VANGUARD Endeavor HD 65A Angled Spotting Scope with 15-45x Zoom Eyepiece and Stay-On Case

I received this scope a couple of days ago. Light has been poor and although dry there has been a lot of water vapour in the air. Hardly ideal conditions for spotting but I’ve still been quite impressed. At lower magnifications the image is sharp. Get to 40X the image starts to deteriorate at 60X it is fuzzy. You expect that at high magnifications in poor light.Today the light was better and the scopes performance was enhanced. Image quality was much better. Today I loved it and chuckled away at how good it was. Ok, it’s not a Ziess or similar and you won’t get a top end scope for less than £400 but this is a nice, good value for money bit of kit.It’s easy to set up and easy to use. Robust construction. Just get a decent tripod as at the sort of magnification this can produce any slight vibration is going to cause fuzziness.Early days but well pleased so far.Looking forward to the spring and summer.

I've had this scope for about a week. I bought it partly due to the reviews on various websites and forums, as this seemed to be the sub 600 benchmark scopeI also own a pair of Endeavour 8x42 binoculars which are fantastic. That said this scope has left me a little underwhelmed.My first use was in fairness on a day with poor lighting. The image seemed incredibly flat and washed out.I then used the scope a few days later in bright, sunny conditions. This was a big improvement overall (though nowhere near as good an image as my binoculars).What I don't like:The image...it's good up to 30x magnification, but above that there's a visible drop in light transmission and the image becomes blurry.Eye relief is good, but I do sometimes get some vignetting.In some poorer light conditions I've had purple fringing on the lensThe fine focus is very hard to get right.The objective lens cover that's part of the stay-on case has no retainer so it just falls off.The shoulder strap included with the case. It's just nasty.What I do like:The included stay-on case - apart from the objective lens coverNice, easy to remove lens coverRetractable lens hoodWeight/ portabilityI'm currently considering returning the scope. I could cope with the dislikes if it wasn't for the image quality. Overall after being thoroughly impressed with my binoculars, the image of this scope just seems lacking. Maybe I have a defective scope?UPDATE March 15I returned the scope and bought another. This unit sees better, and I can only assume I had a bit of a dud - though doesn't speak volumes for the QC. It's not a massive improvement but it's enough to mean I'm keeping it. It's excellent up to around 40x (the prior one tailed off noticeably at 30x), and acceptable at 60x.

This scope is amazing quality, making good use of the ED glass. Even when fully zoomed in at the tight end (15x to 45x) the resolution is superb across the whole frame. It produces a very bright image with no coloured fringing visible, in my tests at least. At under £300 it represents outstanding value in my view. Having researched significantly more expensive scopes I chose this on the basis of lots of online tests and reviews. I haven't been disappointed. It's also fairly compact and light in use. Coupled with the Vanguard VEO 235AP it is an incredibly cost effective way to buy a high quality bird watching outfit.

On arrival if you shine a light into the front lens, like the one I received you will see very poor lens cleaning on the inside, streaks and all sorts of marks can be seen in the pics. No way of getting into the unit to clean it. Very dissapointed with quality control and most probabley environment they are built in. Compared this to other lenses I have which are pristiene. Would not recommend as not good quality, sending back.Zooming in causes colour fringing, at 60x it wasn't good. 20x was OK but you're not going to get optimum crisp lines with the grime one the lens.

The Vanguard Endeavour is an excellent spotting scope. I am currently monitoring waders on the coast line of Britain and I can observe and count the birds without getting too close and disturb them. The spotting scope still gives a sharp view even in the greatest magnification. Of course, it is not as good as the expensive versions by Leica and Swarovski, but for it's price it is a very good value for money. I can recommend it to anyone, that has to work within a certain budget.

Excellent scope. A lot clearer and brighter than ones I have tried priced above £1000. I would definitely recommend trying the Endeavor HD 82A before wasting your money on a more expensive scope of inferior ability.

had one delivered with a faulty focusing knob but the image quality was good, replaced that with another but then the image quality was poor. All in all for the money you so not expect this from a so called quality product. Ended up buying a second hand Kowa scope for half the price and much better quality

Absolutely fine for a day out spotting wildlife.Okay, you’re not going to get your professionals or rich amateurs using this, but at the price point, it is a very attractive, and usable, little ‘scope.Bit of chromatic fringing, but not distractingly so.Gets a bit fuzzy at long distance, but again, not distractingly so.Getting the cover on is a bit of a faff, but then again, it comes with a cover…So yeah, it’s not the best, but neither is it the most expensive.