HookUpz Smartphone optics Adapter

These days, every electronic accessory under the sun wants, or sometimes needs, to use your smartphone for additional functionality and I will admit some drive me mad. The need for updates, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity can lead to your phone becoming a hobby rather than a useful tool. However, the HookUpz from Carson Optical is a cracking piece of kit that allows your phone to complement, rather than frustrate you.

The Patent Pending device has four sprung loaded jaws that clamp over the objective lens eyepiece of any binoculars or spotting scope between 32 and 50mm. Depending on the size and spacing of your exit pupil, the eyecup may need to be twisted up, or there is a spacer included with the clamshell case to maintain internal eye relief. An adjustable hook in the upper left corner, combined with a springloaded clamp in the lower right grips any smartphone or tablet up to 95.25mm/3.75-inches wide (portrait) in place, with no specific need to remove it from its likely everyday carry case.

Now, the clever bit. Because the HookUpz is universal to countless continually updating iterations of common smartphones from Samsung and Apple etc., there is a rotary dial and screw thread to position the phone within the device, and line it up (laterally) directly with the exit pupil. Vertical adjustment requires a gentle nudge of the phone along the soft rubber backplate that lines the adaptor which won’t damage anything and is deliberately tacky to maintain the position.

Safe and sound

I wasn’t hugely confident at first, thinking it was likely to slip and fall out of adjustment but I was wrong. Fitting takes less than a minute and once set up, it has stayed in place and other than when bumped or nudged, all it need is a slight tweak to get it realigned. Removing and refitting from your optic is a matter of squeezing the two handles together and sliding it off, so that you can use the conventional optic in a normal fashion. Putting the phone back on takes a fraction of a second, the four-jaw clamp automatically self-centring again and that applies if you swap it between multiple optics.

Photographs and video are now quickly available through your high-quality magnified optic and when used on my spotting scope, I was consistently able to use the HookUpz with the phone installed to swing the eyepiece 180-degrees through its 20-60x magnification range, this left the HookUpz to the left or right of centre in landscape orientation. Mid travel positions weren’t possible but that is only because the eyepiece will automatically sag toward one direction and no fault of the HookUpz.

I have used similar devices in the past that were specific to my ‘current’ phone at that time but new phones every year or so meant I outgrew the unit; that can’t happen here. It will hold single or dual lens camera phones with online instructions of how to set up for the latter types too. It’s great for recording a shot string on target at significant range, depending on the quality and capability of your optic. Spotting fall of shot is far less straining when done on a view screen, just remember your backup battery for the phone!

Conclusion

A great piece of kit to capture the images though your premium optics and reduce eyestrain too. It will never be outdated either.