Vanguard Endevour HD 82A poor image quality - Alternative eyepiece? (1 Viewer)

I was looking for an entry-level scope that wouldn't break the bank and managed to pick one of these up recently.
However, while the image is great at 20x, clear and reasonably sharp anything beyond 20x is soft to very soft. I wasn't expecting it to be great at 60x but I was hoping for something at least reasonable at 20-40 and it falls well short.

I'm not too familiar with optics outside of camera lenses, so just looking for an opinion on whether this could this be the fault of the zoom eyepiece? Or is it more likely the eyepiece just 'embiggening' what was just a poor quality image in the first place?

If the eyepiece is the likely culprit would it be worth swapping it out, and is that even possible?

Alternatively am I best just moving this one on and getting something higher quality (note, local stores are entirely sold out so I can only really buy online right now)

Yes, it could definitely be the eyepiece. Vanguard carries a lifetime warranty so I would contact them requesting an exchange eyepiece.

Best,
Jerry

What you describe is far more likely to be excessive aberrations coming from the objective and or prisms rather than the eyepiece, with the eyepiece simply functioning, as you thought, to magnify the defects at higher powers. Not a rare thing, even in expensive scopes.

Thanks for the replies, I'm sending it off to Vanguard under warranty.

Yes.. The image should stay reasonably sharp even at high power.. At max magnification, like Henry said, the aberrations are more evident and you see with detail how the image starts to degrade.. Everything looks sharp at 20x,but a decent scope, as you well pointed, should at least hold to mid power... İf at 40x the image is already poor in an 80mm scope,the scope is a lemon and shouldnt have been sold.. So sending it to Vanguard(the whole scope), seems like a good idea...
Regards

I bought the ED82A many years ago based on the good reputation of the Vanguard Endeavor binoculars, but I found the scope to have pretty poor resolution. It was very soft and I returned it quickly.

I would look for something else.

I have the Endevour as a back up scope, spends all its time in the boot of the car. I can get crisp views up to about 50x . Anything over 50x takes patience with the fine focus wheel. The down side of this scope is the field of view. Even at 20x it is quite narrow.I have only used it a hand full of times from new, mostly for last minute twitch straight out of work. Good scope for the money but not a reel birding scope .