In My Room Star Theater Pro Home Planetarium Light Projector and Night Light

Have had ours for 3 days and have used it several hours each night. It is about the size of a big cantaloupe, very light-weight, and very portable. There are 4 simple push-button controls, 1. Power On-Off, 2. Disc rotation On-Off, 3. Power-off timer you can set for either 30min or 1hr, and 4. Tray-Open. If the timer is not set the planetarium will by default automatically power-off after 2 hours. The Tray-Open function works whether the unit power is On or Off so you can always retrieve or load your star disc independent of the power setting. Instructions indicate to use the projector from 6.5ft-7.5ft from the projection surface. However we have used it on surfaces 8ft away and it works well. There have been some complaints that the rotation motion is jerky. Not so with our unit. During 3 nights of watching (2.0-3.0 hours each night) there was only one brief jerky movement that I saw and that my wife did not. The unit operates on either a supplied plug-in transformer or a set of 3 AA batteries that can be either alkaline or rechargeable - just do not mix them. Running on batteries does not change the brightness or rotation speed but the projector runs cooler when running on batteries. The star disc rotation drive makes no noise that I can hear. The focusing ring is intuitive and easy to use. For kids, the 2 included Milton star discs are fine. However if you want an adult viewing experience then I recommend you get the Northern Hemisphere star disc, the Aurora disc, and the Scenic disc from Miller Engineering. These much, much higher quality Miller star discs change the Milton projector into a home planetarium for adults. The Miller discs are worth the extra expense. You do need to pay attention to correctly loading the star discs. It is not a fool-proof operation so pay attention to the disc loading process. The Milton box indicates the projector is to be used by those 12+. If you have a kid who has been around telescopes and likes stargazing then I think a kid as young as 10 can correctly use and enjoy this projector without supervision. Price varies over time so watch for it to drop into the $65-$85 range.Update after 6 weeks:Still greatly enjoying this projector and have added 7 Miller Engineering star discs to our library of viewing discs. Our regular viewing is settling down to about 3 nights per week and usually just for 30 minutes at a time - sleep comes very easy these nights. The variety of star discs available for this projector is what makes this planetarium work as entertainment for both kids and adults. We bought a second planetarium for our grandsons and we are told the boys are very excited about it. Pressure is now on us to "expand" their library of star discs.Many reviews criticize the projector's brightness but it is actually brighter with better optics than the Homestar Original and Homestar Pro (gen 2), both of which are far more costly than the UM Star Theater Pro. It is definitely not in the same class of home planetarium as the Homestar Extra, but for the price, it is a nice home planetarium.I have tried to post several pics of some of the star discs available for the Star Theater Pro but while Amazon reports they have successfully uploaded the images and comments, they randomly throw away most of them - very frustrating. Its odd that they encourage customers to post pictures but then discards them.

PROSFun star projector which will help children or adults fall asleep.Nice rotating images.Automatic timer for 30 or 60 minutes.Two more slides available (which I did purchase from Uncle Milton, but I have not received them yet).CONSI am worried like other costumers that parts might break; item seems flimsy because some parts are made of thin plastic.It is great that there are two more slides available but those other slides should come with the planetarium at no extra cost.Rotating image only projects on one surface and is only about five feet across.*The bottom line is buy this but not for more than 60 dollars. If the price is higher than 60 dollars, wait until the price goes down. Some individuals on other websites have reported that Amazon has sold this item for 40 dollars in the past. I also think the cause for the polarization of the reviews on Amazon is probably due to the different purchase prices the item has sold for in the past. I could see being disappointed in the product if you paid more than 70 or 80 dollars for it especially since there are cheaper versions for a similar effect. For example, Uncle Milton also offers a 3D space projector for a much lower price (around 30 dollars) if you are not wanting to take the 100 dollar plunge now. Another company, Cloud B, also makes an inexpensive animal (ladybug, turtle) night light which displays a wonderful non-rotating star display for the room. If you want the star field rotating, the Discovery Store offers this type of planetarium, but it like the Star Theater Pro is supposed to have quality issues. On the positive side, it does sell for about half of what this product is selling for now. Another option for a rotating home planetarium is the iOptron that sells on-line at a big box store for around 60 to 70 dollars. Of all the rotating home planetariums I have researched, it has received the best reviews.I actually just bought the iOptron to use in my daughter's room at night. The iOptron is probably a better education toy because it shows the constellations of the night sky, and supposedly you can set the planetarium to match your longitude and therefore match your own night sky. Also the constellations it projects do cover the entire room unlike the 5 to 6 feet of coverage by the Star Theater Pro. The Star Theater Pro though does have much clearer images and also offers a variety of images for use. I don't know why someone can't make a good quality planetarium which projects a clear rotating image over the entire room without costing an arm and a leg.