I am pleased with the scope - just what I was after in terms of optics, size etc. However, I feel compelled to comment purely because of the case. I quite simply cannot get the scope into the case, as it is too tight a fit. I have just seen other reviews talking about the size of the bag. I have written to Celestron tech support, partly because I suspected they may have included the case for the 50mm version by accident. If I get a satisfactory response, I will update this post. However, not too impressed as a long-standing Celestron fan. Update 12 May 23Kudos to Celestron USA for a really swift response, which resulted in a new case being sent. However, ...... it had precisely the same issue, and I cannot get the scope into either of the 2 cases. Clearly a design ... MoreI am pleased with the scope - just what I was after in terms of optics, size etc. However, I feel compelled to comment purely because of the case. I quite simply cannot get the scope into the case, as it is too tight a fit. I have just seen other reviews talking about the size of the bag. I have written to Celestron tech support, partly because I suspected they may have included the case for the 50mm version by accident. If I get a satisfactory response, I will update this post. However, not too impressed as a long-standing Celestron fan. Update 12 May 23Kudos to Celestron USA for a really swift response, which resulted in a new case being sent. However, ...... it had precisely the same issue, and I cannot get the scope into either of the 2 cases. Clearly a design flaw and a lack of quality control that I would not have expected from Celestron. I will be writing to tell them and I am considering whether to return the scope and look elsewhere.

After struggling with a larger (and poor quality) spotting scope for years I decided to try the Hummingbird scope for bird watching and I’m so pleased I did. Because it’s small and light I can carry it in small back pack or even stuff it in a jacket pocket. While the smaller 9-27 power isn’t useful for great distances I find it to be just the right complement to my Leopold 10x50 binoculars. At 9 power I can still easily spot a bird and the scope has great clarity as I increase power to 27, giving just the amount of detail needed for identification. I also appreciate that I can get stable viewing with a monopod so I don’t have to hike with a clumsy tripod. The Komperdell staff I use (pictured) doubles as a walking stick, so for me it’s the best of both worlds. Not ... MoreAfter struggling with a larger (and poor quality) spotting scope for years I decided to try the Hummingbird scope for bird watching and I’m so pleased I did. Because it’s small and light I can carry it in small back pack or even stuff it in a jacket pocket. While the smaller 9-27 power isn’t useful for great distances I find it to be just the right complement to my Leopold 10x50 binoculars. At 9 power I can still easily spot a bird and the scope has great clarity as I increase power to 27, giving just the amount of detail needed for identification. I also appreciate that I can get stable viewing with a monopod so I don’t have to hike with a clumsy tripod. The Komperdell staff I use (pictured) doubles as a walking stick, so for me it’s the best of both worlds. Not for those who need great distance from their scope but perfect as an “in between” binoculars and a large scope. I agree with two cons from other reviewers - the eye piece cover is too large so it falls off easily and the case is so small you have to force the scope to fit. Odd that Celestron wouldn’t quickly remedy these obvious issues.

Form factor is fantastic but I was otherwise underwhelmed from the very start. There is quite a bit of chromatic aberration even at low magnification, and at high magnification it was very difficult to achieve a sharp focus. I thought that my beginner (unspoiled by high end scopes) eyes would not notice this much. The construction of the body feels good but the eyepiece cover is so loose it's barely on, and constantly falls off. The bag quality is what you'd expect from the cheapest of knockoffs, except it's also too small to fit the scope into - seriously, it's insulting, and another thing that people weren't exaggerating about. Can't believe they didn't fix these issues in the years since the other reviews mentioning similar problems. It's probably decent value, ... MoreForm factor is fantastic but I was otherwise underwhelmed from the very start. There is quite a bit of chromatic aberration even at low magnification, and at high magnification it was very difficult to achieve a sharp focus. I thought that my beginner (unspoiled by high end scopes) eyes would not notice this much. The construction of the body feels good but the eyepiece cover is so loose it's barely on, and constantly falls off. The bag quality is what you'd expect from the cheapest of knockoffs, except it's also too small to fit the scope into - seriously, it's insulting, and another thing that people weren't exaggerating about. Can't believe they didn't fix these issues in the years since the other reviews mentioning similar problems. It's probably decent value, but given that it's still a significant amount of money, I was expecting more. I thought the huge jump in price for products that are a step-up from it (like the Nikon ED50) simply represented the exponentially costlier top of the line, and that the Hummingbird would still be great but not incredible. Unfortunately it's good but not great either. I will go for considerably cheaper or considerably more expensive in the future, as this middle ground feels like an unjustifiable expense that leaves me wanting.

