Jay Turberville
Well-known member
RedBishop said:A response I received from an ebay user who bought the scope :
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Yes I have used the scope and am thoroughly pleased with it. I have nikon and swarvoski spotting scopes and while those cost in excess of $1000 this scope is just as clear. In fact I purchased 2 more to give to my professional hunter guides when I go on African Safaris. For the price I do not think there is a better scope. The tripod is also an excellent addition that you would want to consider. Hope this helps you
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I wonder what "just as clear" really means. I also suspect that most people who buy a $300 scope would like to believe that it actually performs as well as a $1000 scope. I like to think that my Chrysler Sebring convertible looks as nice and drives as nicely as a Jaguar XK8. Its a nice fantasy - but it is a fantasy.
Reality check time.
The AFOV at 100x and 25x is around 60 degrees. But the exit pupil is only 1mm at these magnifications and I'd assume the will be frequently used at magnifications somewhere in the middle to low range (30-45x). So I'd guess the AFOV for typical viewing will be less than 60 degrees. You apparently cannont opt for a fixed wide angle eyepiece either.
On the basis of aperture vs. magnification alone, this scope is bound to produce a marginal image at 100x. Many people report that they consider 60x to be a bit of a strech for the top 80mm scopes with the better glass. This scope is pushing the aperture to magnifiaction ratio even further. At 100x, the scope has a 1mm exit pupil
One sight shows a close focus of 150m at 100x. This isn't so good. Poor enough that it may even be a typo.
http://www.nightvisionplanet.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=300
None of the advertisements say anything about special objective designs or exotic glass being used. They talk about multicoated optics. So it seems a fair bet that that both objectives are basic achromats.
http://www.yukonoptics.com/eng/index.htm
Eye relief of 12/14mm is not what I would call "generous" though some vendors do.
OK. I like a bargain as much as anyone. Perhaps even more than most. But there is no good reason to believe that this scope is going to perform similarly to a top end 80mm. But these Yukons apparently made in Russia and Russia has a fine tradition of optical knowhow. So perhaps this may very well be a pretty decent bargain scope that can provide very good or even excellent brightness at middle magnifications. The reviews of less ambitious scopes that I found on the Yukon Optics site suggest just this type of product class.
This looks like a good candidate to always have in the trunk "just in case" or to take into situations where damaging a scope seems significantly more likely. As long as you go in with your eyes wide open to what this scope performance is likely to be, it seems like it could be a reasonable choice. But keep your expectations low. Then you might be pleasently surprised rather than disappointed.