Newbie spotting scopes
- Thread starter Rubikahn
- Start date
One option in the under $200 catagory is the Celestron C-65 Mini MAK. Thereare two versions, one is water proof the other isn't. They sell in the $100 - $150 range. For the money they are excellent scopes. They down side is they don't have a really good tripod. The table top tripod is OK but not great.
These scope are Maksutov-Cassegrain type which means they primarily use mirrors but have an objective lens as well. This makes them small light and realtive robust. The drawback here is that they have a shallow depth of field, the focus has to be adjusted exactly to the distance you want to observe.
The C-65 comes with a 30x-90x zoom eyepiece. Performance up to 60x or so seems to be very good, much better than I was expecting actually. 90X is pushing the edge of what the optics can deliver with this scope. Light conditions have to be bright.
10 or 15 years ago optics of this quality would have out of the price range of most of us. Mirror production technology has come a long way.
The botton line with optics though is that best quality optics cost lots of dollars. Cheap optics will get you by but may not be the best long term investment.
These scope are Maksutov-Cassegrain type which means they primarily use mirrors but have an objective lens as well. This makes them small light and realtive robust. The drawback here is that they have a shallow depth of field, the focus has to be adjusted exactly to the distance you want to observe.
The C-65 comes with a 30x-90x zoom eyepiece. Performance up to 60x or so seems to be very good, much better than I was expecting actually. 90X is pushing the edge of what the optics can deliver with this scope. Light conditions have to be bright.
10 or 15 years ago optics of this quality would have out of the price range of most of us. Mirror production technology has come a long way.
The botton line with optics though is that best quality optics cost lots of dollars. Cheap optics will get you by but may not be the best long term investment.
DO NOT break down and buy the Bass Pro (Redhead) spotting scope, worst POS I've EVER seen.
The thing was an oversized Cracker Jack prize, no glass found anywhere... Must have been the Tylenol 3 I was on, when I stepped in the store. Good thing they have a generous return policy.
The thing was an oversized Cracker Jack prize, no glass found anywhere... Must have been the Tylenol 3 I was on, when I stepped in the store. Good thing they have a generous return policy.
