Spotting Scopes

[DonnyJ]

I'm in the market for a new spotting scope. I've been using a Kowa TS-611 25x LER and I'm ready for one with a larger objective and more magnification.

I shoot service rifle and F T/R. I'd like to try my hand at LR too.

I've searched the sight but I'd like more information.

I'd like to know what scopes you use.
If you'd had a chance to do a side by side compairison, which scopes were used and your thought on both or all scopes used.

I'm leaning toward the TSN 82vs or Vortex Razor HD. If you have any thoughts on these two, I'd like to hear it.

Thanks
Donny

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Try a nikon with the ED glass in it. Very nice

 

[cdparker]

When you go to Camp Perry and look down the line at what folks are using for their spotting scope, You will see a predominance of KOWA scopes with the LER eye piece. I have a TSN3 with the LER eye piece, that I bought in the early 80's. I have never looked through any scope that made me think about changing. Then again, I actually started shooting XC in the late '50s. The LER eye piece is what causes folks to go to the KOWA. Back in the old days, KOWA made the Bushnell Spacemaster. We usually had two or three eyepieces. Use a 15X for standing, and if you were really anal, you could put in your 22X WA for sitting. Then for PR, put in a 30X so you could try and see your bullet holes at 300. At 600, you need to see your scoring spotter, watch the flags and mirage, plus you want to see enough of your neighbor's targets in case you missed a wind change that caught the others. When KOWA came out with the LER eye piece, everyone went to that. If I were in your situation I personally would get the 773 angled body. I think that you might be able to use your current eye piece.
That has been my experience FWIW.
Craig

 

[ryanjay11]

I have a couple of Kowa TSN-821M scopes with 27X LER eyepieces. I use one to shoot/score and my wife uses the other to observe.

For the money, they are very hard to beat. If I were to upgrade, I would go with the Kowa 883. What I have works perfect, so I'll probably just stick with it for now. The 883 is starting to get some age on it, so it probably won't be long before they come out with something new.

 

[Rpbump]

I have a KOWA TSN-1 with an LER eye piece and like it very much. As I get older (72+) I
have started to use large binoculars 70 > 100mm objective lens up to 45 power for spotting. Using both eyes seems to improve my ability to follow shots when conditions are right and check for wind and mirage at various distances down range. When shooting prone the KOWA is the obvious choice but for spotting the binoculars are better for me.
Rbump

 

[dkhunt14]

I use a set of Kowa Highlanders. The glass is really good and they come in 32X but still have a good field of view. Matt

 

[Lesloan]

Try a nikon with the ED glass in it. Very nice

I can verify this. I've seen Dusty's spotter, and have to say it has the best optics I've ever seen. Big rascal, though--plan on a really heavy duty tripod if you go for one of these. You could darn near mount the Mount Palomar telescope on Dusty's! ;D

 

[Rtheurer]

I really really want to upgrade to the KOWA Prominar series.
http://www.opticsplanet.com/kowa-88mm-prominar-tsn-880-spotting-scopes.html

They are very pricey as they say but wow.. It feel its as clear as my 80mm Swaro I use for hunting. Plus its lighter than the old 80 series KOWA's or so it seemed.
Maybe a little high end but again...Wow.

RussT

 

[Road_Clam]

My opinions are base upon a non competitive recreational shooter. I have a Celestron Ultima 80 20-60x and it suits my needs perfect. It's a bit long to use prone, but tabletop or on a full length floor tripod it's perfect. I've looked through much more expensive optics and honestly I don't see much difference in quality. Add add a gusty wind shaking your scope, and a $1000 scope is no better clarity than a $300 scope. What I found to be a huge clarity enhancement (with respect to wind shaking the scope) is to also have a good quality rigid tripod, and hang some heavy ballast from the underside of your tripod. I use an old but rugged high quality vintage camera tripod that my dad had back in the 60's. I have a 6# chunk of lead that I hang on a hook on the underside of tripod and it greatly minimizes the optics shake. I think I payed $280 for my optic and it came with a decent quality tripod (I use this lesser quality one to mount my crono). Here's my optic :

http://www.celestron.com/browse-shop/sport-optics/spotting-scopes/ultima-80-45-degree-spotting-scope

 

[Rtheurer]

Road Clam brings up a good point. In the game that the OP is playing, NRA Service Rifle, and FTR a good scope stand is important. For him seeing the spotter at 200 yrds standing you can do that with the naked eye. But if your scoping your shots between rapid fire strings then a good scope is important. The old Champions Choice and Freeland scope stand leave a lot to desired bt todays standards. The gear buggy stand is a great one that is made right here in the USA by a fellow shooter. Its stable as any on the market and maybe more so even. Do to space limits to your shooting point a typical tipod does not lend its self well to being used.

You know what the saying is. Buy the best quality your check book will afford you to.

RussT

 

[chkunz]

Get the smallest, and lightest weight scope that will do the job. You definitely will want the 45 degree eye piece. If you are trying to see bullet holes you will need a big, heavy and expensive scope and a large stand. I have an old Unertl 60mm with the 45 degree eye piece and MGFL coating model FF-332 with the green body. It is almost as good as the big Kowas and much easier to move around the range all day.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Try a nikon with the ED glass in it. Very nice

I can verify this. I've seen Dusty's spotter, and have to say it has the best optics I've ever seen. Big rascal, though--plan on a really heavy duty tripod if you go for one of these. You could darn near mount the Mount Palomar telescope on Dusty's! ;D

thats my lightest tripod. you should see some of my others. one has a seat on it like an anti aircraft gun. made for movie cameras.

 

[Ledd Slinger]

I recently bought the new Meopta S2 HD 20-70X 82mm spotter after selling my Vortex Razor HD 16-48X65mm spotter. The Vortex was nice, but didn't even belong in the shadow of the Meopta.

