56 Birdwatch•October 2017 http://www.birdguides.com/birdwatch

EQUIPMENT

Your trusted guide to what’s new in birding: http://www.birdguides.com/reviews

Is small beautiful?

Now more compact, Hawke’s traditional Nature-Trek spotting scopes have been

redesigned and upgraded. Mike Alibone sees how the smallest model measures up.

REVIEW

Hawke Nature-Trek 16-48x65 telescope

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Weighing just 1,130 g, I found

the 65-mm model remarkably

light. This weight includes the

eyepiece, which is attached

to the body through a simple

screw-thread. The textured rubber

covering extends over and adds

protection to the rear and lower

sections of the BAK-4 prism

housing. The lens hood pulls out

Body is shorter and more compact

than previous model

Magnifi cation adjustment wheel turns smoothly

Textured rubber armouring

protects lower section

Fully multi-coated optics

used throughout

smoothly and easily.

When the thumb-screw is

disengaged, the tripod foot

rotates through approximately

225º and there are  ve very

subtle, equally spaced click-in

points in the turning arc, along

which the screw can be used

effectively at any point to secure

the foot in any desired position.

When attaching the scope to

a tripod head I discovered that,

although the chassis alone is

model has also been made much

lighter.

Another enhancement is the

move away from a  xed tripod

foot to one which rotates. The

optical system has been tweaked,

too, creating a much closer near-

focus distance of 3.5 m, which

make the two models Hawke’s

closest-focusing telescopes.

COMPRISING just two models,

Hawke’s Nature-Trek telescope

range has been on the market

since the beginning of the

decade. As a result of the

models’ recent upgrade, these

‘new’ scopes can be described

as having a modern colour, as

well as sporting a shorter, more

compact chassis; the 20-60x80

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1710 p56-57 Expert reviews optics v3.indd 56 14/09/2017 11:37:46