MCracknell
Monday 14th February 2005, 00:04
This is my first post on birdforum so you will have to excuse any errors in the way this post looks.
A recent sea-watching trip with my local RSPB group brought it home to me that I really needed to invest in a decent spotting scope - I had previously not been keen on lugging the bulky-looking kit around with me. After trawling round the forums here and testing a number of scopes (and not having Gates,Buffet or Rockefeller as a surname - sorry all you Leica etc. lovers) I decided to take the plunge and ordered, with some trepidation my ED78A complete with the 38xw eyepiece (you know - the one that warehouseexpress have been getting great free publicity on here about).
To say I am impressed is an understatement, the view is fantastic, it has opened a whole new world of clarity and light.
This evening, just before dusk and with the second snow/sleet shower I had encountered today bearing down, I was searching through a large flock of black-headed gulls bobbing in some pretty choppy water for anything unusual. They were several hundred yards away and the light was pretty poor but the solitary Med. Gull was practically jumping out at me through the eyepiece.
My only concern is the fact that it is not fully waterproof and putting the carrycase on and off when moving from one spot to the next can be pretty tiresome. There are plenty of threads already dealing with the apparent lack of availability of the Nikon stay-on case. Suffice it to say I consider myself pretty good at trawling round the worldwideweb and despite several evenings and numerous emails to obscure US retailers I have failed to uncover one and am seriously considering buying the opticron s-o-c, despite it's apparent hampering of the focusing ring (how bad is it if anyone has any experience of this combo?). A day tip-toeing along muddy seawalls and dodging showers has really brought it home to me how important a s-o-c is.
Despite this a big thanks to all those that have recommended this scope, I do not regret a penny that I spent on it.
A recent sea-watching trip with my local RSPB group brought it home to me that I really needed to invest in a decent spotting scope - I had previously not been keen on lugging the bulky-looking kit around with me. After trawling round the forums here and testing a number of scopes (and not having Gates,Buffet or Rockefeller as a surname - sorry all you Leica etc. lovers) I decided to take the plunge and ordered, with some trepidation my ED78A complete with the 38xw eyepiece (you know - the one that warehouseexpress have been getting great free publicity on here about).
To say I am impressed is an understatement, the view is fantastic, it has opened a whole new world of clarity and light.
This evening, just before dusk and with the second snow/sleet shower I had encountered today bearing down, I was searching through a large flock of black-headed gulls bobbing in some pretty choppy water for anything unusual. They were several hundred yards away and the light was pretty poor but the solitary Med. Gull was practically jumping out at me through the eyepiece.
My only concern is the fact that it is not fully waterproof and putting the carrycase on and off when moving from one spot to the next can be pretty tiresome. There are plenty of threads already dealing with the apparent lack of availability of the Nikon stay-on case. Suffice it to say I consider myself pretty good at trawling round the worldwideweb and despite several evenings and numerous emails to obscure US retailers I have failed to uncover one and am seriously considering buying the opticron s-o-c, despite it's apparent hampering of the focusing ring (how bad is it if anyone has any experience of this combo?). A day tip-toeing along muddy seawalls and dodging showers has really brought it home to me how important a s-o-c is.
Despite this a big thanks to all those that have recommended this scope, I do not regret a penny that I spent on it.