Celestron Regal 80 F-ED 3.1"/80mm Spotting Scope Kit

The Celestron Regal 80 F-ED Spotting Scope is a fully waterproof, armored device accepting any conventional 1.25" astronomy eyepiece, delivered with a zoom ocular.  Celestron's been making premium scopes for awhile now, and the Regal F shows much in the way of evolution:  the sunshade hood now telescopes and has a rotating sighting aid, the tripod collar now rotates as well, and they made the eyepieces interchangeable.  The supplied eyepiece also features a T-threading just under the eyeguard; merely add a T-mount for your SLR camera to digiscope directly through the eyepiece.

But the Regal 80 F-ED's best improvement is that one of the objective elements now contains fluorite, a costly crystal material which goes a long way towards achieving true apochromatic color correction.  Whenever light's harsh and contrasty, or when a colorful bird is cast against an overwhelming drab gray background, the fluorite will help define those edges of subject and background like no other element can.

For their flagship Regals, Celestron chose to only produce angled scopes.  Angled scopes are much easier to share amongst a group of observers and are generally regarded as giving a more relaxed, comfortable observing position unless you're elevated more than 45° above a subject.  It takes some experience to quickly locate subjects.

The Regal 80 F-ED's 80mm diameter objective lens helps to provide a bright, superior image in nearly any light, without making the scope impossibly heavy to take upon a hike.  With a practical pan/tilt head tripod and scope with eyepiece together, you'll still likely be below 10 pounds of total weight - easily taken upon the less ardent excursions.