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Pros - Excellent value for spotting .30 shots out to 300 yards - Can even be submerged in water - Includes rainproof hard-cover case along with soft-cover case Cons - Optics aren’t fully multicoated - Limited eye relief - Image becomes blurry beyond 75% magnification

Welcome to my review of the Bushnell Sentry 18×36-50 Spotting Scope. This compact unit is just 14 inches long, and weighs a mere 1.9 pounds. It is built around a 50mm objective lens, which isn’t the largest lens you can find but is adequate for viewing wildlife and spotting bulletholes. Unfortunately, this pint-sized model has tiny eye relief, only offering you 16mm of eye relief.

What Comes in the Box?

You’ll obviously want to know what comes with the spotting scope to see how good the value is, so here is what you can expect to find in the box:

• The Bushnell Sentry 18×36-50 spotting scope itself
• Lens and eyepiece covers
• Tripod
• Soft, view-through carrying case
• Hardshell carrying case

The tripod is junk, as usual. I still wonder why companies bother including tripods with their spotting scopes, if they aren’t going to take the effort to provide an accessory that’s actually useful. On the other hand, the two included carrying cases are top-notch. The hardshell case is even rainproof.

What’s the Magnification of the Scope

Total magnification through this spotting scope ranges from 18X to 36X, adjustable at the eyepiece. You won’t notice too much chromatic aberration, but there is some blue tinting around the periphery of the image. That’s unfortunate, but not altogether unexpected.

The spotting scope’s field of view is a healthy 115 feet at 1,000 yards with 18X magnification, and 75 feet at 36X power. The close focus of this model is 20 feet, which is a bit far for my liking.

How Easy is the Sentry to Use?

You won’t find many spotting scopes that are hard to use, but this one is even easier than most. The magnification wheel is large and knurled for use with or without gloves, as is the focus knob. Even my 10-year-old can use the Sentry without any trouble.

What’s the Light Gathering Capability Like on the Spotting Scope?

With a small 50mm objective lens, this baby wasn’t made to have terrific transmittance. Still, it’s not altogether bad, and I’ve even been able to use the spotting scope during low-light conditions, albeit with some difficulty. I don’t know what the twilight factor is on this scope, but it can’t be too shabby.

How Are the Optics and Focus on This Spotting Scope?

This spotting scope is built around the porro prism design with a straight eyepiece. The prism glass is BaK-4, the best you can get.

One of my complaints with this spotting scope is the use of
multicoated instead of fully multicoating them. This is a small expense, but it works wonders with the light transmission. I also noticed that the image gets almost unacceptably blurry at high magnifications. It’s still quite useful, but you might find yourself getting a headache if you spend too much time looking through the scope at maximum zoom.

There is no phase shift from this model, owing to the use of proper amounts of phase correction coating on the prisms.

What’s the Housing Like on the Spotting Scope?

Bushnell is known for building rock-solid products, durability wise, and the Sentry is no exception. It’s built to last, with rubber armor that provides plenty of shock absorption. The exterior is finely textured, giving you a terrific grip on your glass.

How Durable is the Sentry?

Not only is this spotting scope shock absorbent, but it’s also fogproof and waterproof. Bushnell has sealed the lenses with O-rings, and the optics chamber is properly nitrogen-purged to prevent fogging.