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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

opticron picollo (1 Viewer)

D

deansmith

Well-known member
opticron picollo - is it any good ?

im looking for a budget scope and have seen this for about 50 quid

i already have a tripod and am looking for a cheap scope to take down to the beach close too where i live to see things a bit further out on the water

everywhere advertising this is advertising it as for archery so is it no good for birding ?

DS
 
i bought one of these for my young daughter as a first scope and have to say was pleasantly surprised. of course you do get what you pay for and you should not be expecting anything near the quality of an expensive scope but its not as bad as the price would indicate and have used it to watch peregrine on local church tower with no problems
 
If the piccolo is the one from a few years ago, and with a wide rubber ring for focusing, I have one, and it doesn't get used. I found the focus very stiff, and slow to use. Mine has ED optics, so that aspect's OK, but modern eyepieces don't fit it - unless you go for an SDL zoom. (I use the similar vintage HR design with knob focusing - much easier.)
 
Hi
The Piccolo was my scope a few years back which cost then 125 pounds. it was and is a perfectly serviceable scope and you will not be dissapointed with it.
Don't listen to the people on this forum who think that if you dont have a thousand pound scope then you can't enjoy nature watching. Ignore all the technical jargon they use to justify the money they've spent you'll probably have the same level of enjoyment for your 50 quid and be in innocent bliss and rightly so.
I have since upgraded my scope, I still don't have ED glass but I have a perfectly good view which satisfys my needs. Buy it and enjoy it.
Regards
Ian
 
h14nha said:
Hi
The Piccolo was my scope a few years back which cost then 125 pounds. it was and is a perfectly serviceable scope and you will not be dissapointed with it.
Don't listen to the people on this forum who think that if you dont have a thousand pound scope then you can't enjoy nature watching. Ignore all the technical jargon they use to justify the money they've spent you'll probably have the same level of enjoyment for your 50 quid and be in innocent bliss and rightly so.
I have since upgraded my scope, I still don't have ED glass but I have a perfectly good view which satisfys my needs. Buy it and enjoy it.
Regards
Ian
Click to expand...


thanks ian sound advice like i said before i wont be carrying it around with me for everyday birding and its just an introduction into using a scope and being able to see a little further out to sea

not after anything fancy or one that is going to be seen as good by other birders after all its me using it

the new rspb reserve opens next week about 10 minutes from me so im hoping pretty soon some retailer is going to be doing a demo there so i can have alook at a few

DS
 
h14nha said:
Hi
The Piccolo was my scope a few years back which cost then 125 pounds. it was and is a perfectly serviceable scope and you will not be dissapointed with it.
Don't listen to the people on this forum who think that if you dont have a thousand pound scope then you can't enjoy nature watching. Ignore all the technical jargon they use to justify the money they've spent you'll probably have the same level of enjoyment for your 50 quid and be in innocent bliss and rightly so.
I have since upgraded my scope, I still don't have ED glass but I have a perfectly good view which satisfys my needs. Buy it and enjoy it.
Regards
Ian
Click to expand...


I do so agree with Ian. I run two Pentax the PF80
and the PF65. I also run an Opticon Imagic 80ED.
I'm highly delighted with all three scopes.

Two years ago,at a boot fair, I picked up an Opticron
Piccolo (silly cheap.) of the old ring focus design. Again,
I'm highly delighted with it's performance, and have it
with me in the car all the time.

However, two months ago I saw advertised the Camlink
15-45x 50 Zoom plus the Camlick TP2500 tripod for £29.
I needed these like a bullet in the head but, I was weak
and bought them. I'm just thrilled to bits with the set-up.

The cynics may suggest that my expectations of optics
are quite low. No,no, I'm a microscopist and very aware
of quality optics thank you.

Kindest regards,
young Ian.
 
I have a new version Opticron Piccolo, and I used to think that it was alright. Then it got some grit on the prism, then the entire screw thread just snapped out, and then I looked through some better scopes and decided that it really wasn't much good.

When you're looking at very cheap scopes a fairly small increase in spend can bring vast improvements. Spend really as much as you can afford, and always try before you buy.
 
Hi Deansmith,

There are several different threads going here, and different versions of the 'Piccolo' being discussed. The old version 'Piccolo's' have metal bodies and were pretty good, the version from circa 1998 the same model as the old Bushnell spacemaster (bushnell still sell it). The New 'Piccolo' is not actually made by Opticron, just distributed and cannot be compared optically to the old versions. As an introduction to scopes it's OK, but there are a few others to look at, one being the Celestron Ultima 65, which is a 65mm multicoated scope complete with 18-55x zoom for £99 (available from Sherwoods at www.binocularhouse.com). This is an excellent starter scope, better optics and construction and larger objective lens size, so brighter. It is made by Synta who also make the the same scope for Acuter (more expensive) and the top quality Skywatcher pro ED series of Astro scopes.


Steve
 
we decided to go on holiday so my scope funds got cut i ended up buying a 5 week old picollo for 40 quid even if i only use it to decide what i want from a scope its fine for that price
 
thanks for everyones input ive used this scope for about a week now and for the price im very impressed with it and would recomend it to anyone with a small amount of money to spend or as a first scope

thanks again

DS
 
Just whatever you do DON'T look through a thousand pound scope now!

I did after buying my Piccolo and my wallet is still hurting from the fulfilled desire for a nice blue Zeiss badge!
 
ColonelBlimp said:
Just whatever you do DON'T look through a thousand pound scope now!

I did after buying my Piccolo and my wallet is still hurting from the fulfilled desire for a nice blue Zeiss badge!
Click to expand...

i know you get what you pay for if i had my way id of spent alot more but for the price im very happy with it, and seen as the extra cash i saved is going towards a week in croatia then im not to fussed

next year though il probably upgrade to one more suited for digiscoping

DS
 
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