• This Forum is for adults 18 years of age or over. By continuing to use this Forum you are confirming that you are 18 or older. No content shall be viewed by any person under 18 in California.

Spotting scopes - Budget gear even with the effort?

Tricktech

Never had one - tired of counting on someone else having one.

I've seen a couple of posts related to the budget world of spotting scopes, but as the cheaper glass out of China gets better and cheaper all the time, I'm wondering what people are thinking about the current crop of sub-$200 spotters out there.

I don't need to count the ruffles on the edge of a 6.5 hole at 1000 yds, but I would like to get something that would at least be good enough to discern hits on paper at 500-800. Does the cheap stuff maintain enough clarity at those distances to make out enough detail to be of any use? Does a 20-60x even have that kind of reach? - or is it simply a waste of money better spent on the next tier up.

A guy can tolerate a certain amount of chromatic aberration, so again, I don't need perfect clarity.

Angled vs. straight... any difference in typical image quality on one design vs the other in the budget scopes?

Would love some feedback.
 
Tricktech said:
...I'm wondering what people are thinking about the current crop of sub-$200 spotters out there.

I don't need to count the ruffles on the edge of a 6.5 hole at 1000 yds, but I would like to get something that would at least be good enough to discern hits on paper at 500-800.
Click to expand...

My experience (in the 17 years I been shooting) has been that you're tilting at windmills thinking a $200 spotting scope will let you see bullet holes (what size? .17"? 6mm? 50cal? White paper?) at distances beyond maybe 300 yards... on a good day.

The single biggest issue here isn't the cost or quality of the optics, it's the quality of air between your scope and those holes. You hear a lot of talk about mirage, and for this kind of purpose it's your enemy not your friend.

In all that time I've seen 6mm bullet holes in a white paper target at 600 yards exactly once. And it wasn't with anything I'd brought, it was with another shooter's Pentax scope with a 50x eyepiece. That was 12 years ago.

Angled vs. straight... any difference in typical image quality on one design vs the other in the budget scopes?
Click to expand...

Shouldn't be much if any, but bear in mind a straight optical path will have less surfaces (lens to lens, lens to air, air to prism) than one that's angled. And every surface (where light waves move from one medium into another) causes them to get scattered... sometimes a little, sometimes a lot. The higher price optics have less of it than the less pricey stuff.
 
spclark said:
(Snip)
Shouldn't be much if any, but bear in mind a straight optical path will have less surfaces (lens to lens, lens to air, air to prism) than one that's angled. And every surface (where light waves move from one medium into another) causes them to get scattered... sometimes a little, sometimes a lot. The higher price optics have less of it than the less pricey stuff.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's not quite right. If you think of a telescope, you have two basic types; reflector (straight) and refractor (has a 90 degree offset eyepiece.) Both of these have the image flipped, right to left and top to bottom. The refractor has few lenses.

But when you are talking about a spotting scope, angled or straight, one of its main feature is that the image is flipped for you and so you see it right side up and with proper left and right. This flipping is done by an erector lens assembly, just like in a rifle scope. In an angled spotting scope, the image flipping is done by the prism that also points the image in another direction. In a straight scope, the erector lenses are placed just like in a riflescope. There is also the short straight spotting scope where the objective is not in direct line with the ocular lens. This format uses a pair of porro lenses to flip the image and it's done so as to increase the focal length of the spotting scope yet retain a smaller format. So the number of lens elements and prisms is not of concern when trying to differentiate the two types.

To the OP's point, I have never seen bullet holes at 500-800 yards with a spotting scope. Any spotting scope. I would not even try unless the target was black and the sun was shining behind the target.
 
Last edited:
Good information...

I guess I may have to temper my expectation at distance... most of my spotting has been 300 or less with other people's gear and I haven't paid much attention to anything further down range.

So to revise my thoughts... is a cheap spotting scope going to be a waste of money at 100-300? Is it better to just save that money and put it towards something a class or two up?
 
