Customer Reviews

Brunton Eterna Angled Full Size Spotting Scope with 20-60 X 80 lens

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Excellent value for the money, Fluorite ED glass, for most practical circumstances this scope compares to spotting scopes costing twice as much! The first time you look through one you will become a believer just like I did. Has a wide ocular, you don't have to press your eyeball against the lens to gather an image, great if you wear glasses. Easy to precisely focus and change power.
The scope, however, is rather large and heavy. In fact, I don't think I would trust the stitched on carry strap on the padded case that is included. Can't handle two grand for a Swarovski-go [[ASIN:B000FKJ470 Brunton Eterna Straight Full Size Spotting Scope w/20-60 X 80 lens], you will not be sorry!

I use this spotting scope for bird watching and general nature watching. I use it mainly with the 30x Wide eyepiece. With this eyepiece the scope is simply wonderful. However, I am less convinced about the zoom eyepiece (I am of the same opinion independent of brand, even the high-end ones). I find that the Brunton zoom, surprisingly, works best for 60X, but it is then, of course, more sensitive for low-light, vibrations, and heat shimmering. Bad thing with zooms in general are that, for some reason, when zooming out, your field of view more or less remains the same, causing a feeling of looking through a narrow tube. That makes the 20x end of the zoom rather useless. The 30x Wide eyepiece with its much wider field of view instead gives a nice experience of the object in its setting. The optical quality of the 30x Wide is also noticeably better than the zoom (although the zoom is not bad). I advice any bird/nature-watcher interested in this scope to buy it with the 30x Wide eyepiece. With this eyepiece the scope has sharp image all the way to the edge, great low-light capacity, bright image at daylight, and, in my opinion, correct colors (It compares in colors with my Zeiss 7x42 Classic binoculars that always were a bit "colder" in color compared to my Swarovski 7x42 of the same vintage). I bought the Brunton scope for about 800USD and the eyepiece for about 170USD. It is great value for money! I have not yet put it next to any of the high-end scopes, but my experience says it will be quite close in performance (especially with the 30x Wide). Of course, if you pay more you'll get more, but the gain doesn't follow linearly the price: to get just a little bit better performance you must put in a lot more money. My Brunton is definitely good enough for my use.
But remember the scope is a heavy piece of glass. It, as most good scopes, should be mounted on a good tripod with good video head (I use a Manfrotto). Don't save money on the tripod or you may be wasting the capacity of a great scope!

This scope is crystal clear. I use this at the target range and it's perfect for long range targets. At 600yds I can see perfect detail. I recommend a heavy, solid tripod to keep it from wobbling or getting tipped over. I even used it for star & moon gaizing. The detial of the moon surface is spectacular. This was money well spent.