Swarovski ATC/STC 56mm £1,820

A travel scope that still delivers great views, and can even be used hand-held? Sounds unbelievable, so we took a first look

Unveiled in September, the Swarovski ATC/STC is their lightest scope to date, but still packs an optical punch. Extremely compact, it has a length of 258-285mm and a weight of just 970g-980g – easily small enough to fit in a backpack. It’s available as an angled or straight scope, with two colours to choose from – burnt orange or the classic green.

The optics don’t lack in quality, despite the low size and weight, with 17-40x magnification and a 56mm objective lens. The image has a large field of view, with very little edge distortion. The colours are vivid, and the image produced is bright and sharp.

With all those factors, I was surprised that the price was relatively reasonable for a high-end scope.

Now that more and more birders are wildlife photographers too, many of us often carry a lot of kit, including a camera, long lens, and a heavy scope. To be able to have this across your shoulder, using the provided carrying strap, is an added bonus.

If you have steady hands, you can hold it up and look at your subject without anything to support it, although placing it on a fencepost or against a tree will keep it more stable. You won’t necessarily do it a lot, but it would be practical in faster-paced birding situations.

Strong and stable

A ‘half-shell’ furthers the scope’s ability to be positioned anywhere for viewing, also protecting its underside from any scratches or dirt whilst doing so, although I found the focus wheel was a bit stiff to move when this was attached.

For someone like me that enjoys birding at estuaries and wetlands which require extreme stability for scanning across, I believe a tripod is needed, however. This would certainly be required for something like sea-watching, where your arms would begin to ache if you held it for too long.

With most tripods being quite heavy this

SPECS:

Eye relief: 20mm

Field of view: 62-34m@1000m

Close focus: 3.4m

Weight: 970g

Length: 258mm

RRP: From £1,820

Web: swarovskioptik.com