Swaro spotter post purchase update

[Timberjack]

Well, I'm generally guilty of getting information from the website, without adding too much for other's benefit, so here goes... Of course these are my opinions based on my eyes, but hopefully it will be of help to someone.

I've wanted to purchase a swaro spotter for a long time, and you may remember a couple of posts a few months back asking for people's opinions on various aspects of the different versions available, primarily to do with eyepiece and angled or straight. I ended up buying the ATS65 HD with the wide angle 25-50 eyepiece. Having made a purchase and used it a bit, here are a few thoughts...

Firstly, if you're ever considering a purchase of a swaro product, get yourself to a hunting show and test them out. I hooked up with John the swaro sales rep at abbotsford earlier this year and his advice helped me seal the deal. I was able to put up the various models and compare them side by side, under the same conditions etc etc. very useful if you're a critic and very picky like myself.

You'll recall there was great debate here on the virtues of the higher power of the 20-60 eyepiece vs the wide angle 25-50. Most people were trying to say that the 60 power was a REQUIREMENT for times when trying to count tines or rings at long distance. I can tell you this is not true. The better clarity and brightness of the 50 outweighs the higher power of the 60. The 60 becomes quite dark at higher power, whereas the 50 does not. When you put them both at 50 power - the 25-50 wide angle is obviously superior as well. My concern however was more at the low end of the scale - thinking that the 20 power would be better for scanning and picking apart a hillside. Wrong again. The wide angle at 25 power actually has a larger field of view than the 20-60 at 20 power, and very noticeably so. So the result at the low end of the scale is that the wide angle eyepiece at lowest magnification has a wider field of view, is clearer, noticeably brighter, and obviously is at slightly higher magnification thus easier to pick apart a hillside for that hiding buck as compared to the 20-60... The last part about the eyepiece is that the 20-60 feels like you're looking through a tunnel, whereas the wide angle is much more comfortable (to my eye) thus resulting in less eye fatigue. No doubt in my mind that the wide angle eyepiece is worth the extra dollars.

Next, I went back and forth about straight vs angled before I purchased. I ended up purchasing the angled, and I'm glad I did. Many people previously mentioned that it's tough to aim the angled one, but I find it very easy. Much nicer on the neck for flat or uphill viewing, and downhill viewing is just fine too, given the ability to swivel the scope in the housing. Another advantage with the angled is the ability to glass from inside a vehicle on a window mount very comfortably, which is just not as easy with a straight scope. The only real disadvantage of the angled that I can find is in rain or snow (which I haven't used it in yet), there's the chance of water landing on the lens. Of course you can swivel the scope such that the eyepiece is not looking up at the rain, plus I tend to wear a ball cap most times I'm hunting, so I'm not too worried. We'll see.

Anyway - thanks to those who provided advice to my questions previously - your advice was appreciated. Obviously the swaro products are top end, and I don't think anyone would be disappointed in purchasing one. If anyone looking to make a similar purchase has any specific questions, feel free to pm me and I'll help out. In the end I made a great choice, and am very happy with the scope. thanks to everyone for all your advice.

cheers,
Timberjack