I have 2 SWAROVSKI angled eyepiece spotting scopes and, after using them, would never consider going back to an inexpensive spotting scope. Buy once....Cry once. (or twice in my case...LOL)
 
why not used? Last year I broke down and bought a Kowa because I wanted at 45 deg. scope. Is it nice, sure. But is 6x better than my old bousch & Lomb scope I purchased used 15 years ago for $125? no i don't think so. My point is most quality used spotting scopes look used on the outside but are better built and more reliable than what you can get for the same price as new genuine Chinese. Rarely do i have my spotter focused perfectly on the target as i'm also using it to see mirage, and to be honest the B&L works better for that for me.

Jeff
 
I bought a Landove spotting scope from Amazon for something like $135. (20-60x80) I wanted a cheap scope and chose this one based on the reviews. The darn thing is a lot better than I thought it would be. It's not German quality for sure, but It is night and day better than the old Simmons scope I bought back in the 'day. When the mirage is bad I can see bullet holes at 300 better than I can with my Golden Eagle.

And hey, if you don't like it Amazon will take it back.
 
I have a real cheap Burris spotter that came as a freebee upon buying a Burris scope. 12-24X, when set at 20X I can barely make out .22 holes at 300; it is real cheap and tough, surprisingly good considering the price, double porro prism, offset ocular lens. At 12X I can focus at 25 feet to view hummers at the feeder. I have a more expensive spotter that can go up to 40X with an objective lens of 60mm and as expected that provides a better view at 25-30X; the angled eye piece makes aiming it difficult.. I would like to get a roof prism type spotter that I could easily aim at the subject vs. looking down then out.

Bullet holes @ 500 or more would be difficult to see.
 
Tricktech said:
Never had one - tired of counting on someone else having one.

I've seen a couple of posts related to the budget world of spotting scopes, but as the cheaper glass out of China gets better and cheaper all the time, I'm wondering what people are thinking about the current crop of sub-$200 spotters out there.

I don't need to count the ruffles on the edge of a 6.5 hole at 1000 yds, but I would like to get something that would at least be good enough to discern hits on paper at 500-800. Does the cheap stuff maintain enough clarity at those distances to make out enough detail to be of any use? Does a 20-60x even have that kind of reach? - or is it simply a waste of money better spent on the next tier up.

A guy can tolerate a certain amount of chromatic aberration, so again, I don't need perfect clarity.

Angled vs. straight... any difference in typical image quality on one design vs the other in the budget scopes?

Would love some feedback.
Click to expand...
When I started shooting NRA High-Power 25 years ago, the state of the art in spotting scopes was the 77mm Kowa w/25X extended eye relief eye piece. Kowa has never been and still isn't inexpensive, but I have never been sorry I stepped up and spent the money. At the time our local range was only 200 yds., without pits, so we shot a lot of "reduced" course matches and you had to be able to see bullet holes at 200 yds. On bright sunny days you could see them with about anything, but on those dark overcast days the Kowa showed you why they were worth the money.

Remember, buying the best only hurts once, but buying cheap hurts every time you use it.
 
Well... curiously today's Bulletin discusses this very topic.

Makes for interesting reading, goes a long way to support the adage that more often than not "You Get What You Pay For."
 
Last year i was out shooting with and family member and he had a Konus 20-60x spotting scope and I was pleasantly surprised with it's clarity. We were shooting paper out to 200yds and steal targets to 500yds. I have not spent much time behind a spotting scope so I am the farthest thing from an expert. I do have a Vortex Razor spotter and the Konus wasn't a clear as the Vortex but for the shooting we were doing I thought the konus was great.
 
