Spotting scope advice.

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humdrum_hostage

Full Member
Jul 19, 2014
771
2
Stradishall, Suffolk
Can anyone advise me on what are good brands for spotting scopes. I want to avoid ths chinese rip off and also dont want to spend a decent amount of money on something that worse then a brand thats half the price.

Thanks in advance.
 

Robson Valley

Full Member
Nov 24, 2014
9,959
2,664
McBride, BC
I expect a fair variety of company to lob into my place in the mountains. Game spotting is one simple entertainment with 100% success.
I have a monster surveyor's tripod for stability. Nikon Prostaff 82mm spotting scope, 20X - 60X zoom, 40X really is about the top.
It has it's own sighting scope on the side!
What did I get? From about 4 miles away, I can count the legs on Mountain Sheep.

About $600 in that day and time. I didn't shop around looking at resolution, exit pupil diameter or weight, just relied on Nikon reputation.
 

nic a char

Settler
Dec 23, 2014
591
1
scotland
if you have a camera lens you can buy a converter that turns it into a spotting scope - also vintage manual zooms are readily available cheaply in charity shops, at boot sales, & on ebay.
eg I got a monocular converter for my Nikon lenses for £40...
 

Robson Valley

Full Member
Nov 24, 2014
9,959
2,664
McBride, BC
The puzzle at my place is that the game is either right in your face or 1+ miles away.
I am blessed with so much vertical scenery that scanning for goats & sheep isn't hard.

Even with my old eyes, I know where to look, my visitors are mostly flat-landers.
If I see moving white dots, I can have the scope up in no time.
 

HillBill

Bushcrafter through and through
Oct 1, 2008
8,141
88
W. Yorkshire
Last edited:

Robson Valley

Full Member
Nov 24, 2014
9,959
2,664
McBride, BC
I suppose some of this depends on what you are prepared to spend.

B&H Photo > Optics > Spotting Scopes has 325 entries to look at.

They're in New York, NY. Bought my Nikon from them.
 

grumit

Settler
Nov 5, 2003
816
11
guernsey
I have a hawk minucular it's awesome mine is 10/50 but they do a 15/50 they are small lite but also have a tripod mount and a mini pod in the box mine also come with a neoprene carry case
 

Robson Valley

Full Member
Nov 24, 2014
9,959
2,664
McBride, BC
Peaks, that's a realistic point.
In my situation, I have no family nor relatives who live in the mountains as I do.
My scenery is vertical.
Visitors expect as much as they might see in the nearest National Park (Jasper.)
Not hard to do.

In the beginning, I wondered how effective a $600 spotting scope would be, just how much use I would ever get from the thing.
In the autumn, I'm up the logging roads for grouse maybe 40 days of a 100 day hunting season.

I don't haul the scope along just for fun. I can stand and scan the rock slopes for moving white dots. I know exactly where to look.
I know the goats and sheep are there.
You show up. I can make like a magician to show you goats and sheep in the no hunting refuge, 2 miles away and a mile higher than the scope.

Optics. The Objective lens size gives you a measure of the light-gathering power of the scope.
When compared with the size of the pupils of my eyes, the Nikon 82mm objective sucks in hundreds of times more
light than the human eye can pull in.

Wait until just before dark, gloomy light. The 82 is as bright as noon.

Now, we will slide out after supper and go owl spotting. As dusk turns to dark, maybe 6-8 species.
If we get really lucky, maybe some Lynx.
Partly because I know where a den is and we might just find the parents and cubs!
 

Bowlander

Full Member
Nov 28, 2011
1,353
1
Forest of Bowland
I've had a Swarovski 30x75 draw tube for 10 years, it's a great scope but dust does get in through the seals. Started off with a second hand Kowa TS1 which served me well for 15 years.

Best bet is to go somewhere you can test them, InFocus are good for that.

Sent from my SM-A500FU using Tapatalk
 

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