Well, my quest for an inexpensive spotting scope has ended for the moment. Today in the mail I received my NC star 20x60x60 for the huge sum of $69.95 plus $7 shipping. I proceeded to unpackage it with the fervor of a kid at Christmas. Was this underpriced wonder good enough, too good to be true, or not worth the cost of postage?

Inside I found the scope well wrapped and the " free " laser sighting device was attatched with batteries were included. I unwrapped them and installed. Rats, cheap chinese laser does not work. As this was touted as free, it was worth exactly what it cost. I then took the scope out of the reasonably nice soft carry case and took out the cheap but reasonably sturdy chinese tripod. Attatched scope and opened the reasonably sound flip up lens cap and rubber occular lens cover. The occular was stiff in its range of adjust ment but not unmanageable and actually better than others I've seen. At least it was not loose and felt like it would fall off. The scope is also rubber armored so the resistance is likely rubber to rubber friction.

As the light was fading fast I took a quick peek at the trees in my back yard under late dusk conditions I could discern small branches and twigs on the lowest power setting and it focused fine. All in all it seems well made for the price. I will report further when I have had a chance to get to the range this weekend. The true test will be normal overcast conditions and how well I can see bullet holes on black paper ( at least I hope they are in the black part ) until then, so far so good.

Went to the range today. The weather was overcast, the ground was snow covered temp about 25F. very flat afternoon light and shooting from west to east. The scope worked well. I set targets at 100 and 200 yards and leaving the scope at about 40x I could easily see my .22 cal holes. The target was one of those orage/white sight in targets with the grid squares. At 200 I did dial in the scope to 60x but lost some of the brightness, I backed off the occular to about 45x and it was bright again , I had no trouble seeing .22 holes in the papter. I think it would do better in better lighting conditions but it was certainly acceptable here. Now as to the tripod. It is a cheap POS but for table top use was adequate. I will certainly shop around to replace it in the future. Overall I am pleased with this scope for the money. It is not a Nikon, Kowa or other large $$$ scope, but it was not junk either. I can live with the laser not working as I can't imagine it being of any value at 100+ yards anyway. I also have to give positive points to the carrying case with shoulder strap. It was easy to use and it holds the scope and folded tri pod. This made lugging from car to bench much easier. The scope is also advertised as waterproof and is rubber armored, more than enough to deflect the 2 empties that bounced off of it without any damage. Eye relief was not great, but there is a rubber eye cup and I was able to use this and see well without straining. Over all, this scope seems a good bargain. With the lifetime warranty there is not much to lose here. I think I will keep it and it seems to fill my needs well.