Gosky Up to date 20-60×80 Recognizing Scopes with Tripod, Carrying Bag and Fast Telephone Holder – BAK4 Excessive Definition Waterproof Spotter Scope for Hen Watching Wildlife Scenery1,Inexperienced

Good Value For the Price
The Gosky Updated 20-60×80 Spotting Scopes with Tripod is a very good value for $140. The price is 1/2 to 1/3 the price for a “name” brand (Leupold, Vortex, etc.) spotting scope. The effective range that I used the scope was out to 346 yards using my range finder. I was able to easily make out license plate numbers as a test. Out to 500 yards, the images in the glass were still clear – but not crisp. But, not bad for the price. The only knock on this scope is the quality of the included tripod. But, to me this is not an issue as I planned to mount onto a more stable tripod. I ordered and mounted this spotting scope onto the NEEWER 77 inch Camera Tripod Monopod. The combo work great together!I ordered and waiting for the Athlon Optics Argos HD 20-60×85 Spotting Scope – 45 Degree scope to test out for comparison.

OK for Target Shooting – within limits
I bought this to use on the rifle range. I hoped to use this for spotting up to 300 yards, but I knew that the distance might be stretching the capacity of the scope. At the outset, one has to say that there is actually nothing wrong with this scope. The scope appears to be well-made and sturdy. Adjusting the scope for power and focus is easy. The phone mount actually works pretty well. You have to fool around with it to get a good fit on the spotting scope and it takes some patience to get the target centered in the spotting scope so that you can see the image on the camera. But it does work, and the images come out pretty well. I did not modify the images above to enhance them in any way other than to crop them so that I could post them in this review. I didn’t bother to use the included tripod because I had a much sturdier version of my own. The padded case works well and should be substantial enough to protect the scope from damage due to the regular bumps that it will invariably receive. I gave this scope four stars because it does well for the money, but it does not have the quality found in scopes that are far more expensive. If you are intending to use this for the range, be aware that your target distance will determine your degree of satisfaction with this scope. I used spatter targets for my 5.56mm rifle, hoping that the targets would highlight enough for the shots to be seen on the scope. (The 5.56 mm round leaves the same size hole as .22, or .223 rounds – so it is pretty small.) I put the scope on a good solid tripod on a concrete target table. If I was careful not to touch the scope very much I could see the shots at 200 yards pretty well. The photo on the left was taken of a target 200 yards downrange with my iPhone that was attached to the scope. There was a pretty good wind blowing at the range, and the wind affected the scope to the extent that I really had trouble seeing where the rounds impacted. When the wind was calm, of course, the image improved. When I used the scope for my targets at 300 yards, It was nearly impossible to get a clear view of the target because of the wind blowing the spotting scope around. The camera has a quicker eye than I do, and it caught some good shots at 300 yards. As you can see, you can just make out the shots on the spatter target. The targets in the photos are 17 inches in diameter, and the bulls-eye is 3 inches in diameter. The quality of optics really makes a difference. I use a 4.5x14x44 Sig Sauer scope, and the shots on the rifle scope appear clearer than with the spotting scope for 200 yards. If you are shooting at 25-150 yards, I think that this scope will make you happy. At distances greater than that, you have to balance the small dent this makes in your budget against your need to see your shots at greater distances. If you are not going to use splatter-type targets, then scale down your expectations. At the bottom line, this is a well-made spotting scope for the money that will work on the range at reasonable yardage. If you want to get a spotting scope for regular use at 200+ yards, then you will probably have to pay a lot more for a scope that has much clearer optics.

Spotting scope
Awesome clarity, phone attachment, where the money for the purchase this spotting scope without due any other kind of scope expensive is awesome for the price. I would recommend it to everybody.

Great scope,, your bag sucks, an inch too short,
I love the scope. Works good, stable, clear pic. Th bag is really yo……except you made it too short.It takes a little extra effort to jam it in the bag. Nice bag, nice scope but bag is a pain. Tasco bag is better.You tried to cut corners. Shame

