Lomo Astele 60

5.0 Lomo Astele 60mm scope

Small size, high quality, interchangeable eyepieces

Comes with erecting prism, limited field of view

The Astele 60mm spotting scope is a small, high-quality spotting scope made in Russia by LOMO, which is well known for making telescopes, including those used in many observatories. The quality is very high, and since it is a Maksutov design, it is capable of high powers (up to over 100X). It is also all metal (except for the optics of course) and is built like a tank, so it should last for years and years.

Another advantage it has over most other spotting scopes in its price range is that you can use interchangeable eyepieces for any power you want (although it does come with a zoom eyepiece of dubious quality). About the only disadvantage I can think of is that it comes with a built-in erecting prism that can't be replaced, which is good for terrestrial observations (since the image is right-side up), but not so good for looking at the stars and planets, since a small amount of light is lost.