Vaonis
Vaonis Vespera II Smart Telescope
A fully automated smart telescope: it finds, tracks and stacks deep-sky targets and builds the image live on your phone. No eyepiece, no mount, no learning curve, point the app and watch nebulae appear.
83/ 100
Aperture
50mm
Focal Length
250mm
Focal Ratio
f/5
Mount Type
Integrated Alt-Az GoTo
Optical Design
Smart Refractor
Weight
5.0 kg
From$1,590
Lowest in 90 days
Price tracked by PolarisObserved 35 timesTracking since Mar 2026
01What it's good at
What it's best at — and the trade-offs.
Best at
✓Completely automated: it plate-solves, points, tracks and live-stacks, you just pick a target in the app.
✓A 50mm apo and Sony sensor pull faint nebulae and galaxies out of light-polluted skies in minutes.
✓Sets up in under a minute, runs off its own battery, and needs no eyepiece or separate mount.
✓Multiple people can watch the image build live on their own phones.
Trade-offs
!No eyepiece and no manual control, the app runs the whole session.
!Small 50mm aperture and short focal length suit wide nebulae, not small or planetary targets.
!Results depend on the app and Vaonis servers; it is a closed ecosystem.
!Upgrade path is limited, it is a sealed, self-contained instrument.
02In plain English
What These Numbers Mean
Aperture
50 mm
Two inches of aperture, so results come from stacking many frames rather than raw light grasp. Large bright nebulae, clusters and the Andromeda Galaxy work well; small faint targets are beyond it.
Focal length
250 mm
A wide field that suits exactly the large showpiece objects most people want their first images of. Its mosaic mode stitches several frames to cover even wider areas.
Focal ratio
f/5
Fast enough that ten-second frames carry usable signal, which is what allows a recognisable image to appear within a few minutes of selecting a target.
Optical design
Sealed smart refractor with built-in camera
A four-element apochromatic lens with a fixed camera behind it and no eyepiece. The whole experience is on a phone or tablet, and several people can follow the same session at once.
Weight
5 kg complete
About 11 lb including the integrated mount. It fits in the supplied bag and sets up on any flat surface, which is central to how this class of telescope is meant to be used.
Mount
Integrated alt-azimuth GoTo
The telescope levels itself, plate-solves the sky and finds targets automatically, then tracks them while stacking. There is no alignment routine and nothing to focus.
02The Polaris Score
How it scores, and why.
83/ 100
Vaonis Vespera II Smart Telescope
#3 of 6 smart telescopes
Performance78
Ease of use96
Portability88
Upgrade potential65
Polaris weighs optical capability, how easy the scope is to live with, how portable it is, and how far it takes you before you outgrow it — not list price or brand.
03Who it's for
An honest fit check.
Buy it if you
✓Beginners and families who want deep-sky images without the learning curve.
✓City observers whose skies defeat a traditional visual scope.
✓People who value convenience and shareable results over hands-on control.
Look elsewhere if you
!Visual observers, there is no eyepiece; it is a screen experience.
!Hands-on imagers who want full manual control of the capture and processing.
!Anyone wanting planetary detail; the short focal length is built for wide deep-sky fields.
05The numbers
Full specifications.
Optics
Optical DesignSmart Refractor
Aperture50mm
Focal Length250mm
Focal Ratiof/5
Mount & drive
Mount TypeIntegrated Alt-Az GoTo
Physical
Weight5.0 kg
06Alternatives
For a different goal, start here.
cheaper→newer→
ZWO Seestar S50
A far less expensive smart scope that covers most of the same ground.
Vaonis Vespera III Smart Telescope
The newer Vespera with a larger sensor and wider field.
Also worth comparing
