do a bit of research on eyepieces, it's where half your image quality comes from
mine is very well made and reliable.
you probably want a zoom eyepiece, i have the HDF zoom (the highest quality in that range). it goes from 12x-36x. 12x is about the same mag as binoculars, and great for scanning around and quickly locating things. the 36 end is very sliiightly softer, but still very sharp although it does dim the image slightly on dark days (that is more to do with the relatively small objective). 36x shows alot more detail than binoculars, making it far easier to comfortable watch/identify distant subjects.
although i can and do sometimes hand hold it a 12x, a tripod or hide clamp is essential (or at least a bean bag or something to rest on, to keep it stable at 36x.
you can get 50x or 60x fixed eyepieces, but i wouldn't recommend those with a cheaper small objective scope, you start to lose a lot of light with a small scope at 60x, and the image would be quite murky on a dim day.
i never go birdwatching without my scope, and nearly always with the tripod, but if going light, a Jessop's 'pod' works well enough.