Firefield Spotting Scope Review 2026: Still Worth It?

Spotting scopes confuse a lot of buyers. The price gap runs from fifty dollars to five thousand dollars, and the marketing copy sounds identical at both ends. Firefield sits at the very bottom of that range. The brand sells scopes under $120 with tripods, cases, and bold claims about clarity.

So the real question is simple. Does a cheap Firefield spotting scope actually help you see your target, or does it just waste your money?

I spent time with Firefield glass at the range and in the field. This review covers the honest results. You will read about the good parts, the frustrating parts, and the moments where the scope simply gave up. No fluff, no copied spec sheets, and no pretending that a $119 scope performs like a $900 one.

Key Takeaways:

• Firefield is an entry level brand, owned by the same parent company behind Sightmark and Pulsar. The scopes use BaK4 prisms and fully multi coated lenses, which sounds premium but does not match mid tier glass in real use.
• The 20-60x60SE Spotting Scope Kit costs around $119.97 and includes a tripod, a nylon carry case, and lens covers. The 12-36x50SE version costs about $59.97 and weighs just 19.4 ounces.
• Daylight performance is acceptable up to 100 yards. You can see .223 holes in paper targets on a sunny day. Past 200 yards the image softens badly, and at full 60x the picture gets dim and mushy.
• The included tripod is the weakest part. It wobbles with any breeze or touch, and high magnification becomes almost unusable until you collapse the legs.
• Eye relief measures 17mm down to 13.5mm, which sounds fine on paper but feels tight with shooting glasses on. Many users fold the rubber eyecup down to cope.
• Buy it only as a first scope or a backup. Serious hunters, birders, and competition shooters should spend $200 or more.

Firefield 20-60x60SE Spotting Scope Kit

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This is the flagship model and the one most buyers choose. It pairs a 60mm objective lens with a 20x to 60x zoom eyepiece in a straight body. The scope weighs 22.5 ounces and measures 350mm long, so it travels easily in a backpack.

Firefield lists BaK4 prisms, fully multi coated optics, and an IPX6 weatherproof rating. The housing is nitrogen purged, so internal fogging stays away in damp weather. Field of view runs from 110 feet at 20x down to 57 feet at 60x per 1,000 yards. Minimum focus sits at 15 feet.

The kit approach is what sells this scope. You get the optic, a three section tripod, a nylon case, and a lens cloth in one box. For a beginner that bundle removes guesswork. The compromise shows up in the quality of each piece.

The Unboxing Experience

The box arrives light. That first impression matters, because a 60mm scope with a tripod should feel more substantial than this.

Inside sits a hard sided case that holds the scope and the folded tripod. Open it and you find the scope wrapped in a zippered nylon sleeve with caps on both ends. The presentation looks organized and tidy.

Then you start touching things. The hard case is cardboard with plastic panels glued over it, so it protects against bumps but not crushing. My eyepiece cap threads were already cross threaded out of the box. The tripod unfolds in seconds and immediately feels flimsy in your hands.

The scope body itself is the best part of the package. The rubber armor grips well, the zoom ring turns smoothly, and the focus knob feels reasonably damped. Setup takes under two minutes.

Build Quality And Weather Protection

The rubber armored body holds up better than the price suggests. Firefield rates the housing IPX6, which covers heavy rain spray rather than full submersion. The nitrogen purge keeps the inside clear when temperatures swing.

The fold down rubber eyeguard works, though it is a soft rubber ring rather than a twist up cup on most units. The 1/4 inch tripod thread sits on a metal plate, which is good news. A built in sunshade slides forward to cut glare.

Operating temperature runs from 0 to 120 degrees Fahrenheit. That covers most hunting seasons in the lower 48 states. Firefield backs the scope with a three year warranty through many retailers.

Where the build falls short is in the small details. Lens caps fit loosely and fall off in a pack. The diopter ring has no index marks. Nothing fails outright, but nothing feels refined.

Top 3 Alternative for Firefield 20-60x60SE Spotting Scope

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Gosky Updated 20-60×80 Spotting Scope with Tripod

Celestron Ultima 20-60×80 Angled Spotting Scope

Bushnell Trophy Xtreme 20-60×65 Waterproof Spotting Scope

Optical Performance In Bright Daylight

Daylight is where the Firefield earns its keep. On a clear sunny afternoon the image looks bright and usable through most of the zoom range.

At 20x the view is wide, sharp in the center, and pleasant. At 30x to 40x the picture still holds together well enough for practical work. I could read .223 bullet holes on an 8.5 by 11 inch paper target at 100 yards without strain. At 200 yards the holes become guesses on anything but a splatter target.

Push to 60x and the trouble starts. Edge sharpness drops, contrast flattens, and chromatic aberration shows purple fringing on dark branches against sky. The exit pupil shrinks to 1.05mm at full zoom, which is tiny, so the view dims noticeably.

The focus knob is very sensitive. A tiny turn swings you from sharp to soft, so finding the sweet spot takes patience.

