Spotting Scopes

[blacksn95]

Been thinking of getting a new spotter ever since mine got stolen a few years back out of the truck.. Been tossing up the idea of getting either a Vortex Razor or a used Swaro or Leica in the 30-60 range.. I know optics can be quite subjective in regards to clarity and brightness and the price can be limitless in what you want to spend.. Overall what do you guys all use and what are you thoughts? I don't really want to break the bank on a spotter but I also don't want to have something that is mediocre either.. my old one was a Nikon Fieldscope which was pretty decent for it's time

[VLD43]

Depends on what you are using it for. There is no argument when it comes to good optics. Just look at what the guides are using and what experienced hunters are using. You really can't beat Swaro, Leica or Zeiss. These brands have the reputation they do for a reason. You can buy lots of cheap optics over your lifetime and end up spending the same money you would have buying quality once. I like the Swaro 65 with the 20 x 50 eyepiece. Compact and it works. Great clarity in all light conditions, never fogs up, and is rugged and dependable. Ya I know, Swaros aren't cheap, but you pay for quality. When your up in the mountains trying to determine legality of an animal from distance, good spotting scopes pay their way and save a lot of boot leather. Buy what you can afford or justify, but be sure you won't be disappointed by good glass. Cheers

[KodiakHntr]

I carry a Swarovski 20-60x65, and it is not bad glass. If I were doing it over again, I would wait and save more money and buy the Leica.

That said, I have used the Vortex Razor side by side at last light a few times with my Swarovski, and the image to my eye was a bit sharper. That was likely due to the fine focus on the Vortex vs the slightly coarser single focus ring of the Swarovski.


If you are a sheep hunter, and going to be using it every year, spend the money. If you aren't super serious about it then the Vortex will likely do fine for counting tines on muleys or moose.

[albravo2]

I went through this dilemma earlier this year and ended up buying a Vortex Razor although I may yet change my mind.

I seem to be able to baby my rifle scope but my binoculars take a beating so the Vortex warranty is important to me. I applied the same logic to my spotting scope-- it will be strapped on the outside of my pack in very inhospitable conditions. I don't want the worry of maintaining it in perfect condition all the time.

A Leica with a few scratches is worth a significant discount from the price of a brand new one. A Vortex Razor with a few scratches is literally exchangeable for a brand new one.

Like I say, I may still change my mind. There is a herd of bighorns across the lake from my cabin at about 1000 yards and I'm not 100% convinced the Razors are the level of detail I'm looking for.

[HankBC]

Pretty happy with my ATX 65.. That being said I don't necessarily think there's a $2,000 difference between that and my partners ATS 65.. I'd be tempted to put that 2k to better use elsewhere I think, but if you have it you wont regret it either. Don't think I could downgrade.

Started with a Razor 65. They work but I don't prefer them.

I prefer Swaro glass, things pop better for me. Go look through a few scopes or find guys in your area to try theirs, once Covid blows over anyways.

My .02

[sako79]

Apparently the kowa are on par with Swarovski for less money but there are a bit heavier. Except if you go with the kowa 553. Amazing glass ultra lightweight but only 50 mm objective

[VLD43]

Something to also keep in mind with Swaro is that their warranty if needed is excellent. Same for any repairs. Leica on the other hand although a good scope, takes a long time for warranty and repairs, and availability is not great. When I was purchasing my scope, I had decided on a Leica, but the dealer I was working with, who sells lots of scopes to birders, suggested I consider Swaro, because of their availability and service. Although he carried Leica, he said any after purchase service was painful at best, and usually costly.

[emerson]

I’ve bought optics from $400-$1400, but I’ve always been disappointed with their performance at max mag compared to higher end options. If you actually can afford it and just aren’t using “buy once cry once” as an excuse, spend the $$. Optics are the first and most important step to successful hunting. A savage rifle could shot the animal you identified with the $3-$4K optic.

[porthunter]

Personally I run an ATX 65mm, and would argue with most that it is the best scope on the market. It has never let me down and never have I felt like something was missing or lacking with it.

With that being said, most of my hunting partners run the S line(ATS or STS) and those are also great scopes at a much nicer price point. While I do notice abit of a difference in the two lines, that S line is going to get the job done without any hesitation.

