Shop
Latest Posts
Spotting Scopes
Spotting scopes are an essential tool in every birder's backpack. The Smithsonian Great Outdoors Spotting Scope is the perfect mix of size, features, and value for serious birding. Order yours today, we'll ship it today.
Eventually, every hunter and birder invests in a spotting scope.
Why?
Because it gives greater magnification and stability than any binocular. It brings you closer to your subject - twice as close as the Smithsonian birding binocular you can find here. And probably because it's fun to have more gear for their favorite pastime.
There are a lot of spotting scopes out there. Some come with a gigantic magnification range (up to 60X magnification, which is a pretty wild number that makes for an expensive spotting scope), and some that aim to be more portable than a monocular or binocular.
We found (and a lot of birdwatching hobbyists agree) that the 20X-60X magnification in the Smithsonian Great Outdoors Spotting Scope set gives you the best mix of high magnification, portability, and low light performance of any bird spotting scope.
A birding scope that can do a lot
One of the reasons this type of scope is so great for birding is the zoom lens.
With the zoom eyepiece users can switch between 20X, 40X, and 60X magnification power for a better look at far distant birds.
Even at maximum zoom and in low light conditions, birders get a bright, clear look at the subject of their interest.
That's owing to the large, 60mm front objective lens. A larger objective lens lets in more light than a smaller one. More light reaches the eyepiece and you get a better look at the pelican fishing on the other side of the marsh.
Eventually, every hunter and birder invests in a spotting scope.
Why?The most important feature at more than 20X magnification
The glass lenses in your bird spotting scope keep the image sharp at higher magnification. Some glass creates color fringing, which puts a weird colorful glow around your subject.
To eliminate that, every Smithsonian birding spotting scope uses a fully multi coated lens and a bak4 prism.
Lots of manufacturers conveniently neglect to tell consumers the type of prism is in the bird spotting scope they're about to purchase. But if you plan to zoom beyond 20X (and if you have a spotting scope that goes to 60X, we hope you use it to the fullest!), the glass and prism are super important.
And some features for comfort
Every eyeglass wearer looking down the objective lens knows about eye strain. So to provide some eye relief to eyeglass wearers, a twist-up eyepiece allows you to adjust your view, eliminating instances of black spots when looking through the spotting scope lens - without any impact on the exit pupil, so your view is just as wide as users without glasses.
An angled eyepiece makes the spotting scope more comfortable for use with the included tripod and better for bird watching. For real? Yes, for real!
To look at a bird in the sky using a straight spotting scope, you have to crane your neck up. And tracking a bird across the sky using your tripod can be tough. With an angled scope and a tripod (or no tripod) you can track the bird comfortably for as long as it wants to stay aloft.
Made for the outdoors
You use your spotting scope in the outdoors, so it should be built to work there.
Smithsonian spotting scopes are waterproof, fog proof, and built to withstand hard use in hard conditions.
Purchase your bird spotting scope together with your birding binoculars and shipping is on us. We'll get it out the door today so you can start enjoying your new gear in just a couple days.
We couldn't find any product!
No product defined in category Optics / Spotting Scopes.
The World's Largest Microscope Store, You can Trust Microscope.com
More than 400 universities spanning every corner of the U.S. trust Microscope.com to deliver value to their programs, so students can learn and scientists can push the boundaries of their research.
8 of the top 10 medical device manufacturers in the U.S. do their most innovative work, develop their most cutting-edge designs, and scrutinize every quality control standard with tools from us.
Businesses exploring the limits of technology and human understanding like Tesla, Apple, Google, Facebook, and organizations on the bleeding edge, like NASA and the NIH, use our instruments every single day.
Join Our Newsletter Now
Sign up for all the news about our latest arrivals and get an exclusive early access shopping.
Be the first to find out all the latest news, products and trends.