Update - bargain scope, a bargain, but only. . .

OK, I reviewed this little 70mm F5 Mead refractor earlier. I gave it a fresh try today in daylight as a birding scope. Nope. The optics are simply too poor. Lot of stray light. I won't sell it, however. I'll keep the scope, take it apart, and use the lens when giving talks on how telescopes work. I'll sell the eyepices, which are suprisingly nice (Meade Series 4000 Super Plossls) and with that money buy one fo the new Celestron 8-24 Zooms which I think will work nicely in my program with the 80mm ShortTube refractors.

Finally, when I discovered this scope I was looking to buy another Celestron Alt-az mount and tripod for $100. I like the mount and tripod that came with this scope better and it does fine with a ShortTube 80 on it. So - this was a bargain - but only because of my specific situation.
So I learned smething, got what I want, and the price was right. But I certainlyw ouldn't recommend this to anyone else. (Oh yeah, did get a nice carrying case for tripod and scope as well.)