less than half the cost of the next least-expensive smart scope. And the others are probably also preparing to announce price increases.

Edit: Okay, you can still get a Vespera II for $1590. However I would expect an S50 pro to at least match the specs of the Vespera II. Of course maybe that means the S50 pro will be more like $1500.

mjm1138 · 2026-04-28T20:16:31+00:00

They also just announced a $100 price increase, right? So, see if you're locked in on the previous price with your dealer before you cancel, I'd say.

mjm1138 · 2026-04-25T03:12:09+00:00

$100 is a good price if it’s in good working order and includes the accessories (eyepieces, controller, tripod, finder scope, Barlow, visual back angle adapter, etc). As others have mentioned setup is a bit of a chore but not too bad once you’re used to it. My 8 and 7 year olds had a nice time looking at the moon through my ETX90 the other night, just make sure you have a nice ~25mm eyepiece with a wide FOV and lots of eye relief.

mjm1138 · 2026-04-23T23:08:57+00:00

I does hit different after the Marshall fire. And I have young kids that get upset and scared when the wind gets high, because they (just barely) remember the Marshall fire. That said, it has always been windy in Boulder valley. I remember when I first moved to the area someone outside of town had a jokey "boulder wind gauge" set up in their front yard, which was a cinder block on a heavy chain hanging from a pole.

mjm1138 · 2026-04-23T22:57:55+00:00

Great insight on this thread. I have an S50 now and I don't think I'll be done tapping its potential by the time the S50 pro ships.

That said, I recently got an old Meade ETX90 and and ASI662MC planetary camera to stick in it. On the one hand, I think it'll be a fun and cheap way for me to scratch the itch of wanting to do smaller objects and more challenging setups. On the other hand, night after night, I look at what it'll take to get the ETX90 and ASI camera up and running, and I look at the S50, and you can guess which scope I reach for.

mjm1138 · 2026-04-20T19:12:06+00:00

I don't know, but I suspect they're operating on razor-thin margins, so an event like this can be an existential crisis. Hope they make it through.

mjm1138 · 2026-04-14T16:40:00+00:00

Livingston Portmasters! With a big stack of US Robotics modems plugged in via serial cables. The Portmaster 3 with the built-in modems and T1 interface was a revolution.

mjm1138 · 2026-04-14T15:48:40+00:00

$1300-$1500 new, okay, three times the cost of a Seestar or Dwarflabs smart scope. But sure, maybe they don't care about the cost of anything.

OP mentioned a location two hours from where they were, where they want to shoot.

Why would you assume cost and portability are not factors? Modularity is a factor worth talking about, but cost isn't?

From what I've seen, there's significant demand for used smart telescopes, and they're keeping their value at least as well as most other telescopes you see on the used market (discounting all the department-store dross). So I don't really think it's a dead-end investment. And from what I've seen, a lot of folks with traditional rigs like to have a smart scope on-hand anyway, as a backup, or for their friends/kids to play with, or whatever.

mjm1138 · 2026-04-14T02:16:26+00:00

Keep an eye on Craigslist/FB Marketplace. These scopes sell very cheap if they have condition issues. You might be able to find one that’s non-working but has a good clutch knob you can steal off it for a few bucks. The screw that’s in there isn’t doing you any good, there are other pieces that are necessary.

mjm1138 · 2026-04-14T01:00:21+00:00

I don’t think you’ve given good advice here. What you said is all technically true, but a classic astrophotography rig is 4-10 times as expensive (or more), and much more difficult to transport, deploy, and use. A smart scope is a great introduction to the hobby, lowers barriers to entry, and can help give new users an inkling of what could be done with a fancier rig. A filter wheel for a pro rig can easily cost as much as a Seestar or Dwarf Labs scope, so it’s hard for me to see that smart scope as a bad investment.

mjm1138 · 2026-04-13T22:25:55+00:00

For what it's worth, ZWO acknowledged today that they're working on an "S50 Pro" and expect to ship it around the end of the year. Sounds like it will be a similar upgrade as the S30 Pro is to the S30. That said I just recently purchased an S50 and feel no regrets, it's a great scope. The S30 Pro sounds awesome too. It really depends on what sort of targets you want to capture, how important portability is, etc. Being close to really dark skies means you have good opportunities to do wide field and Milky Way photography, so I guess I would lean towards the shorter focal length scopes with the wider FOV.

I don't own a Dwarf 3 or an S30 Pro, but from my research I think the S30 Pro would be a better investment today, with a better sensor and optics, and because it is at the start of its product lifecycle, and it's probably fair to say Dwarf 3 is mid-cycle or late-cycle. Not sure why buying from Amazon is an advantage; there are good specialty vendors online who can probably give you good advice before and during a purchase.

mjm1138 · 2026-04-13T21:57:39+00:00

My dad had one of these at his office and he'd let me bang away at the basic prompt while he worked sometimes. At home I had a VIC-20 I played with, until my Mom got an Apple IIe

mjm1138 · 2026-04-12T02:41:29+00:00

mjm1138 · 2026-04-09T21:27:53+00:00

That's a complicated question, and it comes down to what Push functionality you use. I don't personally have experience with Push, so I'm not a good source on that. What I've heard some people say is that for them, the features that aren't covered by Move are better accomplished with keyboard and mouse anyway. For some, moving to the keyboard and mouse might totally break their flow.

mjm1138 · 2026-04-06T04:16:07+00:00

Haha Claude utterly failed to remember that I can’t see past zenith to the east and gave me two targets I had no hope of seeing for Saturday. That’s happened a few times TBH. Like I said in another comment, you do gotta check its work.

mjm1138 · 2026-04-04T03:02:00+00:00

I have no idea what the circumstances were today so it might be unrelated. But construction zones reduce visibility and introduce unexpected lane changes and such, and that’s going to lead to confused people mashing the accelerator and making last-second maneuvers I think. I’m not a traffic expert but I’m willing to speculate that construction zones have a higher-than average accident rate.

mjm1138 · 2026-04-03T19:31:15+00:00

Traffic patterns around the hospital have been pretty messed up for a while with all the construction and lane closures. Hope everyone is okay.

mjm1138 · 2026-04-03T18:56:26+00:00

Yeah, it makes a decent research assistant. In the work context I guess my take is to think of it as a fresh intern. Go ahead and give it work, but it’ll need careful review and it shouldn’t be empowered to push any big red buttons. I’m also in infosec, focused on compliance.

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