Review: viking Optical Swallow ED 20-60x80 spotting scope
13 December 2021
By Stuart Hamilton
By Stuart Hamilton
The original Viking Swallow telescope was an excellent value for money instrument for around the £200 mark. Now though, the 2.0 Swallow model has received a full design makeover and component upgrade, complete with ED glass. Available to buy for just under £500, the burning question is - does it still offer the same value for money? Let's find out...
What's in the box?
- Swallow ED 20-60x80 Spotting Scope
- Stay-on Case
- Rubber Rain Guard
- Comfort Carrying Strap
- Rubber Objective Lens Cover
- Microfibre Cloth
Images...
Viking have already equipped the new Kestrel ED binoculars and their top-end Peregrine ED binoculars with ED 'Extra-low Dispersion' glass objective lenses. This quality glass really helps with stray light and fringing and is a massive tick-in-the-box for birdwatchers when choosing new optical equipment these days. As a production material, ED glass is more expensive than the standard glass used in optics and this is important when thinking of upgrading your optics as it generally means the light gathering power is very good and on another level to models without.
The 80mm objective lens on the Swallow ED's comes with a 20x60 zoom eyepiece and gives a great field of view. You get lots of magnification power for your money with sharp and colourful images coming back in return - even in poor light. Eye relief is around 18-20mm so spectacle wearers get most of the field of view aswell. At this price point, it is hard to find any fault with the images on display.
Coatings...
The prisms on the Swallow ED are dielectric coated. For those that don't know... dielectric coating is a wafer thin prism coating that provides high reflectivity across the entire range of visible light and acts as a dielectric mirror in essence. This provides both sharper colours, minimal (if any) fringing and crisper images. The original Swallow model didn't have this X factor of course, but the new Swallow ED's do and it makes viewing so much more pleasurable!
Performance and handling...
The two-geared focus system is a joy to use and is a huge upgrade. So, one for fast focusing and another for fine focusing - this gives the birder much better options to hone in on birds at higher magnification and their sudden movements than opposed to using a more traditional and cheaper scope model with an older system. On the day of testing, various ducks - being good value - allowed me to get some superb detail and clarity from a long way away and when scanning Pylons for a peregrine, it was apparent the power on display from the ED's and the focus system made things easier to sharpen up.
We have to mention the weight of the Swallows as it is a key selling point. This scope must be one of the lightest on the market quite frankly. Made with a polycarbonate body material, it was really easy to carry about and would no doubt make a huge difference to those of a certain age such as myself. When flung over the shoulder, carried quickly on a tripod to a fleeing rarity, or in the bag for a long trek - weight really does become a noticeable factor these days when considering optical buying decisions.
Protection...
The stay-on-case provided is of good, padded and robust quality and we would imagine over a long period of time - would offer you good protection from the elements and inevitable accidents in the field. The lightness of the Swallow scope does of course mean that windy conditions may force you to keep a more stringent eye on proceedings when you're not looking through the scope, but that is unfortunately par for the course with British weather. The model is fully waterproof and comes with a 10 year guarantee from Viking Optical.
Can you use it for Phonescoping?
Yes you can! There is a smartphone adapter available from Viking that you can easily clip on and use for Phonescoping through the Swallow ED's but we didn't use it for the purpose of this review however. (Mainly, because it wasn't in the goody bag!)
Verdict
The Swallow ED 20-60x80 scope is outstanding kit for the money. It is a super-lightweight champion - combining powerful, sharp images with clever features and protection from the elements all in one box.
★★★★★★★★★ 8.5/10
Testing scores
- Design: ★★★★★★★★★ 8.5/10
- Performance: ★★★★★★★★★ 8.5/10
- Durability: ★★★★★★★★ 8/10
- Weight: ★★★★★★★★ 9/10
- Value: ★★★★★★★★★ 8.5/10
📦 Buy now: vikingoptical.com
🏷 Price: £499.00
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