I spent many months of investigation when considering a high end spotter and was willing to spend any amount of money. Then when we finally got a Cabelas in town, I compared the Meopta to all the top names, Zeiss, Swarovski, and Leica, etc. It beat them all hands down. The closest in comparison was the Swarovski HD 20-60X HD and the Zeiss Diascope. But There was no doubt I could make out more detail and colors were brighter with the Meopta on all like powers. In fact, while on 70X, the Meopta still delivered a more crisp detailed image than the Swaro on 60X with identical light gathering. Even while on 70X, the Meopta maintains the most perfect edge to edge HD clarity, never gets fuzzy in the slightest bit on any power. It's one hell of a spotter for the money.

I used it on an early mule deer hunt in the Montana wilderness and could easily discern 1" brow tines and a 1" crab claw fork on a buck that was nearly 3 miles away on a cloudy murky day with a lot of blue atmospheric hue in the air. In sunlight when the air cleared up, the image was so stunning it was hard to believe. Looking at other deer from 500-800 yards away in near darkness after shooting light, I couldn't even find them with my Vortex Razor HD 10x50mm binos or my naked eye, but I could still see them in great detail with the Meopta spotter. I was absolutely amazed at the quality of glass. Best $2300 I ever spent.

There are 3 models that are the same exact scope in different clothing. First is the Meopta S2 itself. Second is the Cabelas Euro HD scope. Third is the new NightForce spotter. All are the same exact scope made by Meopta. I chose the Cabelas Euro HD model since Cabelas backs there warranty the best and there is a store in town so if I ever have any problems they'll just give me new one and send the other off for repair. Just have to figure out which option is more convenient for you. But beware that the NightForce costs about $200+ more and the warranty is only good for about 20 years while only covering manufacturer defects. If you buy directly from Meopta, it has a FULL lifetime warranty. From Cabelas it's a "No questions asked" FULL lifetime warranty. So that's definitely something to consider. Good luck on whatever you choose.

 

[Jdne5b]

I'm in the market for a new spotting scope. I've been using a Kowa TS-611 25x LER and I'm ready for one with a larger objective and more magnification.

I shoot service rifle and F T/R. I'd like to try my hand at LR too.

I've searched the sight but I'd like more information.

I'd like to know what scopes you use.
If you'd had a chance to do a side by side compairison, which scopes were used and your thought on both or all scopes used.

I'm leaning toward the TSN 82vs or Vortex Razor HD. If you have any thoughts on these two, I'd like to hear it.

Thanks
Donny

I have the Vortex Razor HD 20-60x85 and have the LER eye piece also. I love it. Very, very crisp. I shoot F-TR. The Razor gets you a bigger objective, the LER eye piece is 23x, so it won't get you more magnification, but the 20-60 will. (the 60x is almost un-useable while prone unless you like to shoot without glasses and can stick your eye against the objective).

I compared my scope side by side to a Kowa 883, and it was very close. I had the LER eye piece on, and the Kowa had the 20-60 on it, so it wasnt 100% direct, but it was close. I will say, that with the air so perfect that day, I could pick out bullet holes at 600 yards on an F-class target with that Kowa. I should have swapped out to my 20-60 eye piece to see if I could with the Razor.

My one complaint with the Vortex (and I'm sure the 883 and some of the other HD scopes also have this issue) is that on a nice day, to see any mirage (which is what I primarily use it for) I have to dial the focus so far back, that I can't make out anything on the targets. The scope is almost TOO clear on some days. This ruins the 2nd reason I want a spotting scope, and that's to watch other targets to catch condition switches. It's not like this all the time, just on certain days where the air is really clear.

Considering the price difference between the Vortex and Kowa 883, and the availablility of a ranging reticle for shooting steel, the Vortex was an easy choice for me. I got it from Liberty Optics, who when I contacted them, gave me a spectacular price.

It is heavy but I use a Ray-Vin F stand and Eliseo scope head and don't have any problems.

 

[DonnyJ]

Thank you for your input.

I decided to go with a Votex Viper HD 20x60x80. It was about 1/2 the price of the Razor.
I had a chance to compair both the Razor and Viper, side by side. All tho it was a short distance test ( 200 yds) I was unable to see a differance between the to.
If it dosen't work out for me, then someone well get a good deal on the Viper.

Road Clam brings up a good point. In the game that the OP is playing, NRA Service Rifle, and FTR a good scope stand is important. For him seeing the spotter at 200 yrds standing you can do that with the naked eye. But if your scoping your shots between rapid fire strings then a good scope is important. The old Champions Choice and Freeland scope stand leave a lot to desired bt todays standards. The gear buggy stand is a great one that is made right here in the USA by a fellow shooter. Its stable as any on the market and maybe more so even. Do to space limits to your shooting point a typical tipod does not lend its self well to being used.

You know what the saying is. Buy the best quality your check book will afford you to.

RussT

I did go with the basic model Gear Buggy Super Spotter Scope Stand. I'll add some extras later on.
It was a pleasure talking to Wayne and I appreciate his efforts in finishing up one for me and the same day shipping.

Donny

 

[Ledd Slinger]

Should have went alpha glass and been done with it. The Viper won't gather much light in comparison to more expensive models and the field of view is smaller along with poor eye relief on high powers. I'll bet you will probably get headaches after long glassing sessions on high power as well. Hazy atmospheric conditions will also give you a lot of trouble.

I played the song and dance of buying what I thought was just as good to save some money over the years. Probably owned 3 or 4 spotters before I finally took the dive and spent $2300 on the alpha glass Meopta. I wasted a lot of time and money by "working my way up" to good glass. Looking back, I realize I should have just saved up and got the alpha glass to start with.

Just my .02