Scope Review Bird Watchers Digest USA

[Bob D]

For those that follow reviews of spotting scopes the link below will take you to the March/April 2003 issue of Birdwatchers Digest Scope Review. The comparison chart noted in the article will require the Acrobat Reader.

http://www.birdwatchersdigest.com/optics/scopes03.html

Bob D

[philipw2]

Thanks for the heads up.

[KCFoggin]

I always hate reading reviews of something I just bought on the chance that I will be told I wasted my money but in this case my Eagle Optics Raven did well in their ratings so I am pleased. Thanks for the piece of mind Bob.

[Bob D]

Thanks for the feedback--appreciated.

The following link was provided by a birder from accross the pond. It is apparently from a Norway optics specialist. It is the most complete review that I've seen, however, it is in Norwegian (please excuse my ingnorance if I'm wrong). It is still very useful although somewhat out of date with all the new scopes being marketed in the past year.

http://www.kikkertspesialisten.no/pdf/testtele.pdf

Also, a U.S. publication called Living Bird, from the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, did a review of scopes about one year ago. Unfortunately they have not placed it on their web site--the one on the web site is several years old and quite out of date. The issue this review appeared in was Winter 2002 in case you have library facilities that may have it.

The test was evidently conducted by a number of individuals associated with the lab and included 17 spotting scopes and 6 astronomy scopes. Included in the review was the Swarovski ATS65HD. However, not the new Ziess scopes.

If anyone is interested in specific scope(s) results please feel free to e-mail me or post a follow-up message. I will answer either personally or to the group.

Bob D.