[OT - aviation] Spotting scope advice

[A_N_other_beginner]

Hopefully I'll be forgiven for going off topic, but these forums have never seen me wrong in the past when I've been looking for advice all things optics related.

I'm fortunate enough to live relatively close to a venue that has a fair few airshows, and it's not uncommon for the aircraft concerned to pass over or near my house. That said, they'll often then circle around a couple of miles away. I've got a pair of 8x42 Helios Mistral WP3 (which were bought for astro use, and are brilliant.) But they don't have quite the reach to be as useful as I'd like. So a spotting scope seems like the next sensible jump. A lot of the aircraft are pootling along at sensible speeds so tracking shouldn't be a major issue, my eldest was quite comfortable doing so handheld with the binoculars - but I'll be using the spotting scope with a tripod.

That said, I don't have a huge budget. So my options are restricted. Could anyone steer me towards something that will be a step-up on the 8x42's for around the £100 mark? Absolute top end budget would be £150. And I've no issue going second hand, albeit preferably from somewhere like the classified section on here.

[Ricochet]

The problem is that in my experience a decent spotting scope has to have ED glass, which is going to cost more than your budget. If you get lucky you might find a 65mm Celestron Regal or Pentax EDA for somewhere around the £200 mark and then be able to use your existing 1.25" astro eyepieces with it. Any other brand with specific bayonet or thread attachments will require buying scope and eyepiece as a set which probably pushes the price up even further. There are also 50/56mm Celestron Hummingbird ED scopes that you might find second hand at the top end of your budget. I had a quick look through one once and got the impression that the bundled zoom wasn't really up to the task but it's a 1.25" fitting so again you could use your existing eyepieces instead.

A cheaper alternative would be to look for a small Mak to use as a spotter. If you keep the aperture small then the focal length is short enough that the widest field of view won't be too restrictive, especially for your planned use of watching planes some miles away. A 90mm Mak is probably the largest you would want to go and a traditional astro Mak would be fine so long as you aren't taking it out in the rain. A little Mak that is marketed as a spotter, waterproof and got some good reviews around these parts is the SvBony SV41. Have a read of the thread linked below and see what you think. Again, the supplied zoom appears to be the weak link so factor in the cost of a 1.25" adaptor.

For any of these options you'll want to add a cable tie sight to the dew/sun shield so that you can aim it without moving your eye from the eyepiece. I've got one on my spotter and it's excellent for daytime use. See the pictures in this forum thread for details on how to make one. If you've got multiple eyepieces of different heights then rather than using a black cable tie and cutting the top for one eyepiece you can do what I do and use a "natural" coloured one and mark lines for each eyepiece you might be using.

 

[Guest]

A good choice for what you are wanting to do might be found outside the astro market.  I am wondering if something from the shooting market might work, something like this

https://www.digitalcameraworld.com/buying-guides/best-spotting-scope

Just going a little outside the box with this one.  Just like Astro stuff you have the budget up through the high end stuff, but for what you are wanting to do one of the budget models might just work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Shimrod]

On 16/07/2022 at 20:30, A_N_other_beginner said:

Hopefully I'll be forgiven for going off topic, but these forums have never seen me wrong in the past when I've been looking for advice all things optics related.

I'm fortunate enough to live relatively close to a venue that has a fair few airshows, and it's not uncommon for the aircraft concerned to pass over or near my house. That said, they'll often then circle around a couple of miles away. I've got a pair of 8x42 Helios Mistral WP3 (which were bought for astro use, and are brilliant.) But they don't have quite the reach to be as useful as I'd like. So a spotting scope seems like the next sensible jump. A lot of the aircraft are pootling along at sensible speeds so tracking shouldn't be a major issue, my eldest was quite comfortable doing so handheld with the binoculars - but I'll be using the spotting scope with a tripod.

That said, I don't have a huge budget. So my options are restricted. Could anyone steer me towards something that will be a step-up on the 8x42's for around the £100 mark? Absolute top end budget would be £150. And I've no issue going second hand, albeit preferably from somewhere like the classified section on here.

How much reach do you need? Would a 20x pair of binoculars do instead - although you would need to mount them on a tripod. I am thinking something like this at £139: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/all-binoculars/opticron-oregon-observation-20x80-binoculars.html although you may be able to go up a level if buying second-hand. 

Alternatively, if you already have a small refractor, have you considered getting a 45 degree erecting prism diagonal? This would turn your telescope into a spotting scope.