This is a review aimed at people looking at this scope as a way to get into birding; in addition to pros/cons, I’m going to give my advice for new birders to get started using this, which can maybe also help you tell if digiscoping is going to be the right birdwatching approach for you. I’ve had this scope for a little less than a year. I have not used any high-end cameras to compare it to.Pros:Really inexpensive way to get into the hobby. For a relatively small cost, you’re getting a great zoom level.Perfect for bird identification photos.Seems really robust and sturdy. I don’t mind just slinging this over the shoulder and going for a hike, rather than having a lens where I’m worried that any bump is going to cause a misalignment. It is a little heavy, but I’d rather heavy and sturdy than light and fragile.Cons:Weak link is the connector to the phone. It’s fiddly to get aligned just right sometimes. Sometimes I think I’ve gotten a great shot and then checking it out afterwards I have weird dark patches on the photo because the scope and camera weren’t totally aligned.The photos you get won’t be professional quality. this is less a knock on the scope, moreso, on digiscoping as compared to traditional cameras. You’ll get great photos for identification and sharing.If there was one feature I’d like on the scope itself, I’d love some tactile indicator on the focus adjustment knob so you can remember just by touch which way is focusing closer and further. I find myself frequently turning it the wrong way.General advice:1. Get a good tripod. You’ll want one that’s adjustable up to standing height, light-weight, and has a pan/tilt-handle. (I got one that didn’t have a handle and ended up deciding that I needed to make one). The tripod that comes with the scope is sturdy, but setting up and sitting on the ground isn’t great for birding. I got one with a ball-head mount, and I’m not sure it’s better than one with bi-directional pan head. My sense is that ball-heads allow you to quickly adjust to unusual angles, but pan heads are a little easier for fine-tuning your adjustments. The scope is quite front-heavy when mounted on a tripod.2. Use a good camera app. I use Camera+ 2 on the iphone and find that it’s a lot better than the standard camera app. While you can use both the manual focus and the phone’s focus ability, I find the best approach is to get my focus close with the scope, and then use the focus on the camera do the rest. A great approach is to use autofocus on something at the same depth as the bird (a branch or leaf), and lock the focus… then you don’t have to worry about the bird moving and the camera suddenly deciding to focus on the distant background.Speaking of apps, you’ll definitely want to get Merlin, for use with identifying birds… you can leave Merlin running, stay in your camera app, and you’ll get notifications when new bird calls are detected. (also, this is a beat of a cheat, but playing a bird call back through Merlin can be a great way to get a shy songbird to come out in the open.) Paying attention to bird calls and learning to recognize them is both rewarding and really useful.3. The zoom on this scope is really powerful, but if there’s one thing that’s challenging, it’s when a bird is too close. There’s just no way to focus on a bird that’s closer than about 12 feet (and you can’t quickly dismount your phone if you want to switch). It’s important to understand your zoom on your camera phone: typically you’ve got both an optical and digital zoom. Digital zoom isn’t actually zooming in any closer, just expanding the pixels, so generally there isn’t any point in zooming in beyond your optical zoom threshold. Remember that the closer you are, the narrower your depth of field is, so don’t bother trying to get as close as you can. If you’re photographing a larger bird like a goose or heron, you might not be able to get it all into the shot if you’re too close.4. Depending on your phone settings, you may find that your picture is inside a circular vignette, especially when your phone’s zoom is set to 1. For my phone, there’s a zoom sweet-spot between 1.5 to 2, where the picture fills the full frame and I’m still using optical zoom.5. Accept that it’s going to take a while to set up a shot. This is ultimately the big downside to digiscoping: you can’t just point-and-shoot. You’ll miss out on some shots because the bird takes off while you’re still trying to dial in your focus. When I’m photographing songbirds, I spend a lot of time observing what branches they like and where they move, getting my focus locked in on where I think it’s going to go, and then waiting. Getting any good action shots likely requires both a lot of preparation and luck.6. Bring a pair of binoculars, even cheap small ones. If you’re trying to tell at a distance if a bird is worth your effort, it’s easier to just check it out through binoculars first.7. Start with wetlands. Geese and ducks make way better targets for the beginner, since they’re large and slow-moving. Songbirds are a lot more challenging. Practice quickly getting your zoom and focus set. Because you’re looking down at the scope rather than through it (like a binocular or telescope), it can take a little while to actually get it pointed where you want as well, so it’s good to practice using landmarks (ie. that bird is below a prominent tree on the horizon so I’ll find that tree first, and then pan down until I get to the bird).8. A lot of your photo quality is going to be determined by your post-processing. This is something I’m not really experienced with yet, but if you want to try and push this beyond just identification into really vivid, high-quality photos, you’ll need to work in a desktop photo-processing app.

Easy to set-up and use. Nice to find the small tripod was made of metal and not plastic. The shudder on the video is passing, speeding lorrys at 3am. On the lowest zoom find your object, then twist the coller on the scope from 20x, upto 70x zoom, then make the object crisp and fully in focus by twisting another knob 10x. Finally zoom in on your phone to get a full screen image with no circle.The Mobile phone attachment is very useful. It is a frame that fits on your phone, adjustable to the lens position on your phone. Once on the phone put over eyepiece on the scope and twist the coller to lock your phone in place. This method is easy but could be redesigned to click on with a rubber sheild to illuminate light from the contact between phone and lense. This would be better – clearly. I however had no issue filming and photographing at night.It’s a very good scope, the quality I can’t fault. If you want to photograph moving objects like airplanes, this will be possible by calculating the speed and direction and setting the scope ahead of it and wait for it to enter view. I can see this can be used to photograph bird on nests. It’s not something’s you can quickly pull from your pocket point and click to capture a flying bird however as it does take a moment to set up.For the money I’m delighted. I’ve used it once so far. I went outside at 3am and stayed watching the Moon for 1.5 hours.Remember you get what you pay for. Get the highest zoom in your budget. I’m glad I purchased this. A van or shed is never big enough and a zoom is no different, no matter the power we will want more, so buy the most powerful zoom your budget allows.