Celestron 52250 Ultima 20-60x80mm Angled Refractor Spotting Scope Telescope with Multi-Coated Optics, Waterproof Rubber Tubing and Soft Carry Case, Green

Bought this after comparing many different spotting scopes including some very expensive ones; mostly all the cheaper ones have fairly poor optics, there might be some good ones but I couldn't find any. It seems fairly difficult to get any objective reviews of the Celestron Ultima scope, most reviews are either advertising hype or people who haven't used it and based on conjecture. The Ultima build quality is very good, optics are nothing short of great especially considering this is not ED glass, image does go a bit dark at 60X but that's in the nature of the beast, at 22X to about 50X it is really excellent. Eye relief is fairly good too, I can keep my spectacles on even at full magnification. I've used this to look at birds at 10m (yes, 10m) to 500m and it's really useable when the light fades after dusk; general spotting up to several miles is excellent too but then you are really at the mercy of the atmosphere - all in all it's excellent, I can only imagine what trebling the price to buy ED glass gives you! It even has a built in T-adapter to mount a cameras, a camera lens of this quality and size would cost many hundreds of £. I mainly bought this for my daughter for astronomy, she already has a Newtonian but finds that really tedious to set up for quick viewing, no problems with this Celestron though. Although the experts will tell you that spotting scopes do not work well for astronomy work, the Ultima 80 is great. It may not suit the experts but for the casual hobbyist it gives really great images of the moon and planets (Saturn is a little small but the rings are clear). It's only drawback is the comparatively small field of view for astronomy, e.g. the best you can get in is two of the stars from Orions belt. Even the experts agree that the best scope for astronomy is the one you use most often, in our case this is the Ultima! It is light, easy to focus, gives, clear images (atmospherics allowing of course) and I (and my daughter) couldn't be happier. You do need a tripod, but that's the same for all spotting scopes. Amazon's price is better than most and delivery was very quick. If you are confused over spotting scopes and can't afford a lot of money then I can wholeheartedly reommend this one, I do not think you will be disappointed.

I bought this Spotterscope after having read a few of the previous reviews and I have to say that is is superb. It arrived in double quick time and the packaging was excellent. Assembly was very straight forward and although there are instructions if you need them it was so easy they were not required. Out in the field the Celestron brought a whole new world to me and looking at some Eider ducks off the coast where i live i could see the green nape on the back of the head so clearly it was as if all my Bird books had come to life. Oyster Catchers, Curlew and Redshank came into view almost in 3D, the image was so clear. All of my spotting was observed in the 20x to 40x range as above this, as has been mentioned in previous reviews, the image darkens somewhat, and although acceptable it's not as good as the lower X's. Having looked at dearer options and being somewhat cautious as to whether the Celestron would be able to give me the images i wanted, I am happy to say that it is a bargain and does not dissapoint at all...I purchased a Hama Star 63 Tripod to go with this scope and it is sturdy and suits the spotterscope well. the combined weight of the two is not too heavy I thought, and with the Scope in my rucksack and carrying the tripod closed up, I found no problems on a 5 mile walk..Five stars from me..

Overall I'm happy with the price / performance of this scope both for bird watching / wildlife and some casual astronomy. As some have commented there is some chromatic aberration using this scope, but as is usual with CA this is noticeable in areas of extreme contrast, looking at the Moon for example, but for the price point this is not a surprise and not especially noticeable when bird watching. If you want zero CA you're looking at the wrong price range! Overall the image is quite sharp and bright and very pleasing, certainly good enough for my eyes when bird watching to pick out details and identify the species being observed. the scope is relatively light for it's size and the carry bag is reasonably handy. A couple of niggles, as some have pointed out the scope cant really be used with the carry bag, it really needs a velcro or other flap over the focus knob to make it accessible, then I think it will work "in the bag". The front dust cap is a bit weedy and pops off with the slightest touch, the eyepiece cap is much firmer and pushes over the rubber eyecup and has a tendency to also remove the eyecup leaving the camera adaptor thread exposed. Although I have a T2 camera adaptor I have not used the scope for digiscoping, I own some fairly good telephoto lenses and this scope is certainly no match for them optically but if you don't have such exotic gear in your camera bag I can see where this scope could be of some use. Update Sept 2024: Until recently I have been fairly OK with the Chromatic Aberration while birding but this has been mostly in Woodlands / Hills. After a recent trip to South Stack I found it very frustrating especially at high power in bright light the CA around dark objects like Porpoises and Cormorants against the sea or rocks was especially noticeable, not enough to prevent identification but enough to make it difficult.

