SVBONYSV410 ED Spotting Scope 9-27x56, Mini Hummingbird Scope Compact Portable, ED Glass FMC Lens Angled Telescope Monocular Stay-on Case for Bird Watching, Travel, Landscape, Hunting

I have a 80mm birdwatching scope which is fine and has served me well for a number of years, however there are many downside is weight the scope plus tripod is a lot for just a casual trip out and I started to wonder about the hummingbird stile of scope. As with all optics it’s cost versus quality and you can pay a vast amount for the high end stuff at which point I would be afraid to take it out in case of damage. I saw this little scope advertised on Amazon and it seemed to meet my needs for casual use. I hade not heard or Svbony before but looking around it seemed the made quite a range of optical equipment so went ahead and ordered one.The item came well packaged, the scope has a zoom eyepiece and comes with a stay on case, I fitted it to a monopod as wanted to keep weight down.In useLet’s be fair it’s not going to do what an 80mm on heavy tripod does But, it does give a good image I have used it for shore watching and found it gave very good views across mud flats of feeding waders, the image been sharp and clear and been light weight it’s little trouble or discomfort when wondering along the shoreline. I must say the focus ring does feel quite stiff but that’s better thank been very loose overall for the task I wanted it for it has proved quite adequate especially for the price

Crystal clear and amazingly good for the price point.A great addition to anyone’s chosen sport.

I've had this for about 8 months now and really like it. Almost all night-time viewing; I wanted a right-way-up scope which could do terrestrial as well as astronomical viewing; since most telescopes are upside down making them useless for terrestrial targets. Typically I look at the Moon, Jupiter, brighter star clusters and astronomical objects, ships and boats; distant city lights, moonlight on the water and waves, wildlife like ducks and swans, and all the interesting things visible from my beach at night, which is great fun. (I also have SvBony 2x wide-field binoculars which are awesome at night; read my review on those here on Amazon - so this little spotting scope comes out when I need to zoom in on things.)Main advantages are that it's very portable and lightweight; it conveniently fits in my rucksack along with my other gear using a Koolertron padded inner for the bag, Neewer 20" mini-tripod; and Ulanzi U70 ball-head, makes a very cool minimal pier/tripod setup; ideal for placing on a table or low wall or for kneeling down type workarounds etc. The light weight means the tripod and ball-head can easily handle looking anywhere; pointing and holding is very good, including directly up at zenith; the 45deg viewing angle making this possible. The zoom allows you to easily locate an object; and then zoom-in after, though note that the zoom affects focus; so anytime you move the zoom you need to twist the focus ring in the same direction and achieve focus again. The optics are sharp, shallow depth of field, flat across the whole frame, very good construction, seams strong and durable, a well made bit of kit.Main disadvantage is that the zoom eye-piece isn't great for wide-field views: when fully zoomed-in at 27x the apparent field of view is fine, but as you zoom-out a noticeable circular crop closes in on the image; and at 9x you're left looking at a small circular-cropped view, so zooming out is very useful for finding things, but it's not so great for enjoyable viewing at a wide-angle.The Moon looks great and very sharp when its low and reddened; plenty cratering visible etc. One of my favourite things is to watch the moon rise/set behind distant objects like trees and houses! The moon travels really fast past the objects; always a very impressive sight. Also fascinating watching the atmospheric ripples and distortions on the bottom edge of the Moon. But unfortunately there is no way of attaching a moon filter so when the moon gets bright its very very bright; and only in one eye! Also with no lens hood and no internal baffling; there is a lot of internal glare within the tube, bright objects shining light at the sides of the tube can cause reflections and glare.For astronomy the big bonus is being the correct orientation, and the ability to zoom out works well as a a finder. Stars are pin sharp and clusters like the Beehive are really nice, looking at the Orion nebula it's not quite as light as hoped, however I do think I've had my best view of Andromeda to date; being able to see good wide extent to it while quite-comfortably viewing very nearly overhead. At 27x Jupiter is lovely; a nice circular disc with some colour and banding, all 4 moons easily visible, sometimes a little less zoom is nice to frame it and make it a little clearer. Saturn is tiny but sharp and you can see the rings.I am asking a lot, and going beyond the intended use of the scope, but then I have paid the premium for ED glass etc... and it must be noted that these are the affordable end of the market; spending twice as much on a 'very similar scope' will get you the option to change eye-pieces and attach filters/barlow etc, but by time you've done all that its getting pretty expensive! So, I'm happy enough for now :)

Fun entry point to spotting scopes/telescopes. Compact and good clear optics for this price point, but a tripod is a must at anything but the lowest zoom levels. Good eye relief, and I managed to fit a mobile phone to it for photography using the Svbony phone adapter. I photographed the moon (with a moon filter), and sunspots (with a solar filter), although I am waiting for clearer skies with no heat haze to improve on the photos.Unfortunately QC at Svbony is questionable - it lost a star because the eyepiece section's connector ring was only fixed with 2 out of the 3 screws, so it rattled slightly from the very first time I lifted it out of the box. The third screw was loose, and loosened even more whenever I used the zoom. I didn't know what the problem was and almost sent it back, but eventually I found the tiny loose screw and tightened it. This worked, so I applied threadlocker to keep them all in place. It has been fine since, but I shouldn't have had to do this.

I needed a very small light spotting scope and couldn't justify the cost of some of the alternatives. Most MAK scopes are similar-ish in size but it's rare to get them in a low magnification like this one. The eyepiece can be removed to make the form factor for packing even more convenient. Very light, under 600g and it's a life saver for a cyclist like me who can't carry a very big alternative

The media could not be loaded. Solid, professional, quality, recommended!