( 10 reviews )
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Posted: Jul 8 2009
For decades, Celestron has had a good reputation among amateur astronomers for producing high quality optics. Their Ultima line was made in Japan and was competitive in performance with much more expensive European optics. More recently, they've gone to China, and predictably, the quality has fallen off noticeably. But the upside is that the prices have come down considerably, too. The Chinese-made Ultima 80 spotting scope offers very good resolution and high light transmission at a bargain price. For those who don't demand the very best there is, the Ultima 80 represents a good value. It's well constructed, the controls operate smoothly, and the optical quality is very decent for the price point. Lenses are multicoated and the tube is waterproof. There's a slight amount of chromatic aberration and edge softness, but these have to be expected in this price range. Neither is bothersome for the vast majority of applications. What is bothersome is that eye relief is insufficient for eyeglass wearers at powers above 30x. For nature study, the rifle range, or very casual astronomy, this is a good buy.
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Posted: May 1 2009
Celestron has always made good quality/value scopes, and this one is no exception. While it is no Swarovski or Nikon, it certainly gets the job done! You'll love the extra brightness that the larger diameter objective lens gives you, and the zoom eyepiece is about as good as you'll find. Focusing is slightly awkward, but once you get used to it it works OK. Once focused, images are tack-sharp. I use this primarily for target shooting, and it is perfect for that purpose. It works best in bright sunlight when at higher magnifications, and works great in any conditions when using lower magnifications. I plan to use this for some up-close bird watching this spring, and I think this scope will be great at that as well. For the money, this scope is hard to beat for its excellent build quality and good overall optical performance.
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Posted: Mar 31 2009
I use it for 200yard spotting and it works well. Eye relief and FOV are not as good as a Kowa but it is 1/5 of the price.
