Sunday, July 25, 2010

Konus Spotting Scope Review

Up for review today is the Konus Spotting Scope 20-60x 80mm which I purchased from Midway USA  on sale for $198.00. Midway has some of the best prices around and I have good experiences both of the times I have had to contact customer service.

A decent spotting scope is a necessity for high power rifle shooting. The Konus scope has been talked about quite a bit with an assortment of good reviews, and Jim Owens seems to like it.

The Konus has a variable zoom from 20x to 60x and an 80mm objective lens with a sun shade. It weighs just under four pounds and is about 17" long. Here is the picture of the box that the scope comes packaged in.


Once you open the box you can see the carrying case that comes with the scope. The carrying case is kind of thin and nothing special but it helps keep everything together.


Unzipping the carrying case reveals the scope itself and the accessories that come with it. Included are a camera adapter and a plastic table top tripod.


The tripod works acceptably on the table but it is a bit wobbly and apt to tip over. I will be looking for a replacement tripod in the near future but the included one works for now.

When I first started to use the scope, the zoom adjustment was VERY tight and was difficult to turn. The eyepiece would come unscrewed from the force of turning the zoom. After a few minutes of use and turning the zoom and tightening the eyepiece, the tightness has appeared to go away and it is adjusting smoothly for now. I hope that it stays this way.

The scope also comes with a camera adapter for taking pictures. It screws on to the eyepiece and allows you to adjust the zoom even when installed.



Once I had it unpacked and setup and finished playing with the adjustments, I settled in to shoot and try it out. Overall I was impressed with the optics and the quality of the image. Even when the zoom was cranked all the way up the image was clear and color was close to normal. Having only used this scope two times now I would not hesitate to recommend it to some one else as long as you plan on getting another tripod.

I had intended to take pictures with my camera attached but I forgot to bring the camera to range so I took a few shots with my cell phone camera. I am hesitant to put them up since they were taken with a shaky cell phone but I will put one up and post another image that was taken by another reviewer with a better camera.

Shaky cell phone camera shot.












200 meter shot from a review on Inland Shooters.