One of the more interesting freebies at SHOT Show 2018 was the Phone Skope cases and adapters. Prospective firearms writers received an email promising a free Phone Skope with their name on it if they filled out an RSVP form. I filled mine out because I like free stuff, even though I don’t digiscope often. I received it at Range Day and finally got a chance to take it for a spin. The system is simple. Go to their website, enter your phone’s information, as well as a little info about your optic of choice and bam you can order a case. The list of phones they support is expansive so if you aren’t rocking a Pixel or iPhone you still have a good chance of finding a case for your phone. If your phone isn’t supported there are universal options.
Setting Up the Phone Skope
In my continual war against reading instructions, I took the Phone Skope out of its cool Ammo Can case and figured it out. It didn’t take long because the system is simple and intuitive. Snap your phone into the case, loosen the optics ring and attach the ring to your binoculars or spotting scope. In my case, I attached it to my Leupold BX-1 McKenzie binoculars.
Attach the phone to the optics ring and you are good to go. You can start digiscoping at your heart’s content. Obviously, on top of a high end optic, modern phones have a high definition camera and screen. You can instantly snap photos and videos. If you’re a casual nature watcher or birder you can get some wonderful photos and videos of your finds.
If you are a hunter you can easily record game and capture your kills through the screen of a set of binos or spotting scope. The Phone Skope also allows more relaxed observation and surveillance of the world. The nice HD screen means you don’t have to stay bent over with a pair of binos in your eyes. You can sit back, take a deep breath, and simply watch the screen.
What About Rifles?
The downside of the Phone Skope is that it isn’t designed for rifle scopes. The eye relief is just too much, and to even try to get it to work you have the use your phone’s max zoom. It kinda works, but the picture is blurry. As you can see here. Phone Skope is upfront about this and doesn’t try to sell the Phone Skope as a rifle system. At SHOT Show they did have a Phone Skope rifle system, but it’s not quite out yet.
Final Thoughts
Overall this is a simple, but robust system and it works well. I was stumbling around my property looking for animals for over an hour, but only found a solitary squirrel. It provides a crisp and clear picture through a combination of aoptic and camera lenses. Phone Skope is a small company that started as a father-son project. The design and all the components are made in the USA.
