Real life spotting scope experience

[Frontier]

There seems to be a number of hunters who have opinions and experience with spotting scopes that visit this forum. I like hearing those experiences as I am looking to upgrade to a higher quality spotting scope this year. It seems the top dog is Swarovski as far as quality of glass, but are there scopes out there that you really cannot tell the difference when looking at the horns of a buck at 2 miles at all different light levels.

I've seen the bird watcher tables, and while helpful, I don't believe their criteria is the same as ours. I'm interested in hearing from users of all brands like the Nikon edge series, Vixen, the new Vortex etc. I know there are other posts that have done similar things, but we haven't had any lately, so lets hear the latest.

 

[MuddyBoots]

I finally got a chance to look through Vortex's new 85mm Razor and I can honestly say Vortex may have finally got it right on this one. It is on another level from their previous spotters. I haven't been a huge fan of Vortex but they are beginning to change my mind. Now if I could just get my hands on the Kaibabs.

 

[Timberbuck]

LAST EDITED ON Mar-12-09 AT 11:50PM (MST)[p]Pentax PF series of ED spotters in 65,80mm are just a step below the big three.

The vortex and bushnell 80mm ed good also.

Also look at the Meopta spotters.(slightly better than the pentax)

The cheapest of the big three would be the Zeiss 65mm and would be a good bet.

The nikon fieldscope 3 ed series are great but for a little more cash I would go to the Zeiss.