Barska Benchmark Waterproof Straight Spotting Scope with High Zoom Power, Objective Focus, Carrying Case & Tripod for Hunting Birding Target Shooting

I bought this scope last week, knowing that my cheap binoculars wouldn't help me sight in my rifle at 50 yards. I was a little skeptical given some of the negative reviews, but when I got to the range I was very impressed. The doodads, as I think another mentioned, are not custom, but still nice. The tripod is pretty cheap, but it works well enough if you don't have the $$ to buy a better replacement. Others have written about how the quality of the image is poor at higher magnifications, but I did not find that to be the case. Although the image does darken considerably after ~75x, it was no problem at all in daylight. In terms of what I could see, I was not disappointed. I could see .22 holes in paper at 100 yards, although at that zoom the field of view is quite small. At 50 yards I could see an area about 2' x 2' and still see the .22 holes in paper. This was while wearing glasses - If I didn't have eye protection on I'm sure it would have been even better. That being said, I wouldn't expect to be able to use this past 100 yards if I was looking for holes on paper. If you are trying to check the grouping at 300 yards on your $2/rd match ammo that you shot looking through your $500 Leupold scope, then yeah, buy a better scope. Otherwise I would say this scope is a great value and I would buy it again.

I bought this spotting scope to take hunting because it has good specs (objective lens diameter and magnification) at a very good price. I had read the other reviews and was willing to accept the reduced clarity at highest magnifications since they won't be used in hunting anyway. The screw-on pistol grip is an excellent accessory, especially since it's a straight-through scope. The grip even has a mount on the bottom so that you can attach it to a tripod and get a little more height. Although the pictures don't show it, the scope has an objective lens cover that is attached to the bottom of the unit, which I found very convenient. The scope feels solid and fairly durable although I don't want to test exactly how durable. The included hard and soft carry cases provide adequate protection and are quite handy for transportation. I took the scope to a local park for testing, and while it's true that clarity, brightness and stability are issues at higher magnifications, I am convinced that it is perfectly adequate for my needs. I was still able to count birds on the grass at over a kilometer away at 125x, and at 25x I could easily pick out objects in the trees that I couldn't see with the naked eye even when I knew where they were. I haven't tested the scope in wet or cold weather or in low-light conditions yet, so I can't comment on that. The only disappointment I've experienced so far is discovering a light speckling of dust on the inside of the objective lens. This could only be seen when looking at it from the side when it's under direct sunlight, or by looking through the scope at a white wall that is out of focus. Considering the price, I think this was a good purchase and would recommend it for anything that doesn't rely on top clarity out to 125x.

This is a pretty good little spotter. I have used it out to about 400 yards. Works great, clear picture. No problems so far. Limited adjustability compared to some other spotters. Dont think I would use this in competition long range shooting, but for kicking around your local range, it's perfect. Can't beat the price either. I have yet to test the waterproof claim, but I wouldn't normally either. The case and accessories are nice. Sturdy enough not to worry about packing it away with ammo, or other range needed items. Again, clear, clean and easy to focus. Good for calling out target hits and to help your shooter make some adjustments. Fine tunning doesnt really exist, but not really needed. Can be used for bird spotting...well lots of things of that nature. Comes with a pistol grip for that very reason. Good scope and at a super great price. Good value.

Can see moss from 2 miles away. Was looking at a creek where the moss came to a corner and was eroding down into the creek. Could see the space under the moss at the corner where dirt was missing under it. From about 2 miles maybe a little more maybe a little less. Tell my I can see humans and bears from 2 miles away. Maybe even a little further. When the fog came out while I was looking (fog was near the creek 2 miles away) it cut back on color. Made it so I could not see the color of plants as good. The hard case is cool but not needed. I feel the could have soled me the scope for 80$ if they dint include the lockable hard case. With a lock that can opened by a paper clip. Was a good case to ship it in though so I guess it made sure the thing got here alright. I think most people would be happy with the case though. Good for transportation like in a boat. Can be bounced around a little keeping the scope inside safe and sound. Awesome spotting. First one for me. I just bought 10x42 binoculars and thought it would be cool if a had a spotting scope to see even further. Found one here with 125 times on max zoom for under $150. Normally I think this far of range would be up closer to $400-$1000.. So good buy over all. Good product.. One more thing. The tripod for it. Need an extra 2-3 inches and it would be a perfect small tripod for me. I can lay down in front of it and look straight ahead. I have to lay down at a 90 degree angle from the scope laying on one arm to lift my body some so I can see through it comfortably.

