Sega Toys Homestar Flux (Satin Black) Home Planetarium Star Projector

This star projector is quite the bang for your buck! I recently had an attic fire, forcing me to repaint my living room (and everything else soon) so I went dark this time, painted the whole thing ceiling too Dard Hunter Green, very cool looking. The rest of the rooms are still primed with an unbelievably white PVA primer product. The Sega in the dark living room is like being outdoors in a fantastic star viewing location..super realistic, and the shooting stars are very accurate. When I moved it to my bedroom, still painted the awful white primer, well, it seems too bright, like..couldn’t go to sleep bright, believe it or not! I prefer the look of it in the dark living room. I think ppl don’t realize how important the reflectivity of their ceilings influences the way the projector works. You can place the projector quite low to the ground, I have mine behind my couch, tv wall opposite, and the lens still somehow fills the ceiling. I included a picture from just my phone from the bedroom ceiling, I didn’t alter the exposure or anything. It’s actually way brighter than that in person, you know how hard it is to photo dark things at night on your phone! When I see ppl writing “bad” reviews about this complaining they are not bright enough, I don’t know what they’re expecting, their paint must have a low reflectivity, because on a super white ceiling, I think it’s too bright, but that PVA stuff is so white it hurts your eyes. Its like a spray primer for drywall, awful stuff. I can’t wait to get more discs for it..I think this is an amazing product!

The quality of the device seemed ok, but the rotation of the disc caused constant noise, that was annoying when trying to sleep. I returned the device and was charged $129 restocking fee? This is unacceptable, no where did I see this mentioned. I would never buy from this company again. The image from the device was ok, it was brighter than my $40 projector but it was not good enough to cost almost 300.

Being someone who is fascinated by the stars and grew up watching science fiction alot, I always wanted my own Planetarium and never dreamed one could be mine. I saw this and was heavily skeptical... I am pleasantly in awe of what i now own. This is the BEST home planetarium on the market, the flux is compatable with all other sega Homestar discs. The design is straight out of Star Wars, it is sharp, and matte finish is nice touch. I watched videos comparing the quality of build and the bulbs brightness, the flux is the new gen homestar that outclasses itself. The competitions home planetariums are far inferrior spec wise and with the available products of backwards compatibility, it is only planatarium worth getting. Sega is such an underrated company and has won my heart (with this and their videogame system Genesis Classic that is completely hackable using Project Lunar to add more games, they are on a winning streak a mile wide) Back to the review! The brightness still isnt anything that can show up on a white ceiling during even low lighting, but if you wait until dark it becomes as bright as real stars, if not more and blew my high expectations away. There was alotta fear when I bought in being afraid of negative reviews being right. Reviewers said: The discs were cheap, bad image quality, wont focus etc... This DOES focus on even low ceilings, I use on a textured ceiling and though you have ALOT of focal adjustment to dial it in, once you do, image is very crisp and the rotation is nice and slow giving realistic immersive experience. I believe other reviewers didnt take effort of properly experimenting with focal ring dial. The shooting star is a joke, it looks nice but stays in same location so can spoil the mood so I dont turn it on. That is where my major hit of minus 1 star comes from, clearly false advertising including wording of "random" with it. This criticism is the only accurate thing I've found from negative reviewers. I bought a bunch of discs seperately because system only comes with 2, people may expect the images to have some multi wheels within wheels of rotation and 3d effects, but it is a suspended single photo only, despite that it still manages to provide alot of depth and appears some stars are back further then others when rotating so it isnt disappointing. The included disks though aren't doing the hardware justice and they're identical and black and white (one has stars in North America as seen from naked eye, other has astrology lines drawn over same field and is eyesore) and I highly recommend imvesting in these, as they're so good and amazing in color, I hardly ever even use the others... 1. Jabbah and Associates. Its a colorful nebulae, oranges, greens and blues, looks like a picture from Guardians of the Galaxy in best way possible. 2. Disappearing Continent. A mostly blue and black beauty with translucent stark webbing throughout. Unlike the others this takes up whole field with hardly any regular starfield visable. 3. Immersive Paranal World. A striped celestial formation that is illuminated in a really pretty way. The normal starfield with this dividing it, it's really appealing composition. The box it comes in is flat out amazing, it's great for storing it and looks so presentable I keep my homestar atop it when not in use. The cord is plenty long, the adjustability is above and beyond, you can aim it anywhere, even wall mount it. I put mine in center of room and multi focus on wall and ceiling above my bed with little difficulty. The focusing dial feels a little loose but doesnt automatically fall out of focus in use and offers a extreme amount of zooming in and out to match your ceiling in focus. Loading the discs is a bit intense, the drawer comes out loose, I recomend placing it down on clean surface, acting with intent in good lighting prior to being sleepy and carefully handling discs with these two considerations... A. You dont want to scratch them, they're hd images from NASA suspended in acrylic, i wish it was in glass so I could polish without fear, but for 25 dollars a pop, they make a great value for image quality alone, but they appear like the surface is fragile so handle with care (and put in text side down for best clarity) B. Keep them dust free, because lemme tell you, you see a single damn speck of lint or dust, it shows up starkly as a blacked out spot and rotates with image. When you do clean them, I blow on them first to knock dust off then use a eyeglass cloth gently to do the job. The sleep timers I dont even need but are nice, when i wake up its always automatically off already and has never turned off when I am awake to see. Luckily they come with great cases reminescent of cassette tape cases design (technically more like the Jazz floppies, if you remember those i am impressed!). The included borders are just junk and interfere with coloring as well as they're all light blue so I disrecomend using them, luckily you dont pay for them, so just consider them bonus cases for your real discs should you ever break one. In summation, highly recomended this, I had hopes and expectations with such a pricey investment as a nerd who has Aspergers and needs a routine because I have allota trouble sleeping at night that this would incorporate well into my self soothing and it delivered. I now utilyze every night, I recomend a white noise machine, gentle fan, oil diffuser, gentle mood music (I use Star Trek 1st movie soundtrack on shuffle and low) and a weighted blanket (that is 10% bodyweight) to feel incredible and have amazingly achievable and pleasant sleep. I am including pictures of every angle, and videos of each disc

