Svbony SV41Pro Mini Mak Spotting Scope, 28-84X80mm Angled Maksutov Spotting Scope, FMC 1.25" Detachable Eyepiece Compatible with SC001 Camera for Aldult Target Shooting Archery Astronomy

I wanted a spotting scope for archery, the requirement is to be pin sharp from 15m to 100m with a plausible zoom, as a sporting scope for me its perfect, nice clear bright image.This is for the Pro version.

I took the scope to Bisley this misty morning and tested it on Century range at 600 yards. I have attached a photo from my phone, the targets are ringed with blue and a photo through the eyepiece with me holding the phone. The clarity with the naked eye was much better and on a clear sunny day I think the view would have been very impressive.Well worth the price. It would be nice to parade a will know brand in front of my peers but why pay £350 when something costing just over £150 does the same job, More money to spend on ammo, or a Vortex rifle sight.

The Svbony SV41 Pro Mak falls into what I would call the better end of the budget range of spotting scopes (around the £200 mark per instrument). So how does it compare with a more conventional refracting (all lens, no mirrors) spotting scope? I will compare it with my Acuter “Nature Close” 20-60x80 refractor spotting scope (sells at around £200). The big differences are in the mass and size; the Mak is about 1.35 kilos, whereas the Acuter is 1.62 kilos. The Mak is 28cm long, the Acuter is 49cm long. So the Mak is a lot more transportable (e.g. it would fit easily in a rucksack). Both are very solidly built and have a quality feel. The image quality is a bit different, but let me say at the outset the difference is very small. The Acuter, like most spotting scopes, has a maximum magnification of 60x, so I will compare with the Mak when they are both set to 60x. Both images are sharp with the colours of the Acuter image a trifle more vivid. Mak images are always slightly washed-out (lower contrast) compared to refractors. The Acuter is more precise in its focus because a small lens is being moved rather than a large mirror. The slow-motion focusing knob on the Mak helps with this but there is still a tiny amount of vagueness about the focusing. The Acuter has an 80mm aperture, so does the Mak, but in the latter case part of the aperture is obscured by the secondary mirror. So the image in the Mak is slightly darker, but only slightly. Above 60x magnification the Mak image becomes darker, a bit more washed-out, and focusing becomes a bit more difficult. However even at the maximum magnification of 84x the Mak is still very useable. At high magnifications you are more likely to have more problems with atmospheric conditions than with the internal optics. There is no discernible chromatic aberration with the Mak, there is some purple fringing with the Acuter on areas of high contrast. The Acuter and the Mak have slight differences, and for this reason I like owning both. If I had to throw one away I’d stick with the Mak because of its compactness.Later addition. I replaced the provided Mak eyepiece with the very reasonably-priced Svbony SV135 zoom eyepiece. There is a very definite improvement in clarity and brightness. According to the usual focal lengths formula, the magnification range is now x38 to x 114. Amazingly, I was just able to make out the type and colour of clothes being worn by hikers on a mountain top 2.4 km away using full magnification. Needless to say the images were poor due to atmospheric turbulence and probably by pushing the optics towards their limits. However, if it is detail you are after it shows that this scope has its uses even at absurdly high magnifications. In practice x80 is probably a sensible maximum with the SV135. I really like this Mak (no buyer's remorse whatsoever). I have owned the non-pro version of this scope (SV41) which is OK, but the pro version is in a different and better class.

What a brilliant little spotting scope good for basic astronomy too. Love it

For sheer portability, this is hard to beat. The scope gives a wonderful clear and bright image. Great for bird watching and also astronomy. Being a Matsukov, it's remarkably aberration free. It has nice smooth two speed focusing, which makes achieving fine focus easy. You can fit a bracket and finder scope to make lining up on targets easier. The included zoom eyepiece has slight vignetting at the extreme edge, but really isn't bad at all for the price. You can swap out the eyepiece for any standard 1.25" and if you use decent eyepieces then the views are really good. My only slight complaint is that the eyepiece holder is a little fiddly to use and tighten, so one star off for that. However, if you just leave the zoom lens in then this isn't a problem.

I took this to the range today for the first time & was left quite disappointed with it in all honesty. My other spotting scope (a celestron) is a fantastic scope that the SVBony just cannot measure up to. That said the celestron cost almost 3 times as much.I find that anything over about 50x on the SVBony is just to dark & fuzzy to see much even if It has the same size front lens as the celestron.I'd say that this spotting scope is ok as a beginner scope for shooting at 100m or so but you would soon want something a bit better.It's a lot smaller & lighter than my celestron & fits in a smaller shooting bag...which I use when I can't spend a lot of Time at the range.

Good scope for the money tripod could be better.