If anyone should be able to produce a moderately priced, high quality, scope, it should be Swift. After all, their Ultralite and Audubon series binoculars pretty much set the standard for value in birding glasses (with two Best Buys and two Product of Special Merit awards in the Reference Set). Therefore I was particularly eager to get my hands on their new Nighthawk scopes--both the 65mm and the 80mm. The Nighthawks would come in above my moderate price range: about $450 to $500 for the 65mm with an eyepiece, and a hundred dollars more for the 80mm, but that still places them at the low end of quality scope prices.
The Nighthawks feature one of the most attractive, intelligently designed, bodies I have yet to see. Matte gray with black rubber armoring over the porroprism housing; very sculpted look with harmonious angles and bulges; built in lens shade and very nice 1X finder scope; two tripod mounting holes for correct balance on any tripod; well placed, very smooth and precise focusing knob; materials that make them among the lightest scopes in their size class; even a catchy little transparent green eye with the Swift logo behind it on the side--the designers at Swift have paid attention to the finer details and come up with two scopes that are certainly a pleasure to handle and to look at.
Optical details received some attention too. Both scopes feature full multicoating, and a look through the back end shows that Swift's interpretation of "full" includes the prisms (still fairly rare among spotting scopes). Looking in through the objective shows no less than three baffles to catch stray light, and a set of baffling corrugations in the last approach to the prisms similar to what you see inside some binoculars. This is the level of detail you expect in only the most expensive scopes.
Sounds pretty good, yes? That's why the Nighthawks' optical performance comes as somewhat of a disappointment. Tested resolution, with the supplied 20 and 25X eyepieces, is mediocre at best, but that doesn't begin to tell the story. In a highly magnified view of the 25X image, the image quality of the two scopes was disappointing. The lines on the resolution chart were never sharply defined and contrast, which should have been excellent considering the full multicoating, was only fair. What is more, the whole image appeared unaccountably dim. In the field, performance appeared acceptable, actually quite good, until you compared the views to one of the Reference Set scopes--then, you could definitely see a difference, at all powers. The lack of image quality yields an image that is barely adequate for serious birding. It is perhaps all that surprising. These are not scopes that are intended to compete directly with the ED and Fluorite super scopes, but for anyone hoping for a real bargain in a spotting scope, for Best Buy performance, the Swifts are still disappointing.
Tested resolution was higher with the Swift high power eyepieces--at 60X for the 60mm and 75X for the 80mm--but direct comparison with the Reference Set still showed the Nighthawks' images to be of considerably lower visual quality. All of fixed power eyepieces, by the way, seem to be well designed--a cut above the normal lowest common denominator eyepieces usually provided for scopes in this price range. The high power eyepieces, in particular, employ a quite sophisticated design that allows high powers with decent eyerelief.
For resolution testing I used the fixed power eyepieces supplied, on the theory that most zooms simply can not compete, and then too, the Swift Nighthawk zoom has some definite problems of its own. The rubber eyecup does not fold down, making the eyepiece marginal at low powers with eyeglasses and useless at high powers. Still, I decided to retest the Nighthawks with the zoom. Surprise! In the magnified view, the zoom is actually sharper and brighter than either fixed low power eyepiece. Even at high power, though the field of view with eyeglasses is extremely restricted, so restricted I would find the eyepiece very difficult to impossible to actually use in the field, the view is quite bright and yields very respectable resolution. (If I were to buy this zoom, I would immediately take an exacto knife to the rubber eyecup and cut it down for use with my eyeglasses. With such surgery, it might even be a usable eyepiece.)
Swift also has an ED model of the 80mm Nighthawk. which I will be testing in the near future. They are in the process of redesigning the zoom eyepiece, so expect a further report on that as well.
So what's the bottom line on the Nighthawks. As they stand, with the current eyepieces, they are very well, exceptionally well, designed scopes that simply fail to provide all the optical performance that a birder might want. They are not, unfortunately, the less expensive alternative to the high priced scopes that I was hoping for! (but see mini review of new zoom and the ED below!!!)
I might mention also, that I discussed the shortcomings of the Nighthawk scopes at length with Mr. Swift himself. He assured me that Swift is determined to market a scope that is second to none in its price range, and that they would take whatever steps are necessary to fulfill that determination.
Swift has new zoom eyepiece for the NightHawk scopes. The eyepiece appears to be very similiar to the excellent Swarovski zoom in design and provides performance that is also very similiar. On the NightHawk 80mmED the view at low powers is excellent...clear, open, and relaxed (due in large part to the excellent eyerelief). At higher powers, you hardly notice that your are using a zoom. The view is still clear, open, and relaxed. This is a zoom to make me take back all the bad things I generally say about zooms...one more example (that makes three now, counting the Swarovski and the Nikon) that a zoom eyepiece can provide excellent performance.
The 80mmED comes into its own with this eyepiece. The combination provide optical performance that comes close to equalling the current Reference Standard for 80mm class scopes, and, with the excellent field-worthy design, makes the NightHawk a scope that should satisfy any birders most exacting demands. As promised, Swift has brought the NightHawk 80mmED to the performance level where it is a definite contender in the class.