I bought this spotting scope as part of my bird watching hobby, and also for use at spotting ships in the harbour. This spotting scope has many strengths. It has very good optical quality without any colour aberration because of the catadioptric technology. It is lightweight and comes in a nice bag, which protects the scope and the accessories. The scope fits nicely on any quality tripod with a camera screw mount - I use an RSPB AN tripod. Because the underlying technology is an astronomical telescope this meant that I could also use it as a telescope for lunar and planetary observations.

There are a couple of problems, though. The scope is screwed together, like the astronomy telescope that it really is, and feels a little bit fragile. It is also not sealed against moisture and mold, as a quality scope would be. Except for the cheapest examples, all traditional refractor spotting scopes are sealed and nitrogen purged, keeping out moisture and mold. This is not the case with this spotting scope. I have been warned about a possible mold problem in the future, although in the year that I have owned it I haven't had any problems. The moisture issue is also there, and unlike astronomy it is entirely possible that you will do bird watching when it is raining.

Ultimately, I think it has proved to be good value for money. A refractor spotting scope with high quality lenses would cost about twice as much.