Connected Objects

Dwarflabs Dwarf Mini Telescope: Test/Review

Published on: 29-11-2025 / Modified: 29-11-2025

It’s been 2 or 3 years since Dwarflab, Seestar and Vaonis embarked on the adventure of consumer electronic telescopes, and it has changed everything. Telescopes used to be complicated instruments to handle and set up, and you also needed a huge amount of patience to do any photography. I’ve been through that myself, I still have my “old” 750 mm telescope but it’s now just a decorative object because I don’t have time to use it.

For better or worse, we live in a society where patience is no longer the norm and everything has to be fast. These three brands understood this very well when they designed products that are simple to use and can produce results quite quickly without much effort. They are all controlled by an app and just a few taps are enough to start them up and begin photographing the sky.

This Dwarf Mini is the 5th electronic telescope I’ve tested, I’ve also tested the Dwarf 2 and Dwarf 3 from the same brand. This new Dwarf Mini moves away from its predecessors by opting for a separate adjustable tube and a very small form factor. All I can do now is cross my fingers for a clear sky as soon as possible so I can test it!

Where to buy?

The Dwarf Mini is available for pre-order on the official website for £399:
Dwarf Mini / Dwarflabs.com

Unboxing

This telescope really lives up to its name, it’s the smallest telescope I’ve had the opportunity to test so far. It’s so small that the postman was able to drop it directly into my mailbox. It weighs just 840 grams, so it’s no surprise that the packaging is so small as well.

The box contains the telescope, a charging cable (USB type C), a manual, a solar filter and a soft cloth to clean the optics.

I often write that packaging is useless, but it often gives you an idea of the maturity of the product and of the brand selling it. This is not Dwarflabs’ first telescope and you can tell. This Dwarf Mini has clearly become a mass-market product and I wouldn’t be surprised to see it on the shelves of physical stores.

Timeline

28/11/2025: I received the telescope, I’ll be able to start the test but the progress of this review will strongly depend on the weather and the sky conditions. So I don’t know how long it will take me to finish this test.

Overview

As I wrote in the introduction, the form factor has completely changed. The previous models used a horizontal rotating tube mounted on a rotating base. This Dwarf Mini has switched to a vertical tube, as was already the case with some competitors. This type of configuration should in principle allow for a longer focal length, but if I rely on the specifications on the official website, that doesn’t seem to be the case. I will have the opportunity to verify this as soon as the sky clears.

Here is an overview of the 3 Dwarf telescopes I’ve tested:

This new model has nothing to do with the previous ones and if it weren’t for the Dwarflabs logo, you could easily think it was a telescope from another brand. I don’t know if this gives us any clue about the next models or if it’s just an experiment; the format seems more appropriate to me but I’ll see how it goes in real use.

The tube can be tilted up to the vertical, and even a few degrees beyond, but to make it truly panoramic you need to use the rotating base. The previous models were limited in their movement, this one can rotate 360° without any problem.

To charge the telescope, you just have to plug it into any USB charger. The cable is included in the box but the charger is not. The USB port is used to charge the telescope but also to access its internal memory to retrieve the files it has produced. This is not mandatory because you can retrieve the files from the app, but if you want to get the raw files you can do it through the USB port.

To turn the telescope on, just press the big button. When the button is surrounded by green, it’s ready to connect to your phone. The other indicators below show how much battery you have left. Since it can be connected via USB, you can also hook up a power bank to increase its battery life.

The base rotates fully and is almost silent, so you won’t wake your neighbours if you decide to spend the night outside observing the stars.

Setup

Setting up a telescope of this kind doesn’t require any technical expertise, you just have to follow the instructions in the app.

Here are the steps you need to follow:

1. Download the Dwarflabs app from the Play Store or the Apple Store
2. Launch the app and from the home screen choose “Connect”
3. Accept any permissions requested by the app; location is very important here because it will allow the telescope to determine where it is relative to the sky. You need to grant permissions for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS and location.
4. The app will search for your telescope, just make sure the light around the power button is green. In principle, the app should find the telescope immediately.
5. The app will connect to the telescope and here you need to understand the basic principle because it will affect how you use your phone. The connection between your phone and the telescope is made via Wi-Fi, which means you will no longer be connected to your home Wi-Fi network. Your phone will use its 4G/5G connection to access the internet and possibly perform updates. This is normal behaviour, it’s the same for all telescopes of this kind.
6. You will probably have to update the telescope and activate it
7. After the update, the telescope will need to restart and once this is done, you can start using it.

App

The app is the heart of the product because without it you can’t do anything. The Dwarflabs app has evolved a lot since the last version; it offers automatic observation modes for beginners but also lets you change settings to better exploit the telescope’s capabilities.

From the home screen you have two options for using the Dwarf Mini:

1. You tap on the telescope icon and from there you enter a control interface that lets you manually steer the telescope, take photos and record videos. If you’ve never used this kind of product, I recommend starting with the second option.
2. You tap on the Atlas icon at the bottom of the screen. The app will probably ask you to update the catalog before you can start. Once that’s done, you have at your disposal a catalog of celestial objects to observe, either by selecting them from a list or by browsing the sky on your phone. In both cases, once you’ve made your choice, you use the “go to” function and the telescope will automatically move to the selected object and start observing.

If you choose option 2, you are pointing at the sky blindly, which means that the object in question may not be visible from your position. You’ll notice this quite quickly if your screen remains black; in that case you’ll have to choose another object.

Observing the sun

Not tested yet

Observing the moon

Not tested yet

Observing the planets

Not tested yet, but I should point out that this telescope is not designed to observe planets, its focal length is too short. The planets will barely look bigger than stars and you won’t see much detail.

Deep-sky observation

Not tested yet

Battery life

Not tested yet

Connectivity

Not tested yet

Conclusion/Review

Not finished yet

LAURENT WILLEN
Head of myself on this blog

I share my passions on my blog in my free time since 2006, I prefer that to watching nonsense on TV or on social networks. I work alone, I am undoubtedly one of the last survivors of the world of blogs and personal sites.

My speciality? Digital in all its forms. I have spent the last 25 years working for multinationals where I managed digital teams and generated revenues of over €500 million per year. I have expertise in telecoms, media, aviation, travel and tourism.