I usually try to keep things pretty positive on this blog. While I won't shy away from pointing out the flaws of a product, I mostly attempt to focus on the positives. Today's post is a little different, however - mostly because there's very little positive to say about this particular item. Long story short, my girlfriend and I recently came across one of Uncle Milton's Death Star Planetariums discounted down from it's usual RRP of $29.99US ($41.74NZ) to a ridiculously low $9.00US ($12.52NZ). We picked it up, thinking it'd make a neat conversation piece. We were very, very wrong.
The unit is essentially a model replica of the Death Star that sits atop a transparent plastic stand. The upper hemisphere of the battle station is then removed to expose the working parts of the planetarium, which consist of a battery-operated bulb and two layered domes. The first of these domes is transparent and inscribed with a map of the Star Wars galaxy. Ostensibly, when switched on, the light shines through this dome and projects the map onto the walls and ceiling. This is where things start to fall down, however. The map is fuzzy, distorted, and only really readable when projected onto a surface no more than a couple of feet away. It certainly isn't capable of sitting on a table and providing a legible viewing experience.
Things get even worse when the second dome is used. This dome sits atop the first, and is made from an opaque black plastic that is covered in tiny perforations. The purpose of this dome is to modify the display to instead provide a representation of Earth's night sky. This is far from what happens, however. In a stunningly bad piece of design, the openings on the dome are far too large. This leads to a diffusion of the light and a ceiling full of circular 'bubbles' (rather than star-like pin-pricks) of light. Whats more, there's no recognisable patterns among those bubbles - leading us to question if it really is intended to be any sort of representation of stars visible from earth, or merely a random scattering of openings across the dome's surface.
You might think that we simply picked up a faulty unit, but a quick perusal through the Amazon reviews for this product show that this is a widespread problem that's endemic to the design. The planetarium is a nice concept in the abstract, but one that could never be pulled off by the item that comes in the box. In fact, we've been left wondering if anyone at Uncle Milton even bothered to turn on this device before allowing it to hit shelves. Even the most cursory of testing really should have revealed that this product was in severe need of an overhaul before release.
There are several other gripes too. Firstly, the outer shell doesn't click into place, leaving the two dome covers merely sitting precariously atop the unit. Secondly, the light at the centre of the planetarium is simply a single exposed (and very aesthetically unpleasing) bulb. What's worse, the bulb isn't even an LED - the manufacturers instead opting for a limited-life filament bulb. They were good enough to include a spare replacement, but once these two have burnt out, the planetarium will be essentially useless.
But enough negativity. Thankfully, we only paid $9.00 for this item - so my attention now turns to what can actually be salvaged from an otherwise deeply unsatisfying purchase. Despite its failings as a planetarium, the unit is still a Death Star shaped light source - and there has to be some promise in that. With that in mind, I'm currently toying around with several ways of turning this into a lighting unit for use inside one of my display cabinets. I'll be sure to post details once I do, so stay tuned for updates!
Things get even worse when the second dome is used. This dome sits atop the first, and is made from an opaque black plastic that is covered in tiny perforations. The purpose of this dome is to modify the display to instead provide a representation of Earth's night sky. This is far from what happens, however. In a stunningly bad piece of design, the openings on the dome are far too large. This leads to a diffusion of the light and a ceiling full of circular 'bubbles' (rather than star-like pin-pricks) of light. Whats more, there's no recognisable patterns among those bubbles - leading us to question if it really is intended to be any sort of representation of stars visible from earth, or merely a random scattering of openings across the dome's surface.
You might think that we simply picked up a faulty unit, but a quick perusal through the Amazon reviews for this product show that this is a widespread problem that's endemic to the design. The planetarium is a nice concept in the abstract, but one that could never be pulled off by the item that comes in the box. In fact, we've been left wondering if anyone at Uncle Milton even bothered to turn on this device before allowing it to hit shelves. Even the most cursory of testing really should have revealed that this product was in severe need of an overhaul before release.
There are several other gripes too. Firstly, the outer shell doesn't click into place, leaving the two dome covers merely sitting precariously atop the unit. Secondly, the light at the centre of the planetarium is simply a single exposed (and very aesthetically unpleasing) bulb. What's worse, the bulb isn't even an LED - the manufacturers instead opting for a limited-life filament bulb. They were good enough to include a spare replacement, but once these two have burnt out, the planetarium will be essentially useless.
But enough negativity. Thankfully, we only paid $9.00 for this item - so my attention now turns to what can actually be salvaged from an otherwise deeply unsatisfying purchase. Despite its failings as a planetarium, the unit is still a Death Star shaped light source - and there has to be some promise in that. With that in mind, I'm currently toying around with several ways of turning this into a lighting unit for use inside one of my display cabinets. I'll be sure to post details once I do, so stay tuned for updates!
