Spotting Scope Review

OK folks... been on something of an optics binge the last couple of weeks. Got a new spotting scope and since it's REALLY hard to determine how useful optics are from a catalog or website I figured I'd give you my $.02 FWIW.

About 10 years a go I got an old B&L 60 mm scope because at the time it was the only "mid-priced" option between the $79 useless junk and the $700 Kowa. It worked pretty well for the most part, but it never had much eye relief, it was a straight-line rather than a 45 degree, and there would always be a bullet hole or two you just couldn't see at 200 yards. So I decided to upgrade. I realized I needed an 80 mm for better brightness and clarity.

People were raving about the 80 mm Konus as being a very decent although cheap scope. I didn't like the fact that it is Chinese, but frankly there simply is NO American made spotting scope that I am aware of.

So I started looking into this, and discovered that Celestron made a very similar 80 mm scope but Celestron has a better name an lifetime warranty, which Konus doesn't. The Celestron is a Chinese scope also.

I read a few positive reviews on the Celestron Ultima 80 and found a GREAT price on it -- $165 at BH Photo in NYC (the have a great website - I sure as hell didn't got to Moscow on the Hudson to buy it). I was kind of skeptical about buying a $165 Chinese scope, but what clinched the deal was the fact that BH Photo has a 15-day return policy, whereupon if you don't like it for any reason you can just send it back. So I had nothing to lose other than $12 shipping.

BTW If you buy a Konus from BH it's about the same price, and they're absolutely the cheapest -- some of the highpower specialty shops are way more expensive. Jim Owens at jarheadtop.com is a very wonderful man -- I've met him at Camp Perry -- and he raves about the Konus but his price is about $100 higher than BH.

Anyway, let me tell you that I'm very impressed with the damn thing for $165. I don't know how they can manufacture the thing and ship it across the Pacific and make money on it, but it's VERY nice -- for the price. Celestron makes a version of it with higher-quality "ED" glass that's about $400, but I found that the basic version works just fine at 200 yards. You can see both .223 and .30 cal holes very well at 200 and the image is very bright. (Actually the mere physics of the optic makes a difference -- a cheap 80mm is going to be better than a higher-quality 50 or 60 mm scope based on objective size alone).

The other thing I like is that the eye relief is much better than my old scope -- it's 18 mm and you can see into it wearing glasses.

It came with a photo-type tripod that is useless for highpower IMHO -- you really need a Freeland stand for ANY spotting scope in highpower. It also cam with a nice zippered case and a thoughtfully-designed eyepiece case. Basically I think it's a copy of the Kowa 80 mm, and out to 200 yards it is really worth the money. I have not yet tried it at 300 yards. Beyond 300 you don't need a high-quality scope anyway, because you'll never see holes and if you're looking at 2" spotting discs you can see them with a cheap scope anyway.

The only drawback I might mention is that unlike the Konus, the Celestron does not have the rotating collar for the base where it screws into the stand. This will not matter if you have the Freeland clamp-type head. I temporarily rigged up a 90 degree bracket and used my old Freeland head, and it worked find for the first match of the year today.

I recommend this scope. It's no Swarovski, but you can't go wrong for $165 and you're MUCH better off buying one of these rather than wasting your money on a $100 POS. If you shoot at 100 or 200 yards you WILL like this scope.

HTH

B&H must have raised their price as their website now lists it as $180 http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...specifications - still not bad. The Konus is now $220; it was $180. Must be the weak $.

Does the focus change when zooming from 20x to 60x?

I just picked up the Leupold 20-60X80mm Sequoia scope w/ 45 deg eyepiece. I'll let you know how it does at the next meet. It was $379 at Adorama, however, I get a rebate through the Microsoft Bing Cashback program. Basically, when you sign up through Microsoft's Bing Cashback program, you get an additional 2%-11% rebate with 60 days when you search through the Bing search engine. I think I got an additional 3% off this item and it was free shipping. Scope is made in Korea. Just looking down at the end of my street, it is much better than my old Kowa TS-501 20-40X50mm. The only thing with it is the plastic eyepiece dust cover cracked, but I don't know if I did it or if it came that way.It's been superglued and gorilla taped. If it cracks again I'll get another eyepiece dust cover from Leupold. So far, I'm happy w/ my purchase. It is less than 4 lbs. I'll post again once I get through a match with it.

Mike D

KONUS IS AN ITALY COMPANY AND AN EXCELLENT SCOPE WITH ALL THE OPTIONS A kowa has including a zoom and rotating band.

Yes, BH Photo did just raise the price to $185 but included free shipping. The Konus is listed at $229 but they have some weird gimmick where if you add it to the cart they drop the price to $169. It seems that BH Photo is very hard to beat price-wise. (Their shipping was very prompt also).

I didn't really notice if it changes focus as you zoom. For highpower I just put it on an effective setting and leave it. But all other optics I have ever used require some touch up of focus when you change power.