Bargain Telescope in Aldi

Smaug

Guest
Aldi are selling their £25 spotter scope with tripod & case at the moment. I got one a couple of years ago & they are brilliant for wildlife spotting & general use (inc near earth objects like planets etc). It's a zoom 20x-60x and at 20x is extremely clear & easy to use. Maxing the zoom to 60 times tends to make it a bit grainy &, obviously, susceptible to vibrations or wobble.

But on the table with the window open you have the most amazing wildlife hide when wilding or just pic-nicing by the beach or in the woods. The RSPB sell similar items for £200 plus - OK they are better quality, but the difference is not a factor of 8, or even twice as good. Ther eis some distortion around the edges of teh lens, but most people use the centre when viewing things anyway so won't even notice. For 25 squid these are a great item to carry in a locker & you won't stress too much if it gets dropped, wet or damaged.
 
Smaug said:
Aldi are selling their £25 spotter scope with tripod & case at the moment. I got one a couple of years ago & they are brilliant for wildlife spotting & general use (inc near earth objects like planets etc). It's a zoom 20x-60x and at 20x is extremely clear & easy to use. Maxing the zoom to 60 times tends to make it a bit grainy &, obviously, susceptible to vibrations or wobble.

But on the table with the window open you have the most amazing wildlife hide when wilding or just pic-nicing by the beach or in the woods. The RSPB sell similar items for £200 plus - OK they are better quality, but the difference is not a factor of 8, or even twice as good. Ther eis some distortion around the edges of teh lens, but most people use the centre when viewing things anyway so won't even notice. For 25 squid these are a great item to carry in a locker & you won't stress too much if it gets dropped, wet or damaged.
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no good to me mate. I haven't got any neighbours!;)
 
These little scopes are a good buy. The sales people at RSPB Minsmere were very impressed with it. Their advice was not to let it get too wet as they wouldn't trust how water resistant the scope was. If you're going to us the scope from a hide, I'd suggest buying a proper tripod.

It's very good if you're a target shooter; certainly out to 100m. My scope came with a little table top tripod which is plenty good enough if you shoot 25m prone
 
Sorry, I can't agree with you. It's dreadful. Anyone buying this and expecting to see anything clearly at more than the lowest end of the zoom eyepiece will be clearly disappointed!
 
baloothebear said:
The sales people at RSPB Minsmere were very impressed with it.
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Several years ago, I tested a Kowa scope with built in camera which cost nearly £1500. It was a dreadful instrument and I certainly wouldn't have paid £500, let alone £1500. I visited Minsmere not long after and the sales staff there were raving about it. I couldn't believe it. I would have been too embarrassed to sell it to one of my customers, it was such a poor performer!
 
Somelier said:
Several years ago, I tested a Kowa scope with built in camera which cost nearly £1500. It was a dreadful instrument and I certainly wouldn't have paid £500, let alone £1500. I visited Minsmere not long after and the sales staff there were raving about it. I couldn't believe it. I would have been too embarrassed to sell it to one of my customers, it was such a poor performer!
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Gordon Bennett The OP is talking about twenty five quid!!! He isn't suggesting we buy Jodrell Bank :raofl:
 
Somelier said:
Sorry, I can't agree with you. It's dreadful. Anyone buying this and expecting to see anything clearly at more than the lowest end of the zoom eyepiece will be clearly disappointed!
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Hi Somelier.

They are not good at 60* but most of us I think will be please with a scope that gives you 20* for £25.00. Specially if people are trying to flog scopes for £1500.00. I managed to break the one I got last year but am pleased to have replaced it this year.

What would you suggest instead??

Richard
 
Tbear said:
Hi Somelier.

They are not good at 60* but most of us I think will be please with a scope that gives you 20* for £25.00. Specially if people are trying to flog scopes for £1500.00. I managed to break the one I got last year but am pleased to have replaced it this year.

What would you suggest instead??

Richard
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And do try to keep within budget, dear Somelier! :lol-049:
 
If you ask me, telescopes are partly to blame for our obesity epidemic. If you want to look at something that's half a mile away, why not just walk there instead?? :)
 
Fifteen years ago I decided to buy a telescope to do a little bird watching, I read all of the reviews in the birdwatching magazines and eventually bought a Bushnell scope and a Cullmann Tripod, cost £250, I've only used the scope twice since then, I wish I could have bought a £25 one from Aldi.
 
scampa said:
If you ask me, telescopes are partly to blame for our obesity epidemic. If you want to look at something that's half a mile away, why not just walk there instead?? :)
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I wouldn't fancy walking down range when everyone else is blatting off at the targets and if you think that you'd manage to get near to the rare Oozlum Bird you'd find it had disappeared by the time you got there :)
 
scampa said:
If you ask me, telescopes are partly to blame for our obesity epidemic. If you want to look at something that's half a mile away, why not just walk there instead?? :)
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I'm impressed. I can't walk on water. :(
 
only time i look at wildlife is via a rifle scope...dinner incoming :)
 
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