Few products that come through our Labs leave us amazed but Celestron’s Skyscout managed it. At PC Authority we’re big camping fans, and have often spent nights round a campfire in the bush somewhere, sinking a few longnecks and gazing at the stars – wondering what we’re looking at. The Skyscout is here to tell you, and it’s devilishly simple to use.

Simply turn it on, wait for its GPS receiver to locate itself (this can take several minutes), press the ‘Identify’ button to put it in Identify mode, look at your chosen celestial object through the lens and press ‘Target’. The mono 3 x 1in LCD panel on the side will then tell you what you’re looking at.

It will even give you a text description with some facts and history of the object – whether star, planet, comet or nebula – and for 200 major bodies you can listen to a (very American) audio commentary through the supplied headphones. There’s no magnification, but it can be mounted with a telescope.

The Skyscout will tell you what the night’s highlights are (the major bodies that are visible above the horizon) and you can also put it in ‘Locate’ mode. Here you just use the directional button to select something like Mars, then look through the lens and follow the directional arrows until you’re looking straight at your target.

It works brilliantly, is ruggedly built and can be updated with the latest information on comets and newly discovered celestial objects. It requires two AA batteries (not included) and accepts additional ‘Sky Tour’ SD cards which expand on the existing descriptions. The only downside is the $800 price tag.