John Dracon
John Dracon
For over a month now, I have been using the Dialyt 18x45 on numerous trips. When not travelling, It sits on a tripod in front of my bay window over looking the north fork of the Smith Rivers and its meadows with mountains several miles away. Many comparisons have been made with other spotting scopes, loans from friends, viz., Swarovski, Zeiss, Pentax, and Bausch & Lomb on terrestrial objects, birds, cows, horses, deer, elk, and antelope.
From these comparisons have emerged impressions about the Dialyt. In an earlier post I had called it a hybrid. I would add to that term the word "compromise."
Compared to the old B&Ls, its optics are superior. Compared to the other alphas, meaning 65 mm zoom scopes, the Dialyt has a smaller FOV and its edges are a wee bit softer. In terms of resolution, I find it about the same, particularly at the lower powers. The Dialyt colors are vibrant and natural to my eye.
Ease of use on a tripod is another matter, since a user has to undergo a re-learning process of reaching to the objective end to focus. In this matter, the alphas are superior, something like owning two cars, one an automatic and the other a stick shift. Switching back and forth can create confusion.
If one were to operate outdoors on a tripod under favorable conditions all the time, the Dialyt wouldn't be my choice. But if inherent robustness were important to a user, the Dialyt is the clear winner. I have never seen a spotting scope as well built for rough conditions and rough handling, and even inadvertent abuse than the Dialyt. The more I use it, the more I appreciate those qualities.
It is in the area of what I call impromptu outdoor use, that the Dialyt shines in ways that ordinary spotting scopes cannot contend. Consider using a window mount. Most users have evolved to that. It means sitting awkwardly with the window rolled up just right. Then there is the attachment and removal of the mounted spotting scope. Now the scope and mount takes up room in limited space. Or you have to move your car or pickup to a better angle for viewing.
My experience with window mounts is that they are quick peek in usefulness. And something gets banged mounting and dismounting. The Dialyt was made for quick peeks. And it can be laid on a bare window without marring anything and will provide a steady enough view when needed.
Weather permitting, how does one use a conventional spotting scope outdoors without a tripod? With difficulty at best. Lay it on top of your car roof or hood sometime and try to hold it steady. You can do that with the Dialyt and not scratch anything.
Some recent experiences travelling through Montana have shown me the Dialyt's versatility. On my way to Yellowstone Park last week (180 miles from my home), I was passing by a man-built reservoir called Cottonwood on Highway 89,which was designed to accommodate migratory waterfowl. It rarely goes dry and is a favorite spot for birders who catch both the spring and fall migrations.
It is many miles away from anything in Montana we call a city - 60 miles from Bozeman and 40 miles from White Sulphur Springs. Yet birding groups will come from all over the area for visits. It sports no accommodations whatsoever. Look from the highway or walk through Sage Brush to the shore line.
On this particular day sat a vehicle with turned out to be a small motor home. Highway 89 is rarely busy, