Spotting scope power vs money difference

[limit time]

I'm in the market for a spotter and I'm wondering what power is best suitable for my use a 45 or 60 power.
90% of the time it will be used for glassing cuts and valleys and 10% for the odd goat or sheep hunt.
Should I spend all my money on a NICE 45 power or buy an OK 60 power?? I have no experience with a spotter and appreciate your opinion.

Regards
limit

[akyne]

A scope at 60 power is going to look pretty lousy in anything but the highest quality glass. In my opinion, unless you're buying Leica / Zeiss / Swaro, get a good 45 power scope. I find most of my time spent glassing is somewhere in the 20X range until I want to zoom in on something. I just picked up a Vortex Viper HD 15-45 and I couldn't be more happy with it, for the money. A Bushnell Elite will get the job done in a similar fashion but they too start to suffer at the higher magnifications.

[Gunner]

As I get older I tend to look at the weight I'm carrying more than the power of the scope.I settled on the Nikon ED50 with a 13-40X.It does everything I want it to do in an easy to carry package and great glass.It won't do what a 80X Swaro will do but it is MUCH easier to carry and much lighter in weight.I think you'll find that the 45x top end will do you fine.My young guide friends all pack the 80x Swaro,but if they screw up aging a sheep by counting annuli they are in big trouble.Also they can pack the scope because they are not carrying a rifle! Gunner

[Singleshotneeded]

15-45X unless you're buying the Big3, 45X generally gets the job done anyway...

[Rattler]

Highly recommend 60x in one of the big three if you can afford it. I recently used my Swaro at 60x to confirm an Immy moose at 330 yards. My partners Zeiss at 45x was adequate, but when I zoomed in at 60 with mine there was no question.

[BCBRAD]

In the power vs money deal, I went with the Vortex 15x45, Kowa is better but at least $300 more, if the better is worth $300 more ........I didn't think so for my purposes.

[wlbc]

Ultimately, with glass, there is no free lunch and you get what you pay for and everyones finacial situation is different. This makes it tough to recommend and then a lot of these threads turn into what people like.

I had a cheapy and then when a partner with his Swaro was picking out critters across a valley that I couldn't ssee I made a change. What that is worth to you is really only something you can answer for yourself.

Angle vs straight - I have both and prefer the anglehead for ease of use.

60mm, 65mm, 70mm, 77mm, 80mm, 85mm, etc - Mine is a 65mm, if you are going larger you really need good glass to make it worth while and the room to pack it if you walk much. Looking at the sizes and what goes in my day pack and it became the 65mm.

Brands - There is Swaro, Zeiss, and Leica, I couldn't really tell the difference between the three but liked some of the features the Leica had. Kowa is reported to be pretty good too but I have not looked through one. US Optics makes a nice one in 15-45. Vortex, Nikon, Pentax, are probably all in the next tier as well. I would not go cheaper.

On the higher magnification you really do need good glass to use it otherwise it's not clear.

Hope this helps.

[limit time]

Thanks for all the help everyone! I've been wanting one for a while and after talking to my dad and brother, I'm getting one.
They were hunting moose and came across a bull about 350-400 meters away. Since they don't have LEH, they can only shoot a spike /fork. As they tried to get closer to count the points the bull walked into the thick. My brother said " if I had a spotter, we could've had our moose".
I don't want this to happen again!

[Singleshotneeded]

Limit Time, with moose you'll find a 45X will be just fine...top glass with bigger magnification is a big advantage
for bighorn sheep, etc, but rarely needed moose hunting.

[boxhitch]

What you really will appreciate is a glass that is better in low light conditions, which is probably a more notable difference in optics than clarity.
A basic Bushnell 20 x 60 80 mm. will be brighter than a similar 15 x 45 60 mm. at the lower power settings, which you will possibly get away with.

I do recall watching a small bull moose for over 20 minutes, in the doom and gloom of a rainy morning , trying to count points. The compact scope I had at the time was very busy back and forth between about 20x and 40 x trying to balance detail with light availability.

[lwing]

if your on a budget and want high end glass,look at zen ray, read the reviews, own binos and the spotter, can't afford all swarovski, these compare,
also own the nikon compact 13-40, great lightweight glass