I decided on the Zeiss 65 FL almost three years ago. I wanted a waterproof, portable scope with zoom eyepiece, that could withstand the toughest field use. I'm not the least bit disappointed , I use the scope almost daily and it lives up to the expectations every single time out in the field. The view is very wide, 56 meters on a 1000 m at 15x, 26 meters on a 1000m at 45x, very bright and very sharp. At 15x the edge sharpness is a bit soft, but by zooming in a bit this effect disappears and the wide view is sharp to the edge. I prefer the zoom eyepiece to the fixed 30x eyepiece I also own, the 45x I even use for seawatching. There are two focussing wheels for course and fine focussing on top of the scope, easy to reach; the course focussing wheel is too stiff to use comfortably, it has not loosened up in the past 3 years; the fine focusser is nice and smooth. The scope body is all metal, which is a nuisance in winter to handle without gloves, even in early mornings in summer it's a cold touch; so I bought the Zeiss neoprene stay on cover that fits like a glove and the problem is solved. From comparisons with other small top end scopes in the field I learned that the Zeiss is on par with these or better IMO; none had as wide a view that the Zeiss provides, it's quite easy to track flying birds or to scan the sky for raptors. On the day of purchase I compared it to a Swarovski 65 non-HD with angled zoom eyepiece also, and I found I could see more details on a testcard 100 feet away with the 45x of the Zeiss than with 60x of the Swarovski; it was much brighter also. Needless to say I bought the Zeiss instantly, thoroughly pleased with the optical excellence I had been looking for. O, I almost forget to mention a close focus of 4 meters; not really necessary, but great fun to have sometimes!
I trust this scope will give me great views of a great many birds well into the 21st century.
Greetings, Ronald Sinoo Content and images originally posted by KorHaan
