Smithsonian Optics Room Planetarium and Dual Projector Science Kit, Black/Blue, Age 8 and Up

Kids love it. Makes a great nightlight and/or activity. A little pricey at $40. So dont let the kids break it too fast, its plastic.

I got this for a friend. it was great but not as cool as expected, But overall a sweet gift!

It is inexpensive and it shows in the construction, with a little patience it does work fine but I wouldn't expect it last long in the hands of a child. It is a bit noisy and battery life is poor, but the images are cool and it is nice tool to help spark an interest. For the price it is okay, but nothing great.

You’ll need a very small screwdriver.The buttons don’t always turn lights off.Comes with three small viewfinder-like wheels, but what’s seen isn’t labeled.You need to shine this on a close wall. It’s very fuzzy on the ceiling,I misplaced the small folder paper that might tell me what the heck I’m looking at.My very precocious three year old knows lots of planet trivia, but I can’t check accuracy

Very cool gift that allows kids to see the stars from the comfort of their bed.

This item is garbage. At $30+ ($55 as of 12/26) you expect a high quality projector, similar to the many holiday projectors people have outside their houses these days. This project is not that. Nowhere close. The "stars" are projected from a single blue LED light. You have to have the thing within 4 feet of a wall or ceiling for them to show up clear. Anything farther away and they appear blurry. And the images, the box says "HD" hahahha. The images are on old school slides that go into the bottom of the machine. Same thing here, unless you are within 4 ft of the wall the images are blurry and not worth the time. I have purchased Smithsonian branded products for my son before and he has loved them. Someone clearly dropped the ball when putting the Smithsonian brand on this product. Overpriced slideshow. And not a good one at that.

Really nice product, my childs are very happy. The only concern to me is: Exist a lot of space objects, trillions! and came with only 3 disc... I think this can be better.Other concern is: resolution is not good at 6 or more meters, too fuzzy.But, in overall rankig: It's HIGHLY recomended!! It's very very funny!

I will admit my expectations were not reasonable for this product given the low price and the suggested age appropriateness. However, the Smithsonian name should not be used on a product with this many problems, namely: 1) the star field was not realistic, just a random selection of dots, 2) stars do indeed appear to rotate around the north star, but not at the rate of one revolution every 20 seconds or so - it gives the impression that you are watching the stars from some rotating turntable, 3) the motor that revolves the images is too noisy, 4) the automatic timer turns the device off way too soon, 5) the images are not that bright and not very clear if you place the device on the floor; if you place it on a table or dresser it doesn't not cover the whole ceiling; 6) the battery cover is attached with a screw, which is an unnecessary inconvenience. I realize this product is aimed at children, but I cannot see what they would possibly learn from it, unless it's how to better evaluate product descriptions to become a better consumer.