Emarth 20-60x60AE Waterproof Angled Spotting Scope Review

Emarth 20-60x60AE Waterproof Angled Spotting Scope

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Pros

- Fully multicoated optics
- Waterproof and fogproof
- Lightweight and rugged

Cons

- Focus and zoom wheels turn too easily
- Poor image quality at higher magnifications
- Included tripod might as well have not been included

Well hey there, I’m checking out the Emarth 20–60×60 Spotting Scope today. Emarth is a new manufacturer to me, so I’m anxious to see what this particular glass has to offer. It features a 60mm objective lens and an angled eyepiece, allowing for comfortable viewing. Let’s look a bit closer (get the pun?) and see how well it compares to the competition.

What Do I Get For My Money?

One of the first things you should know about any spotting scope you’re thinking about buying is what else you need to get. This model comes with the following items in the box:

  • The Emarth spotting scope
  • A tabletop tripod
  • A carrying bag
  • Lens caps
  • User’s manual

Like many of the included tripods, this one’s a throwaway. Thin, metal legs without stabilizers or levelers and poor pan controls make for something that’s going to be more frustrating than useful. Get a good photography tripod, and you’ll be golden.

The carrying case is quite well made, and definitely protects your investment when you aren’t using the spotting scope.

How Powerful Is This Spotting Scope?

The 60mm objective lens provides you with magnification from 20X to 60X, which is quite impressive and useful for plenty of purposes. At lower magnification levels, the image is very good, but the more you zoom in, the worse things get. After about 40–50X, the image becomes quite blurry and almost impossible to focus crisply, so I wouldn’t recommend this for high-power work like sighting in a rifle beyond 250 yards.

Eye relief is another problem here, as it’s a mere 13.5mm to 17mm, depending on magnification. This can be a real problem if you wear eyeglasses, and even without glasses you might notice your eyelashes obscuring your view.

Field of view is also rather limited, likely because of the amount of magnification being forced through a smallish objective lens. You’ll only be able to see from 62 to 127 feet at 1,000 yards, which is barely adequate for finding birds but quite serviceable if you’re sighting in a rifle.

How Easy is the Emarth 20–60×60 Spotting Scope to Use?

Emarth has provided a central focusing knob and eyepiece control over the zoom level. I’m not a huge fan of central focusing knobs (I prefer them on the side of the glass), but it’s still somewhat easy to use. Unfortunately, these knobs have far too little resistance and too much play, so getting a good, crisp image is hit or miss and keeping it that way is just as tentative. You’ll also notice that the tripod mount for the spotting scope doesn’t rotate, so you cannot adjust the eyepiece orientation for ideal positioning.

What’s the Light Gathering Capability Like?

This spotting scope wasn’t designed for backyard astronomy, but it does have faily decent light gathering capabilities. The optics are fully multicoated, so you get a clear view at lower magnifications and plenty of brightness. If you want to view the moon’s craters or look for game in low light conditions, the Emarth device will work just fine.

How Are the Optics and Focus on This Spotting Scope?

As previously mentioned, the optics are fully multicoated. Emarth has designed this spotting scope with a porro prism design, but they’ve used BK–7 glass for some insane reason. There also doesn’t appear to be enough phase correction coating applied to the prisms, since images become quite hazy and tinted at higher levels of magnification. I really hate this kind of phase shift.

How Good Is the Housing?

The chassis is rugged but lightweight, offering you plenty of impact resistance with the rubberized coating. The controls are well-knurled and placed appropriately, and they’re large enough to easily handle even when you’re wearing gloves.

How Durable is the Scope?

You’ve got shock resistance, making the glass able to survive a fall, and Emarth has also made the spotting scope both waterproof and fogproof, sealing the lenses with O-rings and nitrogen-purging the optical chamber.

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Emarth 20-60x60AE Waterproof Angled Spotting Scope Review Summary

Thanks for reading this spotting scope review. Emarth makes a decent enough piece of glass, but it’s certainly not perfect. The focus and magnification wheels spin far too easily, eye relief is poor, and image quality seriously suffers at upper magnifications. It’s a budget spotting scope, sure, but other equivalent models far much better.

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Jeff Byrnes

This post was written by

Hi there! I’m Jeff, an avid outdoorsman and hunter who really likes exploring new technology. I’m especially into hunting optics, which is why I’m writing these reviews! I hope you find my articles helpful in your own shooting and hunting.


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