Customer Reviews

Celestron 52248 65mm Ultima Zoom Spotting Scope

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

 

 

I wanted something portable that I can easily set up and bring about. I considered the Ultima 80, the Mak C65 and Mak C90. I want to use it to look at both terrestial things and occasionally point up to the moon or planets.

The Mak C90 is obviously very good and is a respectable astronomical device. But it looks delicate and vulnerable with its big lens and mirror. It felt like you could easily drop it when you set it up on a tripod.

The Mak C65 is cute but the lens quality was poor. More of a toy then anything.

The Ultima 80 is quite good in terms of lens quality. But it is long and heavy.

So I bought Ultima 65. My main complain is the price. I bought it through a local dealer which didnt give a very good price. I do not have any options unless I purchase through the internet. I do not live in North America which then makes shipping costly.

The lens quality was better than expected. Very crisp views at the 18X. Acceptable views at 55X.
Much more useful as a daytime scope. I suspect it has got to do with the exit pupil which makes it harder to see at night when our pupils are more dilated. I tried to look at Saturn (under windy conditions) under max magnification. You can make out that it is a tiny disk and maybe with some imagination, the ring.

I notice that the eye piece lens is not very well machined...as you can see tiny spots (cracks?) on the periphery. Hardly noticeable and does not affect the viewing but you probably wont get this in something more expensive.

Another thing I do not like about this scope is that the eye piece does not have a cover, so you have to remove it and put it back into its container. This creates an extra hassle when setting up. A small scope like this should be ready for use without any setting up. I improvise a dust cap over the eye piece and left the eye piece permanently on the scope.

Overall, a decent buy if you can get a good price. I would have given a 4 star if I got it cheaper!

I was looking for an effective spotting scope that was small and lightweight and I could take it hiking when needed. This scope worked very well and functions just as well as all the other scopes in the same class.

I purchased this spotter to sight in rifles at 100 yards. It does everything that was promised. From .22 to .308 the holes are clearly visible at 100 yards. As a test, we did 200 yards with the .22. It still worked flawlessly. The optics are clear & the magnification is perfect for our needs.

I bought this on a budget and after some research to serve as a shooting range scope. I needed to reach a compromise in optics quality, features, price and warranty.
Needless to say, something had to fall short of expectations, at first glance, most of what I wanted is there and will serve intended purpose.
Key phrase here is "most of what I wanted", Celestron is California based company, it would be highly desirable for their products to be made in California as well, not just engineered. Truth is, "Made in China" label is huge disappointment and deception because manufacturing process related to precision machining is disgustingly unrefined.

Threads on mounting ring and body are very rough, they feel sharp and molested before you even attempt to engage the mating piece.
Once the eye piece is on, it locks in place and holds, what is likely to happen over time and remounting the eye piece is that friction is going to rub off the black anodizing from rough spots, rings are made of aluminum so they won't rust, just get uglier with time and use.
The design suggests removing eye piece and storing it in hard shell provided for that purpose, the soft carrying case does accommodate it when mounted, but provides limited or no protection.
My initial impression is that optics will be sufficient for my use, eye relief is adequate and focusing is a bit sensitive but precise, I did not notice any image distortion over entire range of magnification which seems to be well dialed in.

Overall, worth the sale price, no tax and free shipping in my case, with better quality machining work, this scope would have been rated at 4 stars. Although functional as is, I feel that poor workmanship evident on the outside may also be part of vital internal works, therefore 3 stars is on the mark with hopes that any future problems will actually be taken care off by warranty.

Front lens has SLR camera style dust cap which is well made and works fine, the eye piece has no cover as cap used to cover body is over sized and unusable over eye piece installed.
Focusing knob feels very smooth, easy to turn with right amount of resistance to hold the desired setting in place.

Despite shortfall in quality of machined threads, I am convinced that $114 could not have bought better package, waterproof, no fault lifetime warranty and decent optics make up for crappy threads.

The soft carrying case is well made as is belt pouch for storing/carrying the eye piece, I'll most likely leave the eye piece mounted and just handle it with care, I don't like the idea of separating the two parts every time I use the scope.

The view is a little bit dark, but it is the best you will find for under $150.00. I can spot .223 holes at 200 yard on sunny days.

I bought this spotting scope for 10 Meter target rifle shooting. It has a very nice clear image and is a very nice scope. Unfortunately it is a little too strong and I cannot see the entire target when it is set up on the firing line without moving it. It is worse when I have two targets side-by-side.