col_temp
Member
Hi All,
OK I am in the market for a spotting scope. Kind of want to make one purchase to handle a couple of different things.
Purpose 1: Use at the range, 100-200 yards normal, up to 500 yards once in a while would be nice.
Purpose 2: Use for Bird watching up to couple of hundred yards or more.
Purpose 3: Possible hunting. Use from the road/Vehicle not worried about lugging it around the country side.
Requirements: A) would be nice to be able to see 22LR holes up to 200 yards, 500 yards would be 30-06 or 308 holes.
B) would be nice if it had a camera attachment so i could take a picture of that bull Elk I saw a couple of years ago!
C) want something that at the top end of the zoom doesn't require super short eye relief to function, grays out, distorts, or gets fuzzy. (doesn't have to be perfect but if you can't maginfy and use the last 50% of the magnification why bother.)
That being said, I am not even bothering with anything below $400 or $700 list. I have played around with a few, don't want to spend Swavarski, Ziess, Lieca money though I know they make great scopes. So that tosses most of the scopes over $1200.
Narrowed down to the following so far, unless someone has a better idea. (Full disclosure: I have a pair of Vortex Viper Bino's, and mostly Nikon Rifle Scopes)
#1 Vortex Razor HD 11-33x50 (New version of the Razor, old version left a bit to be desired.) $500.
#2 Vortex Razor HD 20-60x85 $1150
#3 Vortex Viper HD 15-45x65 $550
#4 Nikon Prostaff 5 20-60x82 $600.
#5 Nikon Prostaff 5 16-48x60 $500
#6 Althon Ares 20-60-85 $700
Others looked at: Vanguard Endeavor HD, Leupold Gold Ring, Leupold SX-1
For the price Leupold Gold ring's got deleted as they are good but too pricey. SX-1 as they are not on par with those listed but similar price. Vanguard's don't know enough but have heard uppper magnification are not so good. I know #2 is a bit of an anomaly for price. I added it to ask about which power range will work the best.
Is 11-33 going to be good enough for what I want to do? What about 16-48 or should I look at the 20-60's only?
I know the larger objective 82 or 85 will be brighter but 50-60 seems like it would work well enough as long as its not to early or late in the day.
From past comparisons the Viper doesn't seem to be a huge drop off from the Razor's but I know its a bit less bright.
Other considerations are #1 is fairly light and compact compared to the others. I lean towards Vortex.
So thoughts, ideas? Pricing I got from Optics planet where there are some screaming deals at the moment. Know another source to check?
OK I am in the market for a spotting scope. Kind of want to make one purchase to handle a couple of different things.
Purpose 1: Use at the range, 100-200 yards normal, up to 500 yards once in a while would be nice.
Purpose 2: Use for Bird watching up to couple of hundred yards or more.
Purpose 3: Possible hunting. Use from the road/Vehicle not worried about lugging it around the country side.
Requirements: A) would be nice to be able to see 22LR holes up to 200 yards, 500 yards would be 30-06 or 308 holes.
B) would be nice if it had a camera attachment so i could take a picture of that bull Elk I saw a couple of years ago!
C) want something that at the top end of the zoom doesn't require super short eye relief to function, grays out, distorts, or gets fuzzy. (doesn't have to be perfect but if you can't maginfy and use the last 50% of the magnification why bother.)
That being said, I am not even bothering with anything below $400 or $700 list. I have played around with a few, don't want to spend Swavarski, Ziess, Lieca money though I know they make great scopes. So that tosses most of the scopes over $1200.
Narrowed down to the following so far, unless someone has a better idea. (Full disclosure: I have a pair of Vortex Viper Bino's, and mostly Nikon Rifle Scopes)
#1 Vortex Razor HD 11-33x50 (New version of the Razor, old version left a bit to be desired.) $500.
#2 Vortex Razor HD 20-60x85 $1150
#3 Vortex Viper HD 15-45x65 $550
#4 Nikon Prostaff 5 20-60x82 $600.
#5 Nikon Prostaff 5 16-48x60 $500
#6 Althon Ares 20-60-85 $700
Others looked at: Vanguard Endeavor HD, Leupold Gold Ring, Leupold SX-1
For the price Leupold Gold ring's got deleted as they are good but too pricey. SX-1 as they are not on par with those listed but similar price. Vanguard's don't know enough but have heard uppper magnification are not so good. I know #2 is a bit of an anomaly for price. I added it to ask about which power range will work the best.
Is 11-33 going to be good enough for what I want to do? What about 16-48 or should I look at the 20-60's only?
I know the larger objective 82 or 85 will be brighter but 50-60 seems like it would work well enough as long as its not to early or late in the day.
From past comparisons the Viper doesn't seem to be a huge drop off from the Razor's but I know its a bit less bright.
Other considerations are #1 is fairly light and compact compared to the others. I lean towards Vortex.
So thoughts, ideas? Pricing I got from Optics planet where there are some screaming deals at the moment. Know another source to check?