good place to buy a spotting scope in the B.C.Fraser valley
- Thread starter x westie
- Start date
If you are looking at Bushnell's, Higginson's powder in Ontario has great prices and reasonable shipping. Plus you won't pay PST......
I just bought a Spacemaster 15-45x60 ($330) from them and I'm quite happy with it. This is the 3rd spotter I've gone through, having purchased cheapo ones in the past that I just wasn't happy with the quality of optics.
I just bought a Spacemaster 15-45x60 ($330) from them and I'm quite happy with it. This is the 3rd spotter I've gone through, having purchased cheapo ones in the past that I just wasn't happy with the quality of optics.
I stopped by the "Wind Bird and Nature Shop" on Oak St. at 24th, in Vancouver the other day and they had a nice selection of reasonably priced spotting scopes in stock to sell to birdwatchers.
As an aside, the shop is owned by John, who was Alan Lever's right hand man for many years.
As an aside, the shop is owned by John, who was Alan Lever's right hand man for many years.
You don't want a spotting scope; you want a telescope.x westie said:
The spotting scopes that I use, (just the smaller range of astronomical telescopes), are made by LOMO. This telescope line is often compared to the very highly regarded Questar that is fabricated entirely in the US of A. $220 will get you an Astele 70 that will make Zeiss and similar optics look bad.
Take a look at http://www.handsonoptics.com/spt_lomo.html and scroll down the the page to "The Astele 95" and read the comment regarding comparison to the Questar. High end Russian, (really the former USSR), optics must be seen to be believed. The view of the "Pleiades", (Messier 45), http://schmidling.netfirms.com/m45.htm through my simple LOMO Maksutov Cassegrain Telescope, (MCT), is something that has to be seen to be believed. The brilliant blue stars, and surrounding blue shaded dust have a very high 'wow' factor.
LOMO is a mnemonic for Lenengrad Optical and Machine Company. A walk around http://www.lomoamerica.com/ will display the range of products available from this respected company.
So... your money, your choice. As a direct comparison, you have the choice of a $900 Kowa, (a very fine spotting telescope), or a $120 LOMO Astele 60. And I absolutely defy and challenge anyone to be able to tell the difference. The finest optical test benches in the world will put the LOMO ahead of the best from Zeiss, Kowa, Nippon Kogaku, etc, etc.
Note that one eyepiece is supplied. That is the down side, the requirement for purchasing eyepieces with some of the models. But zoom eyepieces are available now that do not detract from performance. Eyepieces are available for ~$25 ea. One eyepiece is supplied with each telescope and one additional fixed focal length eyepiece is all that you would need.
Magnification = telescope focal length divided by eyepiece focal length. Lets say you have a 900mm f.l. telescope with a 25mm eyepiece attached.
900/25 = 36X which would supply good target spotting. Long distance game spotting, (really long distance), might use a 15mm eyepiece which would give 900/15 = 60X. A 10mm eyepiece would supply 90X, I'm sure you get the idea. Two eyepieces, carefully selected, would be all that you ever require, or a zoom eyepiece.
Is the LOMO line tough enough for outdoor mountain work? I have watched Jim Cheng drop his 95mm LOMO on the floor on three different occasions. LOMO scopes are built like tanks! A Questar MCT telescope is built with 1/16" aluminum tube, the 95mm LOMO is built with 1/4" aluminum tube.
Multi-coated optics? The Russians still use the very finest mercury and rare earth based multi-coating materials that have been discontinued for environmental reasons in the rest of the world. I guess the Russians don't care if their citizens are born with two heads.
Anyways, that's enough for tonight.
