This is my first scope, so you may wish to allow for the fact that I really don\'t know what I\'m talking about - specifically I haven\'t used a top-end scope so comments about image quality are to be taken with a pinch of salt.
I bought this from Cley Spy after their usual excellent sales service - they really take the time to let you try it out properly. This is a budget scope, but the cost cutting has been done sensibly I think. The scope comes with a 20-68 zoom eyepiece, and a zipped bag to cover it, and claims to be waterproof - not as yet had occasion to find out how waterproof.
The bag will fit over the scope with eyepiece fitted, but hangs loose - you can\'t close it properly, making the carry strap fitted to the bag fairly useless. Similarly there is no hole for the focussing screw, you have to reach inside the bag to focus. I stopped using it fairly quickly.
The eyepiece has a twist down cup for spectacle users. I bought the angled eyepiece, but they do a straight through version of this scope as well. They also do a 60mm version, but the slight reduction in cost really isn\'t worth it.
Image quality is fine with the sun behind you or to the side, but looking at birds with the sun behind them will cause considerable colour fringing on the edges (although the absolute centre of the image is fine). The zoom works well, although at maximum magnification there is relatively little travel in the focussing screw, making focussing a bit of a fiddly process until you get used to it.
In all a fine budget scope - it has its drawbacks - mainly the colour fringing, but this is only a problem when you\'re facing the sun. Otherwise image quality is fine, the zoom works well and the whole scope has a robust feel to it - I\'m not worried that it\'s going to break or fall apart. Well worth consideration if you are looking for a cheap scope.
I bought this from Cley Spy after their usual excellent sales service - they really take the time to let you try it out properly. This is a budget scope, but the cost cutting has been done sensibly I think. The scope comes with a 20-68 zoom eyepiece, and a zipped bag to cover it, and claims to be waterproof - not as yet had occasion to find out how waterproof.
The bag will fit over the scope with eyepiece fitted, but hangs loose - you can\'t close it properly, making the carry strap fitted to the bag fairly useless. Similarly there is no hole for the focussing screw, you have to reach inside the bag to focus. I stopped using it fairly quickly.
The eyepiece has a twist down cup for spectacle users. I bought the angled eyepiece, but they do a straight through version of this scope as well. They also do a 60mm version, but the slight reduction in cost really isn\'t worth it.
Image quality is fine with the sun behind you or to the side, but looking at birds with the sun behind them will cause considerable colour fringing on the edges (although the absolute centre of the image is fine). The zoom works well, although at maximum magnification there is relatively little travel in the focussing screw, making focussing a bit of a fiddly process until you get used to it.
In all a fine budget scope - it has its drawbacks - mainly the colour fringing, but this is only a problem when you\'re facing the sun. Otherwise image quality is fine, the zoom works well and the whole scope has a robust feel to it - I\'m not worried that it\'s going to break or fall apart. Well worth consideration if you are looking for a cheap scope.