ATS65

Hi, I own the HD version. I love it. The point I would like to add in the review is the importance of the eye-piece, based on my own experience.

I bought the ATS65 with the 20-60x zoom eyepiece because I thought this to be most versatile and also is often a set-offer. For normal use this is a very good option but for digiscoping my experience is a bit different.

I tried digiscoping with the Swarovski angular bracket. It works fine with the zoom piece up to around 45x. Above that the combination with the AT65 I find too dark. Zooming in on the camera at a lower eyepiece magnification I find gives better results and also removes the vignetting. Despite the kit I found it still difficult to get consistent acceptable results.

A much better option for digiscoping with the AT65 I experienced is to use a wide-angle eyepiece. Having spend already a fortune on the scope and the bracket I was lucky to buy a second hand 20x wide angle eye-piece on e-bay. I was surprised to see the difference in field of view between the 20-60x zoom and the 20x wide angle. The technical info from Swarovski states this, 20x on the 20-60x zoom gives a field of view of 36m at 1000m. The same magnification on the 20SW gives 60m/1000m, but from these numbers I had not realised the big difference in practice.

I must say that in normal use the 20x SW is therefore very pleasing to the eye, but with digiscoping it makes an even greater difference and I find I get much better results. The combination 20xSW with DCA bracket also fits better and you can leave the protective eye cap connected to the eyepiece.

I now carry the scope standard with the 20x SW and when buying you may want to try different eyepieces yourself before doing what I did by assuming the zoom to be the logical choice.

A lovely scope and a joy to use. Bright, clear and excellent zoom. I\'ve had the HD for about six months and it meets all my requirements.

My only regret is that every time I use it for digiscoping, I wonder how much better the 80mm would have been. Are another two stops worth the extra weight and money?

I particularly like the zoom lens which I find performs well across the range.

My son is lucky enough to have the ED version and it is a very fine, lightweight scope. The zoom eyepiece is itself rather bulky but expensive looking (as it should be for the price!) but does give a very wide view for this kind of eyepiece. I don't think the image drops off much at 60x in sharpness, just in brightness.