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Pros - Camera-adaptable - Sight tube for quick targeting - Rugged, waterproof, and fogproof Cons - Does not include a tripod - Image quality poor beyond 25X magnification

Welcome to our review of the Celestron 52250 80mm Ultimate Spotting Scope. Celestron is well known for their high quality telescopes, but how good are their spotting scopes? In our experiences, they’ve been pretty reliable, so we were anxious to review the Celestron 52250 80mm Ultimate Spotting Scope. Let’s see how well this spotting scope performs for us.

What Comes in the Box?

The most important first question about any spotting scope is whether it includes everything you need to get started. The Celestron 52250 80mm Ultimate Spotting Scope comes with the following items in the box:

• Celestron 52250 80mm Ultimate Spotting Scope
• Soft carrying case

That’s all you get. There is no tripod or tripod adapter included, but the Celestron 52250 80mm Ultimate Spotting Scope will work with any standard tripod. I had hoped the spotting scope would include at least a tabletop tripod, but that is not the case.

What’s the Magnification of the Celestron 52250 80mm Ultimate Spotting Scope

This spotting scope features an 80mm objective lens, which provides magnification from 20X to 60X. You zoom via the eyepiece, and the zoom wheel works nicely and smoothly to let you focus in and then bring your target right up to you. The resolution and clarity of the image, unfortunately, is not what I would expect from Celestron. Beyond 25X magnification, images become hazy and the black dots on white paper appear to have red and blue rings around them.

How Easy is the Celestron 52250 80mm Ultimate Spotting Scope to Use?

The Celestron 52250 80mm Ultimate Spotting Scope is very easy to use, with a comfortable 45º angled eyepiece. The zoom and focus knobs move smoothly and comfortably. There is also a sight tube for quick targeting, which allows you to easily line up your target with the naked eye before panning around to fine-tune your target image.

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

The light gathering capability of the Celestron 52250 80mm Ultimate Spotting Scope is decent, and I’ve used it to view the moon on several occasions. The image of the moon was quite bright, but without any haloing or ghosting. Unfortunately, zooming past 25X on my stargazing experiment resulted in quite a bit of haloing around the moon and other celestial bodies.

When I used the spotting scope at the range in the early morning hours, the spotting scope provided a bright enough image to make out my shots on the target paper. The blue and red circles around the black holes is annoying, but does not impede the ability to see where your shot placement is. I have not used this spotting scope in any hunting situations, since I prefer straight-eyepiece spotting scopes in the field, but I expect it would do a good job of helping you spot deer or other wildlife in the brush.

How Are the Optics and Focus on This Spotting Scope?

The Ultimate 80mm features multi-coated optics, but not fully multi-coated. The optics provide a decent image at low magnification, but the quality drops off dramatically beyond 25X magnification. The barrel is nitrogen-filled, so you do not have to worry about the lenses fogging up on you.

The focus knob and zoom knob move very smoothly, though, allowing you to quickly and easily focus on your target before you zoom in.

Field of view through the Celestron 52250 80mm Ultimate Spotting Scope is 105 feet at 1,000 yards with 20X magnification, and 52 feet at 1,000 yards zoomed all the way in to 60X magnification. The eye relief on this spotting scope is quite good, at 18mm, making it easy to use the scope with or without eyeglasses. Close focus range of the spotting scope is 26.2 feet, which means you need to be a good ways from your target to focus sharply on the subject.

What’s the Housing Like on the Spotting Scope?

The housing of the Celestron 52250 80mm Ultimate Spotting Scope is rubber-coated, providing some protection against drops and falls. The spotting scope has a tripod socket on the bottom, and the spotting scope is camera adaptable if you want to use the scope with your DSLR camera. The adaptor to connect your camera is not included, however.

How Durable is the Celestron 52250 80mm Ultimate Spotting Scope?

Celestron backs the Celestron 52250 80mm Ultimate Spotting Scope with a limited lifetime warranty, and the scope is pretty rugged. I’ve dropped this spotting scope more times than I care to admit, and nothing has changed in how well the scope performs. The housing is waterproof and fogproof, allowing you to use the spotting scope in inclement weather without worrying about damaging it or having fogging on the lenses.