Spotting Scope - Popular

[Charic]

If I view the advert on our sponsors site, it says my scope is "The Uk's most popular Dobsonian telescope". That's their opinion and I don't for one second refute that fact.

However I now need a spotting scope for Mrs Charic, and have so far not seen any wording, anywhere, on any site, that mentions any similarity  with regards to a Spotting scope that purports to be the most popular in the UK.

I have seen reference to the cheap Lidl spotting scopes to scopes costing thousands? If the Lidl one works, so be it, but having the title of  'most popular'  should be a good  enough starting point with my search.

 

[michaelmorris]

The make of spotting scope I see most frequently are probably Swarovski scopes.  Whilst they are undoubtedly superb pieces of kit that give truly amazing views, they are also VERY expensive (£1,000s).  Opticron scopes are generally well regarded as mid-range scopes.   We see a lot of people with them when we are out birdwatching.   Mrs. M and I both have Opticron scopes.  I have an 80mm scope and Mrs. M has a 66mm.  Both are apochromatic designs and 6 years ago cost us around £600 each.  They are light, strong, and well designed.  I can see no reason why they won't serve us well for the rest of our days.

http://www.opticron.co.uk/Pages/scopes_menu.htm

 

 

[triton1]

How about a small mak?

[Peter Drew]

The Celestron genuine spotting scopes are very nice and have an excellent zoom eyepiece. 

[Charic]

1 hour ago, triton1 said:

How about a small mak?

At present, just needing a small spotting scope rather than a telescope, and have also discounted binoculars?

[Charic]

Cheers Peter. Its strange that since making the decision to buy a spotting scope, I keep seeing them at  distance or out of focus, not offering any information  as to what they are from the folk using them on various tv channels, and even  just last week  there were some on the  local news Chanel, but can I find them, No! Even National Geographic has their name on a spotting scope.

I`m not sure the Mrs will know one scope from another, as long as she can  see  a  steady image.  She was observing Seals the other day basking on a rock, just off  the shore line, we were sat in the car! Binoculars are fine, if you rest them on a  lowered door window, but Mrs Charic is not able to get the full stereoscopic use from using  binoculars, so we only need the one tube?

Something I forgot to mention, digiscoping! Might be an option to record her views.

 

[Ricochet]

You might want to keep an eye on the following: 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/142276507386

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/152434359114

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/122346562678

[ronin]

Spotting scopes are more in the realm of bird watching and nature observing in general. You will likely find that most binocular manufacturers have a spotting scope or two. The big and actually often seen ones are Niko, Swarovski and Leica's. Excellent but a large cost. Owing to the number of binocular brands I doubt it possible to say X or Y are the most popular.

Opticron are good, I have a small Bushnell spotting scope. Really you need to go search throught the http://www.birdforum.net/ site and if time allows visit http://birdfair.org.uk/ when it is on. Lots and lots of optics there. Kowa produce a good range of spotting scopes at a fair price. But it is all subjective.

Sometimes the RSPB have an "Optics Day" at their reserves where you can see a selection of equipment, however the range is a bit restricted, understandably for the small scale involved.

Not sure about the digiscoping aspect. I suspect that may need a better (and bigger) scope then my little Bushnell. 

[happy-kat]

Some will even take 1.25 eyepieces.

[Charic]

On 2/13/2017 at 09:39, happy-kat said:

Some will even take 1.25 eyepieces.

I've plenty to choose from!

[laudropb]

Swarovski and Leica spotting scopes are very much status symbols in the birding world. They are very good scopes but cost about £2000 now. Are they worth this. I have a Leica Apo 80 mm and it is excellent for bird watching. Crisp sharp images with no colour fringing As for astronomy, I also have an Opticron 80 mm spotter. At a quarter of the price of the Leica it is not that much inferior for astronomical viewing and purely for viewing the night sky represents much better value.

[Charic]

I've short listed the following three  at present, but showing  more interest in the Acuter, but on one video review, there's quite a lot of chromatic aberration at 60x.

Acuter Natureclose Waterproof ST80A 20-60x80 

Barr & Stroud Sahara 20-60x80 

National Geographic 20-60x60  or its Bresser equivalent!

[Ricochet]

The Celestron Regal I linked to earlier still has no bids on it at this time making it both cheaper and significantly better than those three scopes. I think you should look for a spotting scope with ED glass so you get APO or Semi-APO views because it makes a massive difference. I looked at the Acuter review video and it wasn't the chroma that stood out, but the general blurriness of the entire image.

[Charic]

Not much change after buying a new Macbook, so the Jessops 20-20x60 will suffice for now?
First view of the  local Mountain top with comms tower  was ok, so purchase was made,  and  a few tests later on the way home at 60x  with the light fading shows exactly what you get for  just under £60.
Extremely windy too, so hard to keep the thing steady on supplied tripod, but Mrs  Charic mentioned  that the range she would be interested in would be far less than 60x whereby the image did prove sharper and  brighter.
She saw  some lambs faces quite clearly at a similar distance to that of some Seals were were observing  a week back, so she seems ok with the purchase for now?
A few more tests required!

*Update*-  Save your money with this scope? I'm going to buy a better scope!