For the money this is a very impressive scope. It is also the winner of an award for its type and price range by top British scope users (the sky at night). The only draw back I can find with having a scope is the additional weight and that is true for all scopes not just this one. Perfect for those who want to enhance their wildlife watching experience but do not want to invest in the expensive brands which cost £300 - 1500. With the saved money you could invest in a carbon fibre tripod to help combat the weight issue. I chose to buy the Velbon Sherpa 500R from Amazon as well for around £70 and its a sturdy but versatile scope which suits the need of not just wildlife scoping user but also photography. Although the tripod is a bit on the heavy side I can still recommend it. I also urge you to buy a tripod which includes the quick release feature, it saves you much time and effort. Choose this scope and you will not be disappointed, unless you have loads of money to invest in the top of the range scopes which have an improved image quality for 10X the price. This improvement is not necessary for the everyday birder to enjoy or spot and identify wildlife. Thanks to this scope and others like it birding can be done very economically. I also recommend Bushnell as excellent and cheap binocular makers. The H2O range 8x42 is what I use and its a good binocular for the price, only £68 on Amazon! Again slightly heavy for some peoples taste but I wear them all the time and find them ideal and not too heavy at all.

I purchased this scope for checking my arrows on the target and have been very happy with it. The narrow field of view which is a slight disadvantage mentioned in an earlier review is of no consequence to an archer and the zoom facility is more than I require for easy spotting at 100yards. It is slightly heavier and longer than my old scope but comes with a carry case and shoulder strap. I have had to purchase a heavier tripod but this was no bad thing as my previous scope broke when the old flimsy tripod was blown over. I did a lot of comparisons before buying this scope and it was very good value for money.

Obviously not the top of the range, latest optics however for the price it has been fantastic. Images have been clear and sharp. Zoom is pretty good although I do tend to stay around 2/3rds max but have ventured to the x60 once or twice in very good light conditions (this seems to be when it works at its best). 20 to 45(ish) work all the time. A brilliant scope for the price you pay. My only advice is to make sure you have a really decent tripod, I purchased the Hama Star 63 Tripod and it is no where near good enough (too much plastic). I'm looking to buy a Horizon tripod soon.

I know serious twitchers would not be overly impressed with this, but on first use my wife and I think it's the bees knees for a bit of bird watching... Going to take a while to figure out how to use it quickly, but I'm confident we'll get there.

The scope arrived in good time but I found the eyepiece zoom felt like it was filled with grinding paste not grease on the thread and was notchy at both ends of travel. So I returned it for a replacement. This arrived before the original was collected. Well done Amazon! Alas the replacement had the same fault but not quite as bad. I arranged a return but was contacted by Amazon who said as it looked like the batch was faulty they would refund my money. In the meantime I found someone who had one and they told me it was quite common on this product at the cheaper end of the market so I cancelled the return and refund, keeping the second one. It's got a 10 year guarantee which set my mind at rest. I contacted 3 other suppliers who checked their stock and also found the eyepieces not quite smooth Now to the scope, a few people have commented that the quality deteriorates towards the 60x end of the zoom. Yes it does but very slightly. I found the optics to be excellent even with this tail-off. I think the eyepiece could have done with some sort of locator to stop it turning when zooming - you have to have the eyepiece on tight to stop this. The case is very good and I bought a quick release adapter for my Manfrotto tripod. Very happy with the performance and had it not been for the lumpy zoom and lack of eyepiece locator I'd have given it 5 stars however I'd give Amazon 5 stars for customer service.

Bought another spotter scope in a similar price point on Amazon. It seemed allright out of box but had damaged threads on the mount. Returned it no hasstle and bought this one. Way better quality right out of box and clearer glass, happy accident that I switched out. Works well with Amazon basics tripod and for the price point of those two together still cheaper then some then come with worse tripod.

