Elite 80

I have had my elite scope for a year now and still love it.

For the price I cannot find anything that beats it. View is very bright and clear. I do not use it passed 40x, although this maybe due to the tripod being used.

Eye Relief
I wear glasses and do not have a problem like I do with other scopes. But on the negitive side the eye cup is rubber and has to be folded down. This is cheap and a downer. To put the eye cover on you have to fold it back out. I don't know how long the rubber will last.

Lens Coating
I have used this scope in downpours and even with water all over the lenses I can still see great detail. The coating sheds the water away. I have had alot of salt spray and still no scratches.

As far as confidants is concerned.
I am the guy with Leica around the neck and Bushnell Elite over the shoulder. I park my Toyota in the middle of all the BMW and tell the other to take a look. No negative viewers yet.

Pictures
I take pictures with this scope all the time. I do not have the adapter and just hold a point and shoot up to the eye piece. Still take great photos. I do need the adapter, it would make it easier.

I am happy and know that other on a budget will too!

P.S. eryri is 100% correct the best scope is nothing without a great tripod. But I will say it it hard to pay almost as much as you do for your scope as you do your tripod.

I have owned one of these scopes for around a year. Due to a variety of circumstances, I am probably a 95% binocular user and a 5% spotting scope user, but still wanted a scope for those 5% situations when I am looking at field birds or over long distances, particularly with shorebirds or waterfowl.

After taking a good look around, I came across this scope - the optics seemed excellent (fluorite, large lens) and I was willing to take a chance. I'm very pleased that I did. Images are bright (large lens) and crisp. Chromatic aberration is absolutely minimal (ED glass) and only rears its head in nasty, high contrast, backlit, situations. While some have mixed feelings about zooms, I find them handy - first for locating the bird and second for grabbing that little bit of extra detail or color that can make the difference (even if the image will get wobbly for everyone under certain conditions - e.g. heat haze - at 60x)

If you consider a range of scope performance, I would rate this as considerably better than a cheap scope - but not quite as good as the top end scopes (subjective comparison vs. friends' scopes). Definitely a lot closer to the high end than the low end though - I believe that you see dramatically diminishing returns above this scope when you consider the multiples of price.

So, again, for me - with the occasional use - a great fit. I have the camera adapter, but have not used it. I also have not used it in heavy rain or very wet conditions - so cannot comment there either.

Perhaps the only downside is that it does not have the right name badge on the scope - if you would be self conscious about pulling up in a Toyota and parking in a row of Mercedes and BMWs then it's probably not for you unless you're birding alone!

Hopefully this information is useful to some - I am certainly happy with my purchase.

P.S. Get yourself a good tripod and head too - the scope is just part of what you need.

Optics are excellent. (The ED glass really makes a difference.)

Build quality is superb.

Accessories are well thought out and of quality workmanship.

Mates well with my Canon Digital Rebel and provides very good pictures.

I paid $654 for this scope new. Included in this price is a 20-60x zoom. This is 1/3 the price of a comparably equiped 85mm Zeiss Diascope and 1/4 the price of a comparably equiped Leica Televid or Swarovski STS. That's what I call a bargain.

I have been very happy with my scope. I am very nearsighted and wear thick glasses, and have to snug up against the zoom eyepiece closely to prevent vignetting. The scope does have optional very long eye relief lenses in fixed 20 and 30 power. I have been very pleased with the image quality. I have used the camera adapter and gotten some decent pictures with my film camera. For half the price or less of a high brand scope, I think this is a bargain.

Very pleased so far with this scope, works very well with my Canon 300D and camera adaptor. Doesn\\\'t work very well with my Canon G2. A lot of vignetting. Quality seems exceptional.