NightForce TS-80 20-60X80mm Review: Great Value For The Money

Are you looking for a spotting scope that can do digiscoping, birdwatching, hunting, and light astronomy? A spotting scope that won’t break your bank either? Ok, I am starting to sound like a door to door salesman. NightForce TS 80 is the spotting scope that we are going to review today. 

This is a multipurpose spotting scope. Besides military-related work that requires a reticle, you can do everything with this spotting scope. Let’s talk about this scope in detail.


NightForce TS 80 20-60X80: Outlooks

NightForce TS-80 20-60x80

Specifications | Magnification: 20 – 60x; Objective Lens: 80 mm; Eye Relief: 18.5 mm; Exit Pupil: 4 – 1.3 mm; Linear FOV @1000 yds: 104.8 – 56.77 ft; Length: 14.4 Inches; Weight: 68 Oz.

Build Quality

The build quality of this scope is quite good. Like most other spotting scopes, there is a rubber armor coating protecting it from scratches and drops. 

The housing of this scope is created from aluminum. The inside is nitrogen purged to make the scope fogproof. Without waterproofing, nitrogen purging doesn’t hold much credibility. That’s why NightForce made sure the housing is completely waterproof. 

Optics Quality

Spotting scopes tend to have a high magnification. For high magnification to work well, you need to pair the prism with a good quality glass. That’s why most of the expensive scopes tend to feature ED or HD glass. 

NightForce TS has none of those. You might wonder, how is this scope even good then?

This is where the BaK4 roof design prism and fully multi-coating comes in. If a regular glass is coated with multiple layers of anti-glare coatings. Then that glass will outperform any average glasses. 

The lenses on NightForce TS-80 are fully multi-coated. Alongside the roof design prism, the 80mm objective lens gathers tons of light. As the prism has tons of light to work with, you will get bright and crisp images.

Magnification

NightForce TS 80 can magnify up to 60x. The base magnification is 20x. With a fully multi-coated 80mm objective lens, you will have an excellent magnification experience. Another thing that I loved about this scope is the magnification ring.

The texture on the ring is so sturdy, it’s built differently. The feeling is not comparable with a regular magnification ring either. You need to touch it to understand what I am talking about. 

Digiscoping

Is the NightForce TS-80 20-60x80mm good for digiscoping? This is one of the most asked questions. A lot of you are looking at this scope and thinking this will be your next digiscope. 

NightForce Ts 80 has all the basics that you may want in a digiscoper. It has a 360° rotatable mounting plate. Once you mount this to a tripod. You can use this at any angle you may want. The eyepiece is at a 45° angle. You tilt that towards one side and you get a new angle to take photos.

Unfortunately, you need to buy the required accessories for digiscoping separately. NightForce won’t be giving you any of that. 

Birdwatching And Hunting

When it comes to a spotting scope. Birdwatching and hunting are quite similar. In both scenarios, you will look through the scope for several hours. That’s why hunters always prefer an angled eyepiece over a straight one.

You have more flexibility with an angled eyepiece on a tripod. The 45° angle decline won’t hurt your posture that much. For birdwatching and hunting, this has my full recommendation.


Pros

  • Good build & optics quality.
  • Built-in sunshade.
  • Sturdy zoom and focus ring.
  • Rotatable mounting belt.
  • Good for digiscoping and birdwatching.
  • Virtually indestructible.

Cons

  • No dual focus control.

NightForce TS 80 Review Summary

For the money, NightForce TS 80 20-60x80mm is an excellent scope. Throughout the review, you noticed how good it perform for the money you are paying. This is not a tactical spotting scope. Keep that in mind. For hunting, digiscoping, birdwatching, and a bit of astronomy TS 80 will do more than fine. 

With that said I have to end my NightForce TS 80 review here. I hope you guys found this review useful. If you want to ask anything more about this scope, don’t be shy. Comment on the queries below. Till we meet again. 

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