Should anyone reading this thread be interested, I have a nice, clean Kowa TSN-820 to sell for a friend (who's not shooting anymore and doesn't do internet stuff much). Comes with 50x wide-angle and 27x LER eye pieces, Kowa scope case, EKL aluminum scope stand w/ground spike and a solid oak handmade carrying case (that's so heavy I can't imagine taking it to a match let alone what it would cost to ship!) the scope owner made himself.
Asking price is $1,250 & buyer would have to pay shipping or if within 150 miles of LaCrosse WI we could meet someplace half-way.

I don't have any pics but will take some if an interested party responds with a PM here. Please provide e-mail address for them to be sent in return.
 
Own a Konus 20-60X80 and have owned a 20-60X100. Most guys couldn't see any difference between the Konus and the Pentax out to 600 yards. Sold the 100mm due to the size, it was impossible with my tripod to stop it from wiggling, but then again, I am a cheep ass when it comes to tripods(and spotting scopes).
 

Best Spotting Scopes

Monoculars offer powerful viewing capabilities in a compact device. Choose a monocular based on magnification strength, lens size, durability, and ease of use.
buyersguide.org buyersguide.org

You wanted low price options?
 
I purchased this Konus spotting scope. Suits my needs. I can see bullet .22 holes at 600 yards depending on the target and impact on steel beyond 1000 yards. The images are crisp and clear. The problem with large high magnification scopes such as this is finding a suitable tripod that stabilizes the scope . This scope currently sells for under $250.00, 2/3 of what I paid almost 15 years ago.
 
Tricktech said:
Good information...

I guess I may have to temper my expectation at distance... most of my spotting has been 300 or less with other people's gear and I haven't paid much attention to anything further down range.

So to revise my thoughts... is a cheap spotting scope going to be a waste of money at 100-300? Is it better to just save that money and put it towards something a class or two up?
Click to expand...

For me, cheap was a waste of money, and I w/h/b better off going straight to what I finally settled on - Leupold 12-40x60 "Gold Ring". Picked it up used on dBay for about $600.

In the matches I shoot I frequently use other shooters' S-scopes, everything from the worst to the very best made. NONE of them can be counted on to see even 30-cal holes on paper at 600 yards. You are much better off spending your money on a target camera or an electronic target.

Even some expensive S-scopes have very minimal eye-relief, which makes them difficult if not impossible to look through with your shooting glasses on. The first time I looked thru one of the 12-40x60 Leupolds I fell in love, mainly due to generous eye-relief but also with the very clear, bright picture. I look thru $1,200 - 1,500 scopes all the time that no more clear, and that are dark and hard to look thru compared to the little Leupy.

You need angled if you want to shoot your rifle prone or on a bench and then rotate your head and look thru a S-scope. I never do that because if I can't see the hole with the NF on my rifle I'm not going to be able to see it with any S-scope.

What I need a S-scope for is spotting for others at LR -- either watching his bullets fly downrange to help them get on target, watching where their bullet hits on the steel, or seeing what markers the guy in the pit put on their target. I am either standing or sitting at a bench, so my straight Leupy works great. For sitting at a bench and spotting, which I do a lot of, I prefer straight to angled. In none of those things do I need an expensive spotting scope.

If I was bird-watching I'd buy a Swaro in a heartbeat. They are incredible to look thru. But for the spotting I do, I just don't need it. I wouldn't be able to see holes at even 500 yards half the time anyway.

But I do want to be able to see holes at 300 yards on a nice cool day, and the Leupy works fine for that.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Upgrades & Donations

This Forum's expenses are primarily paid by member contributions. You can upgrade your Forum membership in seconds. Gold and Silver members get unlimited FREE classifieds for one year. Gold members can upload custom avatars.


Click Upgrade Membership Button ABOVE to get Gold or Silver Status.

You can also donate any amount, large or small, with the button below. Include your Forum Name in the PayPal Notes field.


To DONATE by CHECK, or make a recurring donation, CLICK HERE to learn how.

Classified Ads

Forum statistics

Threads
164,778
Messages
2,183,907
Members
78,507
Latest member
Rabbit hole

Share This Page

Back
Top