Mighty Midget 2

We have had our MM2 ED with HDF 12 x 36 zoom since late 2007.

Although we recently aquired a Nikon ed82 the MM2 is still used frequently including on a monopod while walking to and from prime bird watching areas and it serves us jolly well. The view through the ED glass is very good and having a steadyish monopod means higher magnifications can be used.

Problems with the MM2 to date -

When the lens cap is removed the rubber eyepad thingy keeps moving and it has to be pushed back each time

The adjustable eye relief securing screw worked loose once. Opticron sent another screw which I fitted but now it has worked loose again and I fear the thread has now worn because of the loosening screws. The thread on the screw is very small and not very long and the metal the screw goes into is not very thick. A weak point on the HDF zooms surely?

I made a modification as I disliked the drawtube operation. A sleeve of plastic was sliced to fit into the extending section. It is secured by very small nyloc cable ties. This negates the need for the scope to be opened in damp conditions and reduces the possibilty of allowing moist air into the internals everytime the scope is extended.

A good purchase although as I have the Nikon I now wish I had bought the Nikon ED50 so I could swap lens now and then.

Looked through one of these 2 years ago but wasn't impressed.Last year tried a Nikon ED50-dearer but much better and waterproof.

A very handy lightweight, portable scope and good value for money. My eyepiece assembly literally fell from off the end of the scope and is at present away for repair under warranty. Nevertheless as a lightweight go anywhere scope I would still recommend it until you have saved up for something better, and this will inevitably cost a lot more.

As indicated above works with Opticrons full range of eyepieces although I\\\\\\\'ve no experience of these on this scope.

Coupled with the standard 25x lens it gives a decent image for the price. It won\\\\\\\'t set the world a light BUT it does bring birds closer and the image is usable at the price. It can be a bit dull in low light conditions.

Coupled with a shoulder/desk pod this makes for a very handy low cost travel pod.

We tried a number of scopes, but for the money this one was by far the best. You need to try it with Opticrons\' better eyepieces however. We settled on an HDF one, which was well worth the extra outlay. We have not regreted our purchase and the scope has consistently provided us with good views of our local birds. The major downside is that the scope isn\'t waterproof and given its design I would not want to risk using it in wet weather.

My first scope. Bought with the 25x mm2 eypiece.
Very easy to use with a lightweight tripod so is the ideal travel scope. I would recommend some kind of stay-on-case to protect against dust and water.
It is not easy to use the dedicated 25x mm2 eyepiece for digiscoping ( Glass rather small ).
I later bought an ES80 with 32X HDF eyepiece and then changed to a 20-60 HDF zoom. And put the HDF fixed eypiece on the MM2. On the MM2 the 80mm 32x becomes a 52mm 18x and transforms the views through this scope. What was a good small scope becomes an excellent small scope with the better HDF eyepiece. Havn\'t tried using the 18x HDF for digiscoping yet, but will sometime. The HDF Zoom also works well!.
I would recommend the MM2 as a first/budget/travel scope, and, if the budget runs to it, try a HDF eyepiece before buying the dedicated MM2 eyepieces.
Note: My eyesight is starting to go, and probably was when I bought the scope. Take what I have written with a pinch of salt, but try both types of eyepiece.