Servizio veloce di amazon.Ottimo l'imballo. Non ho mai comprato cannocchiali, ma ho un superbo binocolo zenit 7x50 e da fotografo ho una certa esperienza di ottica per avere un discreto parco obbiettivi.quindi posso dire che la qualità del cannocchiale è davvero ottima. Ma andiamo con ordine: La costruzione è molto buona(metallo e buonissima gomma)le lenti sono trattate in modo multistrato e sono ottime nel complesso,in pratica...da 20 a quasi 50 ingrandimenti si vede benissimo (in particolare da 20 a 40 una definizione direi quasi eccellente...)poi diciamo che da 45 a 60 ingrandimenti la qualità ottica cade man mano ma ancora a 60 si vede discretamente anche se appaiono (ma in modo poco fastidioso) aberrazioni ed occorre curare la messa a fuoco.Il cavalletto è indispensabile sempre, anche a 20 ingrandimenti. La luminosita' è ottima per una buona visione anche di sera.La caduta fisiologica di qualità dopo i circa 50x è, per il limite fisiologico di tutti gli oculari zoom, ma anche il pulviscolo dell'aria a grandi lontananze fanno la loro parte, probabilmente vetri pregiati di binocoli più costosi bucano meglio l'atmosfera. da notare che questa stessa caduta in tutto il range da 20 a 60..è minore per soggetti meno lontani.Sono sicuro che cannocchiali con vetri apocromatici sono migliori ma non credo proporzionale al salto di prezzo. inoltre chi ha fatto la comparazione tra questo obbiettivo ed altri che costano anche 10 volte di più ha dedotto che sui bassi ingrandimenti (da 20 a 40) la differenza con cannocchiali blasonati sia addirittura minima.La custodia è discreta...ma avrei preferito un pò imbottita tipo borse fotografiche. Metto 5 stelle per il prezzo che ho pagato...difficilmente si trova di meglio.E' un cannocchiale ottimo,discreto e luminoso, anche al crepuscolo si vede bene e da usare anche per visioni astronomiche non impegnative come la luna o saturno....magari con un oculare fisso...per sfruttarlo al meglio.

ne correspond pas à mes attentes

Good spotting scope for the price. We use it for bird watching and watching boats on the bay.

Habe dieses Spektiv nun seit einigen Monaten, und bin sehr zufrieden damit. Es ist perfekt für terrestrische Beobachtungen geeignet. Die Optik hat eine wirklich sehr gute schärfe, welche auch beim zoomen erhalten bleibt. Der Zoom geht auch bei niedrigeren Temperaturen sehr leicht (kein China Fett drin), und hat einen Fokus, welcher über den gesamten Zoombereich errhalten bleibt. Die Naheinstellgrenze des Wasserdichten Ultima liegt etwa bei 6,5 m. Im gegensatz zu manch anderem Spektiv kann man schnell die Fokusierung ändern, was man speziell bei sich schnell bewegenden Objekten braucht. Der Peilsucher ist für weniger Geübte eine feine Sache. Es gibt Okulare mit festbrennweiten als Zubehör (z.B. von TS - baugleich) für alle, welche ein größeres Gesichtsfeld oder höhere Vergrößerungen wollen. Ich bin zwar der Ansicht, dass mehr Vergrößerung bei 80mm Öffnung nur für die Astronomie sinnvoll ist. Das Ultima ist etwas empfindlich auf Streulicht. Man sollte in so einem Fall im Schatten beobachten. Für die astronomische Beobachtung ist ein Spektiv dieser Größenklasse bedingt geeignet. Sonne (natürlich nur mit speziellen Filtern vor dem Objektiv), Mond, die größeren Planeten und wenige Deep Sky Objekte bieten einen guten Anblick. Zu viel darf man sich aber von den Restlichen Objekten nicht erwarten. Fazit: Für diesen Preis ist es eine Hammeroptik für Hobbyjäger, Ornitologen und alle, die sonst noch Spaß an terrestrischer Beobachtung haben. Für die Astronomie würde ich das Geld eher in einen mittleren Newton investieren. Nachtrag 07.01.2013: Ich habe bereits 4 Stück dieser Spektive gesehen/getestet. Keines hatte eine schlechte Leistung. Ich schreibe dies, da die negative Bewertung von mir absolut nicht nachvollzogen werden kann. Es wäre schade, wenn dieses Produkt aufgrund einer schlechten Erfahrung nicht mehr in Betracht gezogen würde. Auch mein Ultima 80 hat an einem Bildrand eine Randunschärfe, welche aber nicht negativ auffällt. Ich beschäftige mich generell mit optischen Geräten vom Taschenfernglas bis zu Teleskopen und Mikroskopen und gehe bei der negativen Bewertung von einer Dejustage oder einem Transportschaden aus. Wer ein Spektiv in diesem Preisbereich sucht, sollte es einfach bestellen und sich selber ein Bild davon machen.