The flux is amazing. You will need to make sure room is completely dark. With the movement and the falling stars the stars come alive. I dont know how its done but you can see individual stars with their own movement and actually changing in size. You will be amazed just staring at this until you fall asleep. The 60 minute timer is enough to put you to sleep. This is crazy. I thought the $189 was a bit too much but it is worth it after one night of stargazing. if setting it in the center of yhe room straight up to the feiling does not cover the whole ceiling, you may want to try setting it up on a side table and angled/positioned so that the whole image covers the entire ceiling, you can have some of the image on the walls. Then focus the farthest stars frim the flux device to get the whole image clear. turn on movement and falling stars. I suggest playing the cosmic meditation album....it is all good. I think I purchased the last one, glad I was able to get one. I think you can purchase the flux on the sega toys website for the same price and free shiipping too.

Bought this roughly two years ago. I've barely used it, as it's one of those fun special things. Recently, after months in the closet, I took it out to find that it's completely sticky. You know how some cheap plastic "sweats" over time? Well, this does that. It's disgusting. Literally, I could pick it up by pressing my hand against it and then lifting my hand. It's stickier than some tape. Additionally, the motor that rotates the disk has died, so that function does not work. I will probably try to seek a warranty replacement, but it's not like they're going to replace it with a unit made of better plastic with a more reliable motor. Best case scenario, it's just going to get replaced with newer junk. And no I don't live in some weird extreme climate -- I'm in Los Angeles and the unit was stored in a normal clean closet space. I wish there was a really good star projector on the market, but I'm yet to find one. I thought that something at this high price MUST be good. I thought wrong.

Excellent planetarium. The stars are much clearer than the less expensive models. The shooting star is a nice feature. Actual photos rather than AI generated. Very relaxing at night.

So as a realistic and avid individual interested in all thins space, and specifically our solar system and Galaxy, I was really hoping to be able to bring the night time sky into my living room. As this premium device was the best quality available I thought for sure that with modern day technology I would be amazed by the brilliance of our night sky, to be able to see as if I was outside and away from the city lights. Pros: machine is quiet, the motor that rotates the accompanying 2 discs is really undetectable. The images of the northern, and part southern Hemispheres stars are very accurate however you have to accept that you are purely looking at the results of white light being cast through a disc that has various sizes of holes carved out of the darker film layer on the disc, therefor giving you white dots. When placed on the floor, with an 8 foot ceiling, pointed directly up, the circular image of the night sky covers an area about 10 feet across. Most of the dots (stars) in the middle are very clear once you adjust the focus, however the outer edges are slightly blurred. You can move the projectors angle and cover more of the ceiling, allowing for coverage even of a room’s ceiling 14 foot x 18 foot, however only a small portion of the displayed stars are focused, while 75 % of everything else is partially blurred, or has been stretched. The disc that doesn’t have the constellations really gets frustrating because other then an apparent clusters of dots forming a line, that you quickly gather represents the Milky Way, it is hard to make out any constellations because of the size differences of the dots of light. The disc that does have the constellations drawn out with a white line, pleases the eye and brain much more. The lack of any color, and the lack of the dust clouds that are very clear to the human eye in the real night sky, makes this for a disappointing experience. I had hoped for the stars, dreamt of a realistic experience with today’s technology, but was let down by old school technology in a modern and awesome package and device. So 95% on package, 95% on the device and features, 30% on realism and features. I spent hours watching, and adjusting, figuring out the best angles, but in the end, just wasn’t worth the $239 spent on this device. I also researched the refund policy, and could not find anything mentioning any reason not to get a full refund, yet after returning the item in its full almost unused condition, the very next day, I received to a refund of only $215. Guess I end up paying for shipping or restocking fee of $24. Had I known that I would have kept it longer, before returning it, would have paid $24 for 30 days use, instead of $24 for 4 hours of use.

