Spotting Scopes

[TKHover]

I guess I've been good because the Mrs. said Santa will be bringing me a spotting scope. I need one that will be good for seeing a minimum of .22 holes at no more than 100-150 yards and moderately priced. I do wear glasses, so some sort of decent eye relief should be considered. I've narrowed my choice to three scopes that fit my requirements. I would like opinions from those of you who have experience with any of these three. I know that a Kowa or Zeiss would be great but hardly in my budget or needs. The three are:

1. Burris Landmark 15-45 x 60mm $165 with hardcase & tripod
2. Bushnell Spacemaster 20-60 x 60mm Multi position eyepiece, $174 with hardcase, no tripod.
3. Leupold Wind River 15-45 x 60mm Angled eyepiece, $240 with hardcase & tripod.

I'm leaning towards the Leupold because of it's lifetime warranty and being waterproof. Any suggestions or opinions would be greatly appreciated.
Tom

 

[Sven]

Save for the KOWA 661.

Consider a Ray-Vin Stand.

Sincerely,

-s

 

[Jaywalker]

Kowa is never a bad choice. Mine's 40 years old.

If you're interested in a little research of the subject, try www.betterviewdesired.com, the web's "Consumer Reports" for optics. It's a "birding" site rather than shooting, but they tend to have much higher standards in optics than we do, so the articles are very valuable. They do use spotters, and rate them.

I'd avoid buying through the mail, if you can. I looked at a small Weaver spotter last week. The optics were excellent, and so was the price, but the tripod attachment mounted at the wrong place. That led to "barrel sag" which the tightening screw couldn't hold. It looked like it could have used a dose of Viagra...

Jaywalker

 

[Beetle Bailey]

Well, all I can say is I have the Bushnell spacemaster multi-position in 15-45 power. It does everything I need it to do. I don't know about .22 lr holes at 150 yards, but I can see .223 holes at 100 yards (I once shot .22lr at 100 yards and wasn't happy with the results so haven't tried it again, maybe wrong ammo?). IMHO, you don't give up anything clarity-wise with the mulit-position vs. my buddy's fixed position, but as you noted, the multi-position does not come with a tripod, so that factors into the price. I've never shot paper past 100 yards, but yesterday I used my Bushnell to spot hits for a friend at a steel target at 600 yards, so it covers all the bases for me. And don't forget the value of Shoot-N-Cs .