***EDIT Spring 2013*** This scope lasted about 3 months before the insides of the eye-piece fell apart. Email to the company (BARSKA) about a warranty got no response. I haven't tried calling yet to see if I can get through to them that way... I had expected it to last a lot longer than this, even for the price. I had only used it about a dozen times before it broke... I'm not sure that I'm really going to pursue a warranty - I might just save up for a scope closer to $1,000... ***end EDIT*** I was nervous buying a scope that was not more than a tenth the price of most I see in reviews of birding scopes. I was pleasantly surprised that it works quite nicely. I wish the eyepiece had more forgiving eye-relief - I have to take off my glasses to use it. That was expected, but was a detail I had a hard time finding in reviews. As long as I take off my glasses and put my eye right to it, it works great. I still haven't figured out how to take decent digiscoped pictures through it - I don't know if that's just me, or if that's something about how this scope is constructed. It works decently well, but having the focus control be the entire wide ring at the end of the whole scope is a bit inconvenient. Until I got used to it, it felt like I was going to end up disassembling the scope when I turned it. It's definitely not a $3k scope, but I don't think I feel like the ones that are a few thousand are enough better to pay that much more, at this point anyway. By the way, get a real tripod. The one it comes with is just a tiny little table-top thing that really doesn't work well at all. I got "Celestron Heavy-Duty Altazimuth Tripod" - it's definitely overkill, but feels stable, and the controls to rotate and tip it are very sensitive, i.e. you can move it very small amounts. Other tripods I've touched, it's very hard to control it precisely.

BARSKA Benchmark 25-125x88 Waterproof Straight Spotting Scope Amidst all of Amazon's biased or manipulated reviews, do not fall for the 5x star rating's. This falls short of even worth your time. Feels cheap & looks cheap. My optic on my rifle is a 24x50mm and can see farther and clearer than the claimed "25x" zoom which this item did not even reach out to, not could you even make anything out with it it's 100% blurry. Once the dial is set past the "25x" (or 9x is what it should be labeled) zoom mark, everything disappears and it becomes even more useless. I even had tried using it as a paperweight after finding it was useless...and it couldn't even do that as it wouldn't balance properly. I seriously do not understand the ratings this item received it is apparent bribes were given or people are flat out inexperienced in these products in general. Cabela's carries a Barska product and I figured it would fair decent as in the same product line, BUT you get what you pay for and I should've known that. If you're looking for a quality spotting scope plan on spending some $$$.

First of all let me tell you the review on sporttingscopereview.com is completely crap. Don't even read it, it's only going to confuse you. I will try to give a objective review, but it ain't easy, I have mixed feeling about this scope. It's really lightweight, not sure this is a good news or not, but it does help if you have to walk a long distance hiking. The image quality is pretty poor by my standard, at 20x it is ok, at 125x it gets much worse, which, more or less was expected even before I purchased it. Most scopes on the market have a maximum power of 60x, it's simply unrealistic to expect a $100 scope to perform at 2 times of the max power with the same quality. So we know the image quality is bad, the question really boils down to: Is 125x really useful or it's just salesman talk? Well, I will give an answer "yes and no". We went to a bird watching last weekend with the new scope. We also had a 10x50 binoculars and a 15x70 binoculars with us. The weather was great and we had a full sun. Under such condition the 125x does yield more information. At one point we saw a crane caught a snake like creature and was eating it live, everybody crowded before the barska and want to take a peek. On the other hand, under poor light condition, the 125x is pretty much useless. There's a small lighted LCD panel about 50 yards from my house, I usually use it as a yardstick to gauge my optical devices. During night I can barely make out the number on the LCD using either my 10x or 15x binoculars, so I thought it should be a piece of cake for the barska since it has 125x. I was wrong, yes the image did get magnified, but it become so blurry, I still can't make out the number. Actually it was so blurry, initially I thought the scope had focus issue, later I realized the focus is ok, the issue is that the scope couldn't collect enough light to make a clear 125x image. The focus ring is in the front of the lens and it's huge, very very hard to turn, I found it is virtually impossible to focus this thing without shaking the lens. I don't understand why barska make the focus ring so tight, doesn't make any sense! If you are a eyeglasses wearer you need to turn away for something better. The barska at high power has virtually zero eye relief. I found I have to put my eyeballs INSIDE the rubber ring to be able to get a clear view. it's definitely NOT recommended for eye glasses wearer. Some other minor issues, the scope is head heavy and the tripod socket is not in the center of gravity, so when you mount this thing you need to point the scope a little bit higher, then the head will drop a little bit once you let go of your hands -- annoying but not disastrous. The mini-tripod came with is is quite flimsy, but that's not really a major issue either, for spotting scope, you need to buy a very heavy, high quality tripod anyway. So overall the scope does have some major issues, I wish I can spend $3000 on a leica, but that's beyond my reach. If you can overcome some of the issues listed above you can be pretty happy with it and save $2900 for a trip to Alaska, it all depends on HOW you are going to use it. My main usage of this scope is actually at the shooting range, planning to take it out this weekend, I will report back how does it perform. Added Nov 2011: To view my full review: [...]

You can spend any amount of money on optics these days, like you can most things in the outdoor and sporting equipment market. However, if you want a spotting scope with very clear resolution, solid dependable hold and clear viewing even across dim light and rain - as well as on a fine day, then you should seriously consider Barska's offerings. At 18-90x88 you get plenty of light in and the coating prevents reflection very well. Providing you are not an astronomer trying to find water on the moon there is no good reason to find how well you are shooting from 15 to several hundred yards using an expensive Leupold spotting scope - you can name several here. Affordability and quality are what you get with this Barska spotting scope. The high dollar ones will give you the satisfaction of having the most expensive scope on the range - but it won't serve you any better except perhaps to motivate you to put in lot's of overtime at your job. If that is what you want, spend 3K on a scope - while you're working to pay it off I'll be putting holes in 10 rings.