I got the Flux for my girlfriend for her birthday and we are both enjoying it quite a bit. This version, as I understand it, is newer and likewise more expensive than earlier versions that are still available. I think you get what you pay for here and that spending extra was worth it. The device looks really cool, sleek design and packaging, and is easy to use. The darker the room, the more spectacular the lights; make sure you adjust the lens by twisting the black dial back and forth and you will be amazed with how crisp and detailed the stars become. You could get it for a kid, but adults (like us) will get a lot of enjoyment from it too. Highly recommend.

This is amazing and worth the money. I've bought the Bliss, the Smithsonian and they all left us wanting. The customer service was AMAZING as there were a few feedback saying otherwise, but obviously there are people who don't want to take responsibility for their own mistakes. My daughter and I love watching the night sky on her ceiling. It's crystal clear and rotating and we love catching the random shooting star. This is exactly what I wanted. I just wish I hadn't hesitated and bought it earlier and didn't mess with "trying to save money with lesser models". Beautiful! 10/10

I am very pleased with the quality of the discs and projector. It is on the pricey side but I am glad that I purchased it. I have now been purchasing more discs. It's great to fall asleep to as the timer works great.

Purchased for: 13 year old Primary Use: Night lite in bedroom Enjoyed by: everyone in family Best Features: structure to star patterns, constellations (and option to see just points in N or S hemisphere) or with constellation patterns connected - good for learning and the switch disks to try to find in night sky. AND - no batteries!! Plug in. Timer feature is great. CONS: price; and comet feature. The comet feature is great, but not randomized enough. Always shows in same spot. No mystery as to when or where it will appear. Overall, the family has and still is enjoying this device every night, as 13 year old likes to go to sleep with it on in room. Timer has 3 time settings which is also great. A bonus was that our ceiling has the older ceiling which was a California style stucco pattern. This feature gives the stars a 3D like pattern on the ceiling. It was a surprise, but the effect is a bonus. We had a battery powered version with just random points of light simulating stars before. This is a huge jump forward in home use. There are real star patterns and constellations which is fun and visually pleasing. For the price, more should be included, but it does exactly what is says it will. So nice ‘home’ version of a starry night. Relaxing to watch, fun to learn constellation locations and shapes (with change of disk). Over all - happy with purchase, and we still use it every night. Enjoyable by kids, teens and adults. I’m sure future models will continue to improve the few cons previously mentioned.

EXTREMLEY DISSAPOINTED. I purchased this for my partner as a christmas gift after a reviewing many different night sky projectors I chose this one because the homestar flux is allegedly better than the original. First of all it was expensive for what I recieved and to not have a tracking number was anxiety producing, wondering if it would show up while I was out and be stolen. I tested it as soon as I could ,excited about surprising my partner at Christmas. It took me awhile to focus the projector and W.T.F. it looks like little white paint splats! Not stars! I turned on the shooting star and rotating sky , shooting star is nothing more than a unrealistic sliver of light and the rotating sky setting was quiet for about eight minutes and then this irritating tapping sound started . As I said before; I feel completely disappointed and ripped off in hoping to give my partner ( someone who loves astronomy) a health care worker something to enjoy and take their mind off this horrific pandemic if for a few moments . Also the seller doesn't make it easy to communicate. It says you can expect up to two days before getting a response from an email query.

I haven't fully seen its work during night but during day it has perfect image quality with the focus lens and the discs it comes with are good enough to last a long while before we need a different vibe! I recommend to anyone looking to spend an extra dime on this one over the original and it is incredibly quiet! Turn on some soothing music and get ready for a trip to the stars! Just position it properly and make sure the display doesn't cut off edges of the ceiling (as it could ruin the immersion)!