zoom eyepiece for Pentax PF80ED - which one?

[infantrytrophy]

After seeing a recent recommendation in the Daily Bulletin for the Pentax PF80ED spotting scope, I ordered this scope and a Pentax XF zoom eyepiece. After the eyepiece arrived, there are some indications (although ambiguous) that this eyepiece might be more suitable to the PF65ED scope rather than the PF80ED scope.

Apparently the Pentax eyepieces are well regarded, but there are two of them:

XF Zoom #70530, 6.5 - 19.5mm and

Waterproof Zoom# 70509, 8 - 24mm

Does anyone have experience with either of these eyepieces. Is it worth about $70 to $80 more for the 8-24mm eyepiece? According to the specs, the 8 - 24mm eyepiece has slightly better eye relief - 20mm, compared to about 15 mm for the XF 6.5 - 19.5mm zoom eyepiece.

Thanks,

Randy

 

[Preacher]

I have the 8-24 on mine and never worried about the extra price.
The eye relief is more than enough..

 

[infantrytrophy]

I have the 8-24 on mine and never worried about the extra price.
The eye relief is more than enough..

Preacher,

Thanks. Got the 8-24mm eyepiece (20 - 60X) and it's great. Like you said, plenty of eye relief. The images are very sharp, an improvement over my old scope.

We shoot 100-yard reduced-course HP matches at our local club. Unfortunately, this is a south-facing range and there are deep holes in the impact berm (from many years of shooting) behind the targets. This results in difficulty seeing 22 cal holes in the black during the 20-round slow fire strings, since the target face is in the shade and the part of the berm behind the target is shaded also. I have found that the new scope allows me to see the bullet holes much better that the old scope.

This is a very nice scope.

Randy