Spotting scope

mysticplayer said:
If you use eyeglasses, be very careful about the eyepiece you buy. MANY have zippo for eye relief and you will be driving your glasses into the eyepiece and still not see much.

Pentax fixed, and Leica had lots of eye relief. Kowa had some that was easy to use, others not so much. Nikon, Swarovski, and smaller Pentax variable suck.

Personally, I found the Leica spotter to be the best for my eyes. Swaro was really nice but with no eye relief, not useable for me. Pentax was the best of the affordable spotters and why I have recommended it for several years.

That is why it is so important to check optics out yourself. At this level of good, it is you that will decide the subtleties that make you warm and fuzzy.

There are also a number of spotters in the $700 that really are way over priced cause their optics and mechanicals don't work. Test as many for yourself as possible.

Rating for spotting scopes are constantly changing so the rankings will also change from model year to model year. The one thing that is happening is the steady drop in price of very useable optics.

some is currency, mostly it is the outsourcing of glass and chassis/assembly. The newest factories are all in locations we usually don't connect with top level gear.

The best will continue to cost alot of money but for many people, they can get 90% performance for a fraction of this cost.

Jerry
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Thats not the spotting scope it is the eye-piece you are seeing.

I would suggest you try the spotting scope with the eye piece you intend to use.

The Pentax type has an enormous variety of these in every power and field of view imaginable....They are a standard telescope element made by many manufacturers.
Hard to beat the 80mm Pentax at the range where weight and bullet proof construction aren't critical.

Leica and Swarovski have good optics and a tough water proof construction...You get what you pay for here.
Best choice for the mountain top hunter.
 
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X fan, Yes, I was refering the eye piece which is separate from the spotting scope in these upper end products. Many mix and match bodies and eye pieces depending the on the features they want - size, weight, construction, etc.

The fixed Pentax eye pieces are regarded as some of the best in the industry and they are waterproof with lots of eye relief. Yes, they cost as much or more then some spotting scopes :)

I orig had a Pentax 65ED and would consider this a great hunting spotter. Quite light and compact, the glass is really good. Not the same field of view as the larger 80 but that is to be expected. The Zoom that is standard with this is horrid for eye glass users and so so for optics. With a better eyepiece, this spotter rocks.

Seeing the texture of a pine tree at 2000yds was pretty cool.

Jerry
 
noneck180 said:
This is true,, with all this Pentax talk I may change my purchase aswell,, a fair bit cheaper to boot..
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Here is the link to the 2002 review, which includes the Pentax FP80 HD, and it scores very well. (note that lower the number, better the score)

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/gear/scopes/compare

BTW, I have a Fujinon 80mm, not ranked as high as the Pentax, but then I did buy it in used in excellent condition for $400. :D
 
I think it is more an issue of the eyepiece. One of the great things about the Pentax combo that I have is that the eye relief is huge. If you only want to see your target with the 20x eyepiece that I have you can be about 2" away from it. I wear Champion shooting glasses and need the left lens to see the flags. Of course using higher powers means light becomes an issue and a bigger objective will help that. If you know what power you need I suggest buying the correct eyepiece instead of playing with zoom. For TR 20x is standard and I have no use for zoom on this scope but I could always get another eyepiece. I think I paid about $850 for this combo a couple of years ago which I thought was quite reasonable for what it is. I looked through Leica and all the big names and big $ scopes and this was easily the best for my use. The body and eyepiece were about the $425 each.
 
LS, look at the specs of the eyepiece and you may be surprised at how short "long eye relief" is for some makers.

Maybe it is because most Asians use glasses that their optics tend to be very eyewear friendly.

18 to 20mm is great. 15mm is very useable for most. 13mm consider this a min. and may not work for some eyeglass users. 11mm is way too short - unless you put on some contacts.

Jerry
 
noneck180 said:
So a Pentax 80mm with a fixed eye piece seems to be a good combo.. What is wrong with the variable?
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There is nothing wrong with the variable but it does not have the clarity that the fixed eyepiece offers.

I have both with mine and I use the fixed over the variable.

I know another shooter who has the same setup and he made a statement one day that he could see "through" the mirage better with his Variable lens. The problem is, your not aiming at the target with your spotter, I use mine to see the mirage, not try and see through it for a clear target picture.
 
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