Spotting Scope and LRF Recommendations?

[Retired shooter]

Hello all
Will be pulling trigger shortly on spotting scope and range finder. Any and all suggestions welcome in regards with who to purchase from. Thank in advance.

Retired shooter

 

[boltfluter]

Hunting or target shooting?

 

[jepp2]

Will be pulling trigger shortly on spotting scope and range finder.

Knowing more about what you intend to use them for and at what distances will help a lot.

My first range finder was a Nikon, not too impressed. Next I got a Leupold. Used it a lot on my prairie dog hunts, but the small field of view made it challenging to range the correct dog (flat featureless land). And now I had an extra step. 1. Find the next dog I want to shoot in my binos 2. Range the soon to be deceased dog. 3. Find the dog in my scope set on 24 power. So I got the Vortex Fury and now scan for dogs and range to decide who is next. I range every dog before I shoot. I will range over 1,000 times per day. They work great for me but there are better more capable (and expensive) rangefinders out there. I normally only need to range to 1000 yards when deer hunting.

My wife is an avid birder. So she never met a high end spotting scope she didn't need. And of course she needs a complete set of tripods to meet all the conditions. She favors and has Vortex, Swarovski, Zeiss, and I'm sure I missed some. Low light conditions you need a large diameter objective lens to gather light. But she is trying to identify a long tailed duck on the lee side of a lake a mile across when the wind is blowing strong.

 

[Ledd Slinger]

Not sure if there’s any spots left on this dead horse that haven’t been kicked a thousand times. Do yourself a favor and put in some effort by searching the these forum threads, LRHunting forum threads, Rokslide forum thread, or YouTube videos. You’ll learn a lot more a lot faster than waiting on another thread to populate with comments on a subject that’s been beaten to death.

Petersens Hunting magazine and Outdoor Life magazine conduct good side by side comparisons of optics with multiple users as well.

Doesn’t matter what you’re using them for. A spotting scope is a spotting scope and a range finder is a rangefinder. A crappy version of either optic won’t do you any good for hunting or target shooting

 

[Retired shooter]

Will be using to spot my son while ELR . Sorry for not mentioning that. Question is and was where to purchase. ? Do any of the vendors on this website offer good, or better deals than others, and is customer service better one place over the other.

In regards to beating a dead horse sorry to get your knickers all knotted, as I have done the research, and visited lots of we sites and forums. I have also tried to use the most current dates of the posted threads.

Thank you to all
Retired shooter

 

[JEFFPPC]

If your buying a scope to spot hole past 400 yes there are 2 choices. Spend some money or waste some money. I have a Zeis 85mm and am happy. At 500 yds I can see 6mm hole regardless of conditions. Several folks I shoot with have Swarovskis and some days one or the other seems better. Pentax Field Scope 100mm is excellent but big and heavy. Meopta is ok. They are pricey but don't wear out , provide a lot of fun , and are a good investment. Kowa is excellent. I would advise trying before you buy at the distance you want to view on an actual target with holes and not at a time with great conditions. I chose a straight model but if I had it to do over I would choose angular, it's easier to use sitting beside you at a bench.

 

[Retired shooter]

Just a suggestion or question to the moderators or forum boss is there a setting somewhere to sort the posts or threads by date . Oldest to newest .
As technology has changed dramatically the older threads lose their relevance.

Thank you.
Retired shooter.

 

[Ledd Slinger]

If you’re a veteran it’s hard to beat the discounted price at Euro Optic.

Vortex gives vet discount ok but I don’t feel they can quite compare to alpha glass in the spotting scope category.

Meopta also offers a significant veteran discount.

For ELR, save some money and get a Leupold 2800 rangefinder. I’m not a Leupold fan in general but picked one up on sale as a backup to my Leica and it will read pine trees at 2400 yards no problem, rock faces even farther. Small, fast, and very reliable.

I sold my Swarovski ATX and Meopta S2 and now own old Japanese made Nikon Fieldscope spotters. 2nd Gen is best. I do not feel that I sacrificed anything optically to the Meopta or Swarovski. The old Nikons are optically better than the Meopta and probably equal to the Swarovski but handle mirage much better so it’s a lot easier to use higher powers when it starts warming up outside. Couldn’t be happier

 

[Retired shooter]

Thank you sir!

 

[6BRA]

KOWA 883.....I have only had for 1 week, all I can say is WOW! Buy once cry once...

1.6 extender arrives tomorrow. They say no loss in light or image quality when at 96 x
you can already see 6mm bullet holes at 600 yards without the extender. Flourite Crystal...

 

[J.d. Popkes]

Maven for the rangefinder. But nobody’s heard about them so……. They’re outstanding. And $400. Warranty like a vortex. I think you’re going to have to step up to some kinda military grade $5k unit to outperform one. Sig won’t and they are 2-3 times as much. I’d never known but it’s a kinda local company so they’re around here.