Straight or Angled Spotting Scope?

[james_wvu]

I have $1,050 worth of Cabela's points on my card after several, several years. I'm thinking of kicking in another grand or so for a Swarvoski spotting scope. Just wondering if you guys have any opinions on straight vs. angled? thanks

 

[DIYHunt]

I have had both and definitely prefer angled. very few down sides and a lot of up sides, the two biggest upsides are (1)looking uphill and (2) if people of different heights look through the scope you don't have to adjust the height of the scope, one just bends over a little further than the other one. I also think they are easier to look through from a car/truck using a window mount (some people would argue this point).

 

[rradams]

Another vote for angled. Benefits as noted above. Downside is it takes a little more practice to locate your target.

 

[muleynv]

Another upside is minimizing sun exposure. Look down, especially if you have a hat on, tends to shield the sun better when the sun is on the horizon.

 

[Coach Hunt]

Howdy,

I, on the other hand, prefer the straight through design. My main reason for that is I hunt from the top of big ridges looking down into canyons. With the angled eyepiece, I had to expose too much of my body to the eyeballs below. With the straight, I could stay a LOT lower so I could hide better. Also, don't discount the trouble it takes to find your game in an angled eyepiece. It is much, MUCH faster with a straight eyepiece. When you have a big buck running and you HAVE to see if he is good enough you don't have time to fiddle with an angled eyepiece. Opticly, I have this question. Which is superior opticly???

Coach

 

[Flatlandr]

> Opticly, I have this
>question. Which is superior
>opticly???
>
Good question Coach, probably deserves it's own post.

 

[rradams]

LAST EDITED ON Jul-05-08 AT 09:29AM (MST)[p]LAST EDITED ON Jul-05-08 AT 09:27?AM (MST)

By rotating the eye piece of an angled scope to the side you can maintain a profile similar to a straight scope. Rotating the eye piece completely down, you will have less of a profile. I've read accounts of people setting up their angled scopes behind obstructions like rocks, trees, or ridges such that only the scope was game visible.

The ability to find a target is the biggest factor between the two types of scopes IMHO. Some people just can't get used to target acquisition with an angled scope, it is not intuitive. It took some time before I was completely comfortable with my angled scope. I could see why someone might never get used to an angled scope, especially in the heat of battle.

I've been told there is an extra glass surface in angled scopes. If that is true then theoretically they would be dimmer; some light is lost on every surface transmission (damn those physics!) However, I would be surprised the eye could pick up the difference, considering everything that goes into the brightness equation. I compared straight and angled at the time of purchase, if fact I bought both and later returned the straight, and couldn't tell a difference. This has been brought up in several discussions on other boards and no one has really been able to say either was inferior/superior in practical use.

Most of my time spent spotting is looking uphill. The angled scope has been a godsend for the neck pain and headaches I used to suffer. This is the main reason I've settled on an angled scope.