Looking for Spotting scope

[bacardi]

Looked at Camera Land but all of them over $300 phew!

Are all of spotting scope that expensive?

My budget is under $200.

 

[Brutus]

No offence but with that budget, get ready to be disappointed.
Chances are you'll have to spend this same amount again in the near future when the sub-200 dollar item breaks outside the warranty terms.

my two bits only..........

 

[maynard]

For a good quality spotting scope you are looking at over $200 for an eye piece. Add about a grand to your budget and you will get a dandy spotting scope.
You get what you pay for when it comes to optics.

 

[TheTooner]

For a good quality spotting scope under $200 you need to look at the used market, and go for quite old stuff. More Kijiji and garage sale than EE. If you find something that looks really old-fashioned with a good name like Bausch&Lomb, you may get good glass that will be of some use. It won't have the benefit of modern coatings, but if if it's good glass, it will be worth having. We use spotting scopes when we need much more magnifcation than binoculars, and magnification doesn't just enlarge the image, it magnifies the effects of poor quality materials and construction.

I got a Bushnell Sentry from Costco for $100. That was a pretty good price for that scope, but it's not a good scope. I make do while I save up for something good enough that I can be looking through it the rest of my life and knowing that while better stuff is being made, I can still see well enough that it's not worth upgrading.