Opticron MM3 15-45x60 ED Spotting Scope Straight - HDF Eyepiece

Opticron MM3 60 ED Spotting Scope Review

The Opticron MM3 60 ED spotting scope is the newly released big brother to the extremely popular Opticron MM3 50 ED travelscope.

The similarities are immediate. The Opticron MM3 60 ED has the same rubber armor and overall shape as the 50mm model, and is only about 5 ounces heavier. Total length without eyepiece is just under 10 inches (9.75 inches/24.5 cm), making this model almost as compact as the original. This makes it perfect for the hunter or birder who is looking for a powerful, professional grade spotting scope with ultra mobility. Throw it in your backpack or leave it on your tripod, because even with the HDF zoom eyepiece attached, the whole unit still only weighs about 34 ounches. Probably lighter than your tripod!

Just like the original model, the Opticron MM3 60 ED includes both fast and fine focus adjustments. The fast focus is quick enough to move through the focusing range, and the fine focus is extremely fine. This makes it very easy to zero in on a bird or other animal at any range relatively quickly.

In a side by side test with the Opticron MM3 50 ED, the MM3 60 ED was once confused for its smaller sibling (oops!) We set up both on an overcast day with the Opticron HDF zoom eyepiece attached to each. Clarity and sharpness are just as good with the 60 ED as they are with the baby MM3. That is to say, excellent. We are repeatedly amazed that Opticron has managed to put this much performance into such a small package.

There is a distinct lack of any chromatic aberration, and the sharpness continues to the very edge of the sight picture. We were expecting nothing less.

At the minimum HDF eyepiece power, the Opticron MM3 60 ED has a slightly higher magnification due to the increased size of the objective lens (15x on the 60 ED vs 12x on the 50 ED). This continues all the way through the mangification range, and final magnification is a whopping 45x, compared to just 36x on the 50mm model.

There is one major improvement in the 60mm model over the little guy, though you might not notice if you were not comparing side-by-side. On the maximum magnification setting, one might expect the image to be slightly darker due to the higher magnification offered by the combination of HDF eyepiece and 60mm objective. However, much to our surprise, the 1cm of additional aperture seems to lead to an improvement in brightness. Meaning you not only get more magnification, the image is brighter as well!

From what we can see, Opticron took the MM3 50 ED and just made it better, without sacrificing the size and versatility that made it popular in the first place. The Opticron MM3 60 ED is another product from Opticron that we will endorse 100%.