decent low cost spotting scope

Evil_Edie

Evil_Edie

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Vancouver, BC
Hello all,

so i'm looking to get myself a spotting scope for the range and misc animal viewing use when i go camping. What is a good low cost scope with variable magnification? I am hoping to keep the cost under $175 shipping included.

currently i've been looking at the Bushmaster 20-60x60 from Canadian tire or possibly the Bushnell Sentry from Cabelas. are these any good? If the one from canadian tire is any good i might just run down and grab that one.

what do you think will be the best scope for my price range?
 
In your price range I think the best scope will be a quite old one you may find use on the EE or perhaps locally on kijiji.com or at a garage sale. That way you may get good optical quality that is cheap enough because it is quite old. At $175 for a new scope, the profit margins and operating costs for retailer, wholesaler, importer, and manufacturer probably mean there is about $10 worth of glass in it. It won't be good.
 
Do not buy a new "low priced" scope. Waste of money. If your gonna buy a piece of useless frustrating crap buy it second hand for 20% of it's new value.

IMHO until you own a pair of quality binos and a quality rifle scope forget about the spotter.
For perspective at the range I can see .264 diameter holes at 200 yards with my Kahles at 9X. I don't unpack the zeiss spotter at the range very often.

The other 'issue' with spotting scopes is that the scope is only as useful as the tripod. Your budget above would barely get you a decent tripod.
 
i currently only shoot with iron sights. i want the spotting scope to check my groups every now and again, and as i mentioned above also for non shooting related activities. Though i can borrow one at the range, they are usually in use or broken.

incidentally i also used to partake in photography so i have a good tripod already, so i'm focusing on whats going to sit ontop of it.
 
I've got the Bushmaster. I find it is fine for checking my groups at the range, but the glass is pretty poor quality; it has that rainbow-halo effect of cheap optics and is a bit foggy.

If you want clean, clear detail for watching critters, you'll want something better.
 
Check out some of Bushnells line. They make a few good scopes. You need to look through them to decide, and don't cheap out. There's a reason why optics cost. Hold up a pair of cheap bino's/scope/etc, and look through them, Now try a top line optic and you will see the difference.
 
I'd recommend a vintage Bushnell Spacemaster - occasionally they come up on the web for around $200. They are light years ahead of any new offering in that price range, and built like a tank.
 
Evil_Edie said:
Hello all,

so i'm looking to get myself a spotting scope for the range and misc animal viewing use when i go camping. What is a good low cost scope with variable magnification? I am hoping to keep the cost under $175 shipping included.

currently i've been looking at the Bushmaster 20-60x60 from Canadian tire or possibly the Bushnell Sentry from Cabelas. are these any good? If the one from canadian tire is any good i might just run down and grab that one.

what do you think will be the best scope for my price range?
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What you are trying to do, simply can not be done! I tried for 3 years, trying every low cost, high mag scope in the market. Don't waste your time.

The best value in the market right now is Redfield Rampage 20-60x60 which goes for around $240-$250.
 
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Though i can borrow one at the range, they are usually in use or broken.
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Those broken ones are usually the sub $200 junk.

What you are trying to do, simply can not be done! I tried for 3 years, trying every low cost, hi mag scope in the market. Don't waste your time.
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Exactly, scopes that are actually useable, generally start in the $300 range, with decent ones in the $500 range, and good ones go up dramatically from there.
 
I did quite a bit of research on this and bought a Konus 20x-60x 100mm from OpticsPlanet. The scope worked out to $300. With a good tripod and shipping it was $410. Unfortunately UPS will add their rip off fee and then taxes. Total about $500.

From what I can tell, it is probably the best scope for the money around.

Should have it tomorrow. Will let you know how it is once on the range.
 
If you are going to buy a cheap spotting scope, the only advice I am going to give you is see the scope in person you are buying. Think about what distance you will ever use it at and make sure you are happy with it's view at that distance.

I bought a cheapo Barska from Cabela's and it is junk. I never would have imagined that they would sell something that crappy. It was garbage at 20x and then when you dialed up the magnification it got even worse!:mad:
 
I'm happy with my Minox MD50 for seeing .30 calibre holes in paper at 200m. The best deal I could find on this was a demo sample from (site sponsor) CameralandNY for about $300 with shipping and taxes. I wouldn't expect to find anything else new at that price that was worthwhile. I would expect Vortex probably has something competitive in that price range, but I haven't used any Vortex products, just heard good things of them from lots of Gunnutz. I went with the Minox because I already have Minox binoculars I like very much for the money and the MD50 is a very compact spotting scope - nice for taking it to the range, very nice for taking it in the field.

If I couldn't afford that much, I'd keep saving and keep looking for good quality old stuff meanwhile that may come up used for less than that.

I had a Bushnell Sentry before, which I got for $100 new from Costco. It wasn't bad for a $100 spotting scope, but $100 spotting scopes aren't good.
 
I bought the bushnell from Crappy Tire. For the 100m range I plink at, it's more than adequate for deciding where my rounds are hitting. I wouldn't want to try and pick out detail at much longer range than that.
 
Evil_Edie said:
i currently only shoot with iron sights. i want the spotting scope to check my groups every now and again, and as i mentioned above also for non shooting related activities. Though i can borrow one at the range, they are usually in use or broken.

incidentally i also used to partake in photography so i have a good tripod already, so i'm focusing on whats going to sit ontop of it.
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It'll do this out to 100m. I have the crappy tire special that goes for $50 on sale. It's cloudy and blurry but I can generally make out the holes at 100m as long as they aren't black on black(Can ONLY use the 20x...any higher and it blurs out worse). It's crap to be honest and I'm thinking next time I'm spending $400-500 on one that functions properly(when I can afford it).

For optics buying cheap really is a waste of money. Spend at least $300 and get something usable would be my recommendation. Then you'll have it for later rather than spending $150 now on something that barely works and another $300+ when you need one for field use. Optics truly are something that you can't outright cheap out on and expect it to work at all.
 
thanks for all the advice guys, i'm gonna go ahead and save up some money for a good one then.

any particular brands and models you all think i should look through? i've already got Bushnell and leupold on my list. anyone have experience with the SX1 Ventana line from Leupold? or the Bushnell Trophy XLT?
 
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Edie, the ziess dialyt is a decent spotter for about a grand. 15-45 x. strait tube which is nice on a bench or in the field. beyond 45x mirage takes away any benefit of higher magnification.
 
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