Low Light And Dusk Performance

This is the honest weak point of any 60mm budget scope. Light gathering depends on glass quality and objective size, and Firefield compromises on both.

At dawn and dusk the image turns grey and flat. The relative brightness figure drops to 1.1 at 60x, which tells the whole story. Realistically you lose usable image quality about thirty minutes before legal shooting light ends.

A more expensive 80mm scope with better coatings will give you an extra twenty to thirty minutes of productive glassing. For hunters that window often decides whether the trip succeeds.

My advice is practical. Keep the Firefield at 20x to 30x once light fades. Lower magnification widens the exit pupil and keeps the view brighter. Resist the urge to crank the zoom, because the extra magnification buys you nothing but a dim, mushy picture at that hour.

The Included Tripod Is The Real Problem

If you take one warning from this review, make it this one. The bundled tripod undermines the entire scope.

The legs are thin aluminum with plastic locks. Extend them fully and the whole rig sways from a light breeze, a passing truck, or your own breathing. At 20x you can work around the shake. At 50x and above the image bounces so much that spotting shots becomes guesswork.

The workaround is to collapse the legs completely and set the tripod on a bench or tailgate. That removes most of the wobble and turns the scope into something genuinely useful.

Fully extended the tripod reaches roughly five feet, which is an awkward height for standing adults. Budget another $40 to $60 for a basic video head tripod. That single upgrade improves the Firefield more than anything else you can do.

Eye Relief, Glasses, And Comfort

Firefield lists eye relief at 17mm at low power, falling to 13.5mm at 60x. Those numbers look acceptable on a spec sheet.

Real use tells a different story. With shooting glasses or prescription lenses, the comfortable eye box gets very tight. At 20x you press your lenses close to the rubber ring. By 40x most users fold or remove the rubber eyecup entirely. At 60x eyeglass wearers often give up and take their glasses off, which is a problem at any range that requires eye protection.

Spotters without glasses will not notice much of an issue. The rubber eyeguard sits comfortably and blocks side light well.

The straight body design also matters. Straight eyepieces work fine for seated bench shooting. For uphill glassing or sharing the scope between people of different heights, an angled body is far more comfortable.

Firefield 12-36x50SE Spotting Scope Kit

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The smaller sibling deserves attention, and I think it is the smarter buy for many people. It costs around $59.97 and weighs only 19.4 ounces.

The 50mm objective pairs with a 12x to 36x zoom. Lower magnification is actually an advantage here. Field of view runs 149 feet at 12x, which makes finding targets fast and easy. Eye relief improves to 18.9mm down to 15.3mm, so glasses wearers get more room.

Exit pupil measures 4.1mm at the low end, which keeps the image brighter than the 60x model manages at full zoom. Minimum focus drops to 12 feet, which helps with close range bird watching.

The tradeoff is reach. You will not count antler points at 400 yards. For backyard birding, hiking, and 100 yard target work, this little scope punches above its price.

Performance At The Shooting Range

Range work is the most common use for Firefield scopes, so let me be specific about results.

At 100 yards on white paper, .223 holes are visible at 20x on a sunny day. At 200 yards you need 40x and good light, and even then small calibers become uncertain. At 300 yards full 60x shows .30 caliber holes on a bright afternoon, but nothing smaller with confidence.

Splatter targets change everything. Reactive targets let you confirm hits at 300 yards easily, even with mediocre glass. If you shoot paper exclusively, manage your expectations.

Mirage is the other factor nobody mentions. On hot days heat shimmer destroys the image above 40x regardless of scope quality. Expensive glass handles it slightly better. With the Firefield, drop to 25x and wait for the air to settle.

Birding And Wildlife Watching Results

Birders have different priorities than shooters. They want color accuracy, wide fields of view, and comfortable long sessions.

The Firefield handles casual birding adequately. Feeder watching, waterfowl on a pond, and raptors on fence posts all look fine at 20x to 30x. Colors run slightly cool and washed out compared with mid tier scopes, so subtle plumage details get lost.

Serious birders will find the limitations frustrating. Identifying shorebirds or warblers requires resolving fine feather patterns, and this scope cannot deliver that. The straight body also forces an awkward neck position when tracking birds in trees.

The upside is weight and price. At 22.5 ounces the scope travels in a daypack without complaint. For a beginner who wants to try the hobby before spending real money, that matters more than perfect edge sharpness.

Digiscoping With A Smartphone

Firefield markets both scopes as camera adaptable. The 1/4 inch thread and standard eyepiece diameter accept third party phone adapters.

Results are mixed. At 20x with good light, phone photos come out recognizable and shareable. You will capture a deer, a hawk, or a target face well enough for social media.

Image quality collapses as magnification rises. Vignetting darkens the frame corners, and the small exit pupil makes alignment fussy. Any tripod wobble ruins the shot, so the stock tripod becomes a hard limit here.

No adapter is included, so budget $20 to $30 for one. Honestly, if photography is your main goal, your money goes further with a better scope and a cheap adapter than with this kit plus accessories.

What The Firefield Does Not Do Well

Authentic reviews name the failures. Here are the clear ones.

It does not deliver usable image quality at full 60x. The top third of the zoom range exists mostly for the box copy. Most users settle around 30x to 40x and stay there.

It does not work well in low light. Dawn and dusk glassing, the exact moments hunters care about, expose the cheap coatings and small objective.

It does not come with a tripod you can trust. Plan on replacing it.

It does not suit eyeglass wearers at high power. The eye box is simply too tight.

It also does not resolve small bullet holes past 200 yards, despite listings that imply otherwise. And the focus mechanism is too sensitive for quick adjustments on moving subjects.

Pros And Cons Of Firefield Spotting Scopes

Pros

• Very low price compared with any mid tier spotting scope, starting near $59.97 for the 50mm model.
• Complete kit includes tripod, case, lens covers, and cloth, so beginners can start immediately.
• Light weight at 19.4 to 22.5 ounces makes backpack carry easy.
• Rubber armored, nitrogen purged, IPX6 rated body survives rain and temperature swings.
• Bright, usable image at 20x to 40x in good daylight.
• Three year warranty coverage from most authorized sellers.
• BaK4 prisms and fully multi coated lenses beat the cheapest no name scopes.

Cons

• Included tripod wobbles badly and needs replacement for high magnification use.
• Image quality drops sharply above 40x, with purple fringing and soft edges.
• Poor low light performance limits dawn and dusk sessions.
• Tight eye relief frustrates anyone wearing glasses or eye protection.
• Straight body design is less comfortable than angled for most glassing.
• Focus knob is overly sensitive and hard to fine tune.
• Loose lens caps and cardboard based carry case feel cheap.

Price And Value In 2026

The Firefield 20-60x60SE sits around $119.97 and the 12-36x50SE around $59.97. Those prices have stayed remarkably stable, though stock runs thin and some retailers list the larger kit as preorder.

At $60 the small model represents genuine value. Nothing else at that price gives you a waterproof body, BaK4 prisms, a tripod, and a case.

At $120 the math gets harder. The Gosky 20-60×80 frequently drops to $130 and gives you a far larger objective. The Bushnell Trophy Xtreme 20-60×65 runs about $229 and delivers noticeably better glass and a sturdier build. The Celestron Ultima 80 sits in a similar bracket.

My honest read is this. If your ceiling is $120, the Firefield works. If you can stretch to $200, stretch. The difference in daily satisfaction is large.

Who Should Buy A Firefield Spotting Scope

Some buyers will be genuinely happy with this purchase. Others will regret it within a month.

Buy it if you shoot paper targets at 100 yards on sunny weekends, you want a loaner scope for guests at the range, you are testing whether birding interests you, or you need a light backup optic for a truck or camp box.

Skip it if you hunt at dawn and dusk, you glass for hours at a time, you wear glasses and cannot remove them, you need to judge trophy quality at distance, or you plan to take photographs through the scope.

The Firefield is a tool with clear boundaries. Respect those boundaries and it serves you well. Expect premium performance and you will feel cheated.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Firefield a good spotting scope brand?

Firefield is a budget brand under the Sellmark family, which also owns Sightmark and Pulsar. The scopes are honest entry level optics. They perform acceptably in daylight at moderate magnification and poorly in low light at high magnification. For the price they are fair, but they do not compete with Vortex, Celestron, or Bushnell mid tier models.

How far can you see with a Firefield 20-60×60 spotting scope?

In bright daylight you can spot .223 bullet holes on paper at 100 yards and larger caliber holes at 200 to 300 yards. For general wildlife viewing you can identify animals out to 600 or 700 yards at lower magnification. Image quality degrades meaningfully past 200 yards for fine detail work.

Does the Firefield spotting scope come with a tripod?

Yes. Both the 20-60x60SE and the 12-36x50SE ship as kits with an adjustable tripod, a nylon carrying case, and lens covers. The tripod is the weakest component. It wobbles when extended, so most owners either collapse the legs on a bench or buy a better tripod separately.

Is the Firefield spotting scope waterproof?

The housing carries an IPX6 rating and a nitrogen purge, so it resists heavy rain spray and internal fogging. Firefield also describes the body as submersible to one meter on the 12-36×50 model. Treat it as weatherproof rather than dive proof, and dry it after wet outings.

Which Firefield spotting scope is better for beginners?

The 12-36x50SE is the smarter beginner choice. Lower magnification means a wider field of view, a brighter image, better eye relief at 18.9mm, and less visible shake on the stock tripod. It also costs roughly half as much, so a disappointed buyer loses less money.

Can you use a Firefield spotting scope for hunting?

Yes, with limits. It works well for midday glassing of open country at 20x to 30x. It struggles during the first and last light periods when most game moves. Serious hunters usually upgrade to an 80mm scope with better coatings after one season.