Wow... Just WOW !I've been birdwatching for some time already and I have to say this scope is just a gem among birdwatching optics !1. Clarity and brightness in low light ! yes yes yes!2. Great middle ground between binoculars and spotting scope - can be easily handheld because its 45° eyepiece - you just hold it tight , close to your body. I manage even 27x mag to look steady by hand - but midrange magnifications everyone can manage stable.3. VERY PRECISE FOCUS !4. bag a bit tight but fits scope no problemo5. great as telephoto lens to my iphone ( with attachment )

I purchased the Celestron Hummingbird 9-27x56mm ED scope primarily for birding and digiscoping. It's small size and comparatively light weight for taking on the trail (very often with kids and small dogs in tow too) were a must. It feels ruggedly designed and I have pretty good confidence in its robustness, but only time will tell. Because I care about image quality a lot, I will say that the included 9-27x zoom eyepiece does detract a bit in terms of quality, especially in the long end of the zoom range. There's softness and chromatic aberration particularly on the edges of the image. The eye relief isn't great, and I could see the brightness being a problem if you're in lower light situations. For this reason I gave the scope 4/5 for image quality but you can fix ... MoreI purchased the Celestron Hummingbird 9-27x56mm ED scope primarily for birding and digiscoping. It's small size and comparatively light weight for taking on the trail (very often with kids and small dogs in tow too) were a must. It feels ruggedly designed and I have pretty good confidence in its robustness, but only time will tell. Because I care about image quality a lot, I will say that the included 9-27x zoom eyepiece does detract a bit in terms of quality, especially in the long end of the zoom range. There's softness and chromatic aberration particularly on the edges of the image. The eye relief isn't great, and I could see the brightness being a problem if you're in lower light situations. For this reason I gave the scope 4/5 for image quality but you can fix it so read on. This scope takes 1.25" astronomical eyepieces and I've paired it with the Celestron X-CEL 9mm eyepiece which gives it an effective magnification of about 22x. The image quality is excellent with this eyepiece, even to the edges and it helps with eye relief too. I digiscope with this eyepiece combined with the Celestron NexYZ cellphone adapter and a Pixel 6a and get great results when the phone is set to use the 2x magnification. (The normal caveats of digiscoping apply - this is not a replacement for a nice camera and long lens. In the attached picture of the house finch you can see some of the limitations of the technique.)I've also paired this with a carbon fiber tripod that I had and put a compact Smallrig video head on it to make pointing easier. So far we've mostly used it in the yard and through windows, and I can't wait to try it out in the field!

Hello, Maybe I had created expectations. .. Let's say too high. It is very small and manageable, period. I think Celestron is on the rocks, the image is not bad, the following... Lack of contrast and sharpness, at 9x good, at 15x puff, at 27x horrible... The casual field is small, the focus ring ugh I don't know I don't know... The zoom eyepiece is very very mediocre, it seems very plastic, even with the Baader Hyperion zoom it doesn't improve much, just a little more field, ultimately bad for the price you pay for it.

The main advantage of the Hummingbird over other (more or less) identical mini-scopes is the ability to replace the eyepiece in a matter of seconds. And that's what you should do, because with a really good wide-angle eyepiece, the hummingbird becomes a falcon - with a huge, crisp, crystal-clear field of vision. Of course you have to spend more money here, but then you have a much better device! For example, the Baader Morpheus eyepieces with 9mm or 17.5mm focal length are a perfect fit (on the Hummingbird with its 200mm focal length, this means approx. 22x or 11x magnification), which can also be used for astronomy. Oh yes, the bag is actually unusable for the 56 spotting scope; It was probably tailored for the 50mm spotting scope.

I bought this scope do use for duty scoping or taking photographs through the scope with my cell phone while on a trip to Alaska. I haven’t gone to Alaska yet but I practiced in my backyard. I wanted to see how much closer I could actually get too far away animals but we’re perhaps at the distance that we might be seeing bears or whales on our trip. In the photos attached I compare an image fully zoomed out on my iPhone XR, fully zoomed in into the digital zoom range in which you can see how much resolution is lost, and then, zoomed out but using The Celestron hummingbird as a digit scope. And one set of pictures I am zooming in on a neighbors aluminum siding wall that is about 180 feet away. In another image I’m zooming in on a rusty satellite dish atop a building ... MoreI bought this scope do use for duty scoping or taking photographs through the scope with my cell phone while on a trip to Alaska. I haven’t gone to Alaska yet but I practiced in my backyard. I wanted to see how much closer I could actually get too far away animals but we’re perhaps at the distance that we might be seeing bears or whales on our trip. In the photos attached I compare an image fully zoomed out on my iPhone XR, fully zoomed in into the digital zoom range in which you can see how much resolution is lost, and then, zoomed out but using The Celestron hummingbird as a digit scope. And one set of pictures I am zooming in on a neighbors aluminum siding wall that is about 180 feet away. In another image I’m zooming in on a rusty satellite dish atop a building that is a city block away where I live in Brooklyn. You can see that I can get incredible detail and much higher resolution using the digi scope set up and taking a picture using my phone with an adapter, through the hummingbird. The adapter I used was theGosky smart phone digiscoping adapter sold on Celestron. Of note, I also used a tripod as there is absolutely no way to find the image and focusing on it without one. I also used a small Bluetooth shutter release button that I got for about seven bucks on Celestron and synced with my phone using Bluetooth so that I didn’t shake the phone while pressing the screen to take an image. So that’s the good news. Great quality images of objects far away are possible. I will say however that there is some color flowering that happens with the scope. There’s a fancy name for it if you understand optics. It is apparently diminished using an ED version of the same hummingbird scope, apparently ED signifies a fancy and expensive lens coding that they offer as an option, but that was $150 more. I decided I could put up with it. The most challenging aspect of this is that it’s hard to find things through the scope. The angle of the scope is good for attaching the phone and using the phone as the screen but when you are trying to zoom in on and focus on a bear for example, I don’t think that I could do that using my screen. I need to look with my eyes and find the object and focus. Then I had to attach the phone to the scope. Then you have to zoom in a little bit because otherwise the image is a circle with black around the edges as is the case with all spotting scopes but when you zoom in just a bit you can get a full screen image. Some more fiddling with the focus was then necessary. Anytime you touch the phone or the scope while it’s on the tripod you knock the image out of the frame and have to readjust. So at the end of the day I’m not sure if this is going to be practical unless a bear is extremely accommodating and stands completely still while I miss around for about a minute. It certainly wouldn’t work for birds. I’m not sure it will work for Whales. Because of one popped up off to the right by the time I got my scope fixed on where it was and try to focus it would be somewhere else. I really wish there was a way to zoom in more with my iPhone. I don’t want to buy a fancy camera and a fancy zoom lens and learn how to use them just for my trip. So I will bring the set up. It’s fairly lightweight and portable although once you add the tripod along I certainly won’t be bringing it on a hike. but when I am viewing wild animals from our expedition ship or from a stationary location at a wilderness lodge for example, it might work.

Celestron Hummingbird 9-27x56mm EDSuper small and lightweight. Excellent blend of build and optical quality, size, and weight for the cost. Optics perform their best at mid-power. Little bit of spherical distortion at low-power. At the highest power, the optics don't perform as well, including fuzzyness (depends on object-to-subject distance, the farther away, the worse it is, usually in terms of hundreds of yards) and a little bit of chromatic aberration. However, the ED glass does a wonderful job overall and the CA is only slightly noticeable at the highest power. Really excels in the 10-40 ft object-to-subject range. I had no problem with light-gathering with the 56mm objective. Digiscoping is a little rough, because the power knob is right where any adapters are ... MoreCelestron Hummingbird 9-27x56mm EDSuper small and lightweight. Excellent blend of build and optical quality, size, and weight for the cost. Optics perform their best at mid-power. Little bit of spherical distortion at low-power. At the highest power, the optics don't perform as well, including fuzzyness (depends on object-to-subject distance, the farther away, the worse it is, usually in terms of hundreds of yards) and a little bit of chromatic aberration. However, the ED glass does a wonderful job overall and the CA is only slightly noticeable at the highest power. Really excels in the 10-40 ft object-to-subject range. I had no problem with light-gathering with the 56mm objective. Digiscoping is a little rough, because the power knob is right where any adapters are going to want to grip the scope. If you want to change power with a clamp-on adapter attached, forget about it. The lens caps are not very good. The eyepiece one in particular falls off easily. If you're worried about keeping dirt out, I'd just throw the whole scope in a plastic bag instead.