[Weatherby Fan]

I’ve used Leica optics for 35 years, I have used there warranty depot in New Jersey just to refurbish and older pair of Trinovids and it took a while to get them back, service was just ok

My brother has the Vortex Razor spotter and I can’t see much difference in clarity between the two but the focus functions were way better to use on the Leica.

You really can’t go wrong with Leica, Swarovski, ZEISS, even Meopta, my brother is harder on gear than anyone I know and his Vortex is still holding up !

[tdot]

I'm very happy with my STX and BTX Swarovski's, it is probably the most versatile system with the best glass in the world. But I would take a Kowa over the STS lineup from Swaro. The Kowa 88 series is incredible. But I decided to pony up the cash for an optics system that would fit me for the next 20 years. It took a number of years and alot of disappointment in lesser scopes, but very happy I finally took the plunge.

[KodiakHntr]

I have never met anyone who has ponied up the money for top tier glass, who has said that they could downgrade to recover some money with a lesser product and be just as happy.



Sure see that with all other gear though. There are always ads out there for top shelf gear that has "can't justify the price of it to sit in the garage and get used once", but you never see "selling my Swarovski, down sizing to a Nikon".

[TARCHER]

now is a great time for buying used high end optics. I had bought a swarovski for a muskwa trip a few yrs back. Awesome scope. I sold it to buy a new rifle. A few weeks ago I bought a lightly used Zeiss dialyt 18-45x65 for basically half price. Its going to be handy for me to positively identify immature moose at 250-300 yds. I have zeiss 7x42 dialyts for the past 30 yrs but had to pass on a few animals as I wasnt sure. Last summer I bought Leica ultravid 10x42 hd thinking That would be the answer and had to pass on a small bull lasdt fall hence anothe spotting scope lol. If I could get any bull draw I could save some money.

[300rum700]

I have never met anyone who has ponied up the money for top tier glass, who has said that they could downgrade to recover some money with a lesser product and be just as happy.



Sure see that with all other gear though. There are always ads out there for top shelf gear that has "can't justify the price of it to sit in the garage and get used once", but you never see "selling my Swarovski, down sizing to a Nikon".


Every time your read a reply come back and read this post. Theres no short cut to good glass.

[blacksn95]

Thanks for all the feedback everyone!! I will read through it and hopefully have a chance and look through some Scopes once this whole Covid thing is over and see what I like..

Vince

[Krico]

Cheap optics suck, and I hate them all. Cheap spotters suck the hardest, and I hate them the most.

Mine is a Swarovski ATS 65mm with 20-60 eyepiece I found for a song ($1,500), when retail was like $2,500 -$3,000). I’d have happily bought Zeiss or Leica at that price too.

[HighCountryBC]

Cheap optics suck, and I hate them all. Cheap spotters suck the hardest, and I hate them the most.

Mine is a Swarovski ATS 65mm with 20-60 eyepiece I found for a song ($1,500), when retail was like $2,500 -$3,000). I’d have happily bought Zeiss or Leica at that price too.

Couldn't agree more.

Buy nice or buy twice.

[TeamGrizzly]

I use a Celestron Trailseeker 100. It's pretty big for a spotter and I mainly use it at the range. The price is good at around $500-600 and the image quality is good too. Though I am curious how it would stack up to high end glass. Also the availability is limited to Amazon since lower mainland telescope & camera shops that deal with Celestron seem to be unable to get their spotters. (Also Amazon is the cheapest.)

Mike

[HarryToolips]

I carry a Swarovski 20-60x65, and it is not bad glass. If I were doing it over again, I would wait and save more money and buy the Leica.

That said, I have used the Vortex Razor side by side at last light a few times with my Swarovski, and the image to my eye was a bit sharper. That was likely due to the fine focus on the Vortex vs the slightly coarser single focus ring of the Swarovski.


If you are a sheep hunter, and going to be using it every year, spend the money. If you aren't super serious about it then the Vortex will likely do fine for counting tines on muleys or moose.
I have the Vortex Razor 65 mm and really like the fine focus knob...I am very impressed with the quality of the scope but then again I've never compared it to higher end spotters...

[KodiakHntr]

I have the Vortex Razor 65 mm and really like the fine focus knob...I am very impressed with the quality of the scope but then again I've never compared it to higher end spotters...

Yeah, they definitely got the fine focus correct on the Vortex. It is reasonable glass for sure, when you consider the price point.

[Cheeser]

I ended up buying a Kowa 773 with the 25-60 wide angle eyepiece. I don't have any buddies with high end spotters to look through, and taking a spotter out to the store parking lot in the middle of the day won't prove anything, so I had to just read a ton of reviews and comparisons, and decide what features I wanted.

I know it's not fair to compare the 77mm objective to the 65 class spotters, but I lumped it in with them based on price, and weight. The Kowa 77 weighs about the same as the gen 2 65mm Razors, and the Swaro X 65mm, though heavier than the S series Swaro.

Pricewise, it was a little cheaper than going with the ATS 65.

You can get the wide angle FOV in a 25-60x eyepiece, vs losing a bit at 25-50x on the Swaro, or having to go with the non-wide angle 20-60.

The Kowa has the coarse and fine focus adjustment like the original razors, something I think I would like vs the single speed focus on the Swaros.

Performance wise I think it's fantastic, but like I said, I wasn't able to do any comparisons. My previous spotter experience is with a celestron regal 65mm, and the Razor 50mm. Plenty of folks on the birding forums(way better source of optics info than hunting forums) regard the Kowa 880 as the best spotting scope on the planet, but thats bigger, heavier, and more expensive than I wanted to go. It seemed like a lot of opinions I found felt the Kowa 77 was better than the Swaro S 65, and some said better than the 80 as well. I didn't find a ton of info on the 77 vs the X series Swaro, but there's a significant price difference there, even for just the 65mm Swaro.

I'd still love to do a side by side with a Swaro just to see, and the 11ish ounce weight difference from the S 65 mm isn't insignificant if you're an ounce counter, but that's how I ended up making my decision.

[Thunderstix]

I 100% agree on the Kowa. Brought my new Kowa Prominar TSN-883 to camp last year, a camp where there was two brand new Swaro’s, side by side comparison, 7 people in camp, all agreed the Kowa was the winner, even the Swaro owners....of course there is absolutely nothing wrong with a Swaro and would be proud to own one. One thing that probably skewed opinions was that my scope has an 88mm objective and both Swaro’s were 60 I believe, maybe 65. Heavier yes, but we are talking ounces and not pounds.


Apparently the kowa are on par with Swarovski for less money but there are a bit heavier. Except if you go with the kowa 553. Amazing glass ultra lightweight but only 50 mm objective

[Elkaddict]

Hey Cheeser, here’s a write up from a couple years ago, before the latest offerings from Swaro. Same comparison for the same reasons. The Kowa is still as clear and crisp as the day I bought it. I have no regrets at all.

http://www.huntingbc.ca/forum/showthread.php?77269-Swaro-HD-65-VS-the-Kowa-773-compro

[The Hermit]

Apparently the kowa are on par with Swarovski for less money but there are a bit heavier. Except if you go with the kowa 553. Amazing glass ultra lightweight but only 50 mm objective

I no longer have a horse in this race but stand by what I've always said... the Kowa 800 series is as good as it gets and the 700 series is way better than Vortex for about the same coin. You should at the very least check them out!

[Cheeser]

Hey Cheeser, here’s a write up from a couple years ago, before the latest offerings from Swaro. Same comparison for the same reasons. The Kowa is still as clear and crisp as the day I bought it. I have no regrets at all.

http://www.huntingbc.ca/forum/showthread.php?77269-Swaro-HD-65-VS-the-Kowa-773-compro

Cheers, that thread was definitely a big contributor in my decision! It was also a big reason why I felt the need to clarify why I was comparing the 773 with the 65mm class scopes, considering how many people were butthurt that you would dare try and post something of value to others on the internet.

[wallz]

I had done some checking and homework on a spotter purchase for future reference and dreams. While browsing some online sites a few months ago, (when bored at work) I came across a demo swaro ATX 65 model for a song and a dance and just couldn't stop myself from the purchase.
They are far and few in between, but they do come up once in a while for some great savings on the demo models, unless you are pressed for time and just need it now. Or unless you know a guide, as they sometimes sell of products they get gifted, or get for cheap. (Yes this is true)
Now if my tripod would only get here.
Might want to also invest in a good phone scope as well, or at least have that in your radar once you have a spotter. Works great so far at the range and some limited wildlife photos.