High power spotting scope reccomendations?

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little_airwolf

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I'm looking for a spotting scope with a power of 60X or more. I'd like to spend less than a grand.
I'm using this scope for shooting up to 300yds. I'd like to be able to see the bullet holes. I have a Canadian tire scope and it says 60x but at the high power, everything is blurry. I've read alot of comments on cheap spotting scopes and they all say the same thing. A cheap scope works well at low power but at high magnification, they all go blurry.
So what are your recommendations?

Thanks for your time!
 
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Think of the most money you have available and buy something that costs that much. There are lots of good brand names out there, but in general if its heavy and pricey its probably good. :)
I have a Vortex Razor 20-60x85 and love it. Not everyone would want to spend that much and some will think I cheaped out. For spotting shots at 300y but not killing a budget take a look at the Viper series spotting scopes. Very impressive.
 
60x at 300 yards and a little bit of mirage and you will be looking at soup. With heavy mirage you will see a big blur. You might find that a 15X-45X eyepiece will work better. Price out Vortex and Kowa.
 
I bought a Leica 15-45x62 APO on ebay a year or so ago for BR matches that is really nice. I think I paid 1200.00 for it. I would highly recommend it. A non APO model will be cheaper and will be little difference in quality. These are the older models. I saw the 77mm big brother to mine and a Swarovski 80mm and these are really big scopes which I would only want for very low light spotting. Maynard hit the nail on the head about mirage, even high quality glass with high power can give you problems with mirage on nice days to shoot. These big scopes cost quite a bit more also. The best advice I can give if you really want one is spend the most amount of money you can afford and you won't regret it. I went down the cheaper road and all you get looking through a cheap scpoe is a headache.
 
I always recommend the Pentax 80 ED. Myself and a number of other have this one and it is the best there is for the money. Better than this will cost nearly 3K.
 
There are a lot of guys here with a vast amount of knowhow and experience that can help guide a person towards the right gear, but before spending that kind of money I would want to put 2 or 3 scopes side by sude to do a comparison. The only thing is, I have never found anyone that stocks these higher end spotting scopes, forget about 2 or 3 brands so that you can do a comparison.
If I'm wrong and such a place exists, please let me know where.
Spending that kind of money on a piece of gear that I have never tried before worries me. A rifle wouldn't, but glass does.
 
maynard said:
60x at 300 yards and a little bit of mirage and you will be looking at soup. With heavy mirage you will see a big blur. You might find that a 15X-45X eyepiece will work better. Price out Vortex and Kowa.
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Maynard,
Judging by the number of posts you have and the quality of your answers, I'm guessing that you are one of the guys to listen to on this board, however in my very limited understanding of things would turning down the magnification on a higher power scope not reduce the mirage as much as purchasing a lower power eyepiece?
Why limit yourself to lower power especially if you are going to be shooting out to longer distances?
 
Look at the Celestron Regal's. Very underrated. Check the reviews on the various bird forums. You may be surprised how people are finding the Regal's compare to the standard brands.
 
300 yards is not that far and you may find that clarity is more important than absolute magnification.

Good optics do make a heck of a difference. Like you I had a 20-60x60 cheapy, a Barska. While okay for the range it really lacked clarity at distance. The final straw was a couple of years ago when one of my hunting partners was describing some elk on a hill side a few kilometers away and I could not see them with my spotting scope.

Fast forward, I bought a Leica 20-50x60. I can easily see bullet holes in targets out to 500 yards. Game that was hard to see now stands out with amazing clarity. I am certain I am seeing game I never saw before.

You may not want to pony up the clams for a Leica but in the upper end Swaro is great and Zeiss is very good, and I've heard Kowa is good as well. I would hesitate to say the Leica is better but for me with my eyes it was.

One that I really looked hard at was the US Optics 15-45 spotting scope. At just over $1000 I though that was a pretty good value. The higher end Vortex are good from what I have looked through and other posters have mentioned glass that will be an improvement over the Cdn Tire glass you currently have.

As someone said earlier, determine how much money you can afford to spend and then spend all of it. There is no free lunch with optics.
 
Nipigon Jack said:
Maynard,
Judging by the number of posts you have and the quality of your answers, I'm guessing that you are one of the guys to listen to on this board, however in my very limited understanding of things would turning down the magnification on a higher power scope not reduce the mirage as much as purchasing a lower power eyepiece?
Why limit yourself to lower power especially if you are going to be shooting out to longer distances?
Click to expand...

Hey just because I have a high post count doesn't mean I always know what I am talking about.
While turning down the magnification on the eyepiece will reduce the seen mirage, sometimes with a variable eyepiece you give up things like long eye relief. Not really a big deal if you don't wear glasses. I have used variable eye pieces before but found the best view of the target at ranges out to 1000 yards was better at the lower end around 15X. I now use a 22X WA on a Kowa TSN-1 and have never found that I needed more than that at 1000 yards.
If you want to go for a day trip and compare several scopes from low end to high end with different eye pieces, take a drive to Pelee Wings, just outside Point Pelee National Park near Leamington, Ontario. Google Pelee Wings.
 
First off, if trying to see bullet holes in the "black" at 300yds/m, if there is any mirage, the odds of success is near zero regardless of the optics. If you set up your elevation so that you drop your shots into a white part while aiming at the black, many scopes can help. Larger cals make this easier of course.

But if the air gets dirty, success is greatly limited.

The pentax ED is such an awesome value but the eyepieces can be pricey - the larger zoom is decent. The smaller zoom is not. Most will find the LER wide angle fixed eyepiece in around 22 to 25X is ideal for condition spotting

Another GEM is a HOWA TSN 661. again with the LER eyepiece. Have used a couple in matches and love it. Likely my next purchase. Smaller then the Pentax 80ED so packing is alot easier. Similar prices.

Celestron offers very decent glass for the money. good range use spotter.

Best thing is to look through as many as you can to see what works best for you.

As I said, odds of success if low so I gave up and now use a wireless TX/RX, camera and monitor. View each shot in real time regardless of the distance.

Works a zillion times better.

Jerry
 
maynard said:
Hey just because I have a high post count doesn't mean I always know what I am talking about.
While turning down the magnification on the eyepiece will reduce the seen mirage, sometimes with a variable eyepiece you give up things like long eye relief. Not really a big deal if you don't wear glasses. I have used variable eye pieces before but found the best view of the target at ranges out to 1000 yards was better at the lower end around 15X. I now use a 22X WA on a Kowa TSN-1 and have never found that I needed more than that at 1000 yards.
If you want to go for a day trip and compare several scopes from low end to high end with different eye pieces, take a drive to Pelee Wings, just outside Point Pelee National Park near Leamington, Ontario. Google Pelee Wings.
Click to expand...

Thanks Maynard
Someone with stock and the ability to set them up for side by side comparison outdoors. That is exactly what I was looking for and thought I would never find in Canada.
 
Just wondering, but considering the cost of good spotting scopes and that you still are limited with conditions and how far you'll see the holes, why not get something like target cam some other long range wireless camera system? (assuming there's other)
I'm considering getting something like that or putting something together myself if time allows.
 
I was thinking about the same thing. I have a newborn and I was thinking a high power baby cam. I've seen 500 foot range cams. Just need a battery park to power the cam.
 
What about seeing something really close, like a squirrel on a beach at 1500 yards, and seeing every detail. Thats what my bro wants for xmas, i told him he would need one of those scopes for looking at the stars.
 
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