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BackcntryBoy
Guest
Was wondering if any one knew of an affordable, but still good quaility spotting scope?
Foreman4x4
Very Active Member
- Messages
- 2,130
Your definition of affordable and good quality is probably different than a lot of guys, so you probably outta outline your budget and needs a little more.
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ART338WM
Guest
My friend and hunting partner was forced to buy a spotting scope for our last elk hunt as his brother was also going to be hunting during the same period of time and consiquently could not barrow his.
After ALLOT of resurch he bought a Vortex spotting scope. The model name escapes me, but it was named after some bird popular with bird watching crowd. While elk hunting we did a side by side comparison of his Vortex and my older Jap made Nikon XL. Mine cost new $411.99 W/S&H FM/NSS with soft carry case and a quite nice Slik tripod about 15 years ago. His Vortex cost slightly over (I think) $200 for the spotter only and did not come with any extras. I will have to admit in good light its opticle quality was equal to my Nikon Spotter XL. But thats were any equality ended. My Nikon was put together IMHO faaaaaar better than his Vortex. IN short I was impressed with the Vortexes optical quality, but found its over all construction quality to be unacceptable. Other smight disagree, but that is my honest opinion. Bottom line was I found him my exact Nikon XL on sale for around $379 and IMHO for what you get interms of opticle quality and bomb proof construction, it would have been worth the extra $150 or so $$$ to me to buy the Nikon.
My point being what ever spotter you buy make sure you strike a ballance between cost and quality. Except for your feet no other piece of hunting equipment is more important and will have a bigger impact on your hunt than you optics.
Deside what and how you will use it the most, what type of hunting you do most, if you mostly backpack hunt than the weight of the scope becomes much more of a factor than if you mostly hunt only a mile or so from the road.
When i desided to buy a spotting scope, the criteria I established for chosing which one to buy was (as it turned out, but I didnt realize it at the time) quite similar to same criteria I used to deside which binoculars I bought some 23yrs ago, which are still the only ones i use ti this day.
My spotter had to have opticly speeking the fallowing:
<>Be 1000% absolutely water and fog proof
<>All lens surfaces internal and external fully multi-coated
<>Bak-4 prisms
<>Have phase corrective coatings
Other must have features I wanted in my spotter were:
<>Be of bomb proof construction
<>Some form of rubber armor coating
<>Be reasonably light weight.
<>Cost less than $500
I planed on using my spotter for hunting out west, on both backpack and non-backpack hunts as well as at the shooting range.
My advice to you is do the same thing I did. Establish what it is you need in a spotting scope based on how you hunt now and in the future and spend as much money as you can possably afford. You should be able to find one hell of a nice spotter for between $350-$450. The net is full of otics websites with good deels on spotters.
Hope this helped.
After ALLOT of resurch he bought a Vortex spotting scope. The model name escapes me, but it was named after some bird popular with bird watching crowd. While elk hunting we did a side by side comparison of his Vortex and my older Jap made Nikon XL. Mine cost new $411.99 W/S&H FM/NSS with soft carry case and a quite nice Slik tripod about 15 years ago. His Vortex cost slightly over (I think) $200 for the spotter only and did not come with any extras. I will have to admit in good light its opticle quality was equal to my Nikon Spotter XL. But thats were any equality ended. My Nikon was put together IMHO faaaaaar better than his Vortex. IN short I was impressed with the Vortexes optical quality, but found its over all construction quality to be unacceptable. Other smight disagree, but that is my honest opinion. Bottom line was I found him my exact Nikon XL on sale for around $379 and IMHO for what you get interms of opticle quality and bomb proof construction, it would have been worth the extra $150 or so $$$ to me to buy the Nikon.
My point being what ever spotter you buy make sure you strike a ballance between cost and quality. Except for your feet no other piece of hunting equipment is more important and will have a bigger impact on your hunt than you optics.
Deside what and how you will use it the most, what type of hunting you do most, if you mostly backpack hunt than the weight of the scope becomes much more of a factor than if you mostly hunt only a mile or so from the road.
When i desided to buy a spotting scope, the criteria I established for chosing which one to buy was (as it turned out, but I didnt realize it at the time) quite similar to same criteria I used to deside which binoculars I bought some 23yrs ago, which are still the only ones i use ti this day.
My spotter had to have opticly speeking the fallowing:
<>Be 1000% absolutely water and fog proof
<>All lens surfaces internal and external fully multi-coated
<>Bak-4 prisms
<>Have phase corrective coatings
Other must have features I wanted in my spotter were:
<>Be of bomb proof construction
<>Some form of rubber armor coating
<>Be reasonably light weight.
<>Cost less than $500
I planed on using my spotter for hunting out west, on both backpack and non-backpack hunts as well as at the shooting range.
My advice to you is do the same thing I did. Establish what it is you need in a spotting scope based on how you hunt now and in the future and spend as much money as you can possably afford. You should be able to find one hell of a nice spotter for between $350-$450. The net is full of otics websites with good deels on spotters.
Hope this helped.
BGbasbhat
Very Active Member
- Messages
- 1,097
ART338 gives some good advise.
BackCntryBoy - I know you're a newbie; but make sure you know that this sight is sponsored by Vortex, so some peoples' opinions might be a bit biased.
Nevertheless, I have heard some very good things about Vortex gear. Depending on what is "affordable and good quality" in your book, Vortex should be a brand to look into.
Check out some of the reviews on CamerLand, OpticsPlanet, and some birding websites.
I am 26, live in AZ, and plan on hunting out west for the remainder of my life. I find it extremely hard to spend $2200 on a spotting scope right now; but I know 20yrs down the road I will be glad I did.
...just make sure of your application, budget, and priority.
BackCntryBoy - I know you're a newbie; but make sure you know that this sight is sponsored by Vortex, so some peoples' opinions might be a bit biased.
Nevertheless, I have heard some very good things about Vortex gear. Depending on what is "affordable and good quality" in your book, Vortex should be a brand to look into.
Check out some of the reviews on CamerLand, OpticsPlanet, and some birding websites.
I am 26, live in AZ, and plan on hunting out west for the remainder of my life. I find it extremely hard to spend $2200 on a spotting scope right now; but I know 20yrs down the road I will be glad I did.
...just make sure of your application, budget, and priority.
N
NMRaptor
Guest
+1 Foremans statement.
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