Optics4Birding.com: Brandon Reviews

The following comments are the opinions of the writers. We're publishing them here with the permission of their authors, with minor edits for clarity or brevity. If you would like to submit a comment, send me an email.

I took the scope up to the Bird Show in Cape May last week. I received no negative comments and sold several. Peter Dunn kindly stopped by and we talked about for a few mimutes. He called the optics "superlative". The scope has some interesting characteristics:

1. To achieve a true 65 degree field, you must have spherical aberration. Its a law of physics issue not a production problem. I supply eyepieces that are flat field, but they would be about 45-48 degree field. A 65 deg. FOV has twice the observing area over a 45 degree FOV. A curved field is what you live with to get a very wide field. At 15X, the Brandon has 53% greater viewing area over the top of the line Leica and Kowa and 103% increase over the Teleview Ranger with the Zoom eyepiece.

2. It is not an apochromat. Its good up to about 70X, then the color shows. That was by design. It is optimized for the 15x-40x range.

3. It can change from telephoto, to spotter, to telescope in 5 seconds. A complete scope with all the attachments for all three versions I sell for $1280. Most other scopes would be well over $2000 if because of the proprietary products required. I supply eyepieces that range from $49 to $250. The Nikon, Leica, Steiner, Zeiss start at $200. Fully outfitting a Brandon won't break your wallet.

4. It uses standard accessories. Unlike ALL of the major birding scopes use only proprietary eyepieces and accessories. Which means that are expensive and limited. The Brandon can except over 1000 different eyepieces and accessories. As an example, I noticed that one famous scope maker had a camera adapter for $249. The camera adapter for the Brandon costs $35. My guess is that most scopes in 10 years will use a standard design. The shake out from proprietary designs to universally accepted standards happened in the telescope industry in the 1980's. All of the Teleview Ranger accessories can be used on the Brandon with no adapters. Its the wave of the future. Bet on it. With the Brandon there is no need to sell your eyepieces and accessories if you get a new scope.

5. You can use the scope with glasses on. Many people have astigmatisms that are only corrected with prescription glasses. A rubber eyecup is coming in December and can be retrofitted for the scopes already sold.

6. You can add filters to improve the image. Polarizing for glare and fog, amber for low light and numerous filters for photography. All are standard sizes, all available at you local camera shop. No special attachments.

7. Because it is so short and light, you can use it on a smaller tripod. I sell Bogen and the Kowa requires a tripod that costs $250 more.

8. It has a smaller profile and is round. It does not act like a sail in the wind. At the Bird show a Kowa and a Leica were out on the deck next to mine. There were gusts up to about 15mph. I had a smaller tripod (same brand) and it still was steadier.

Gary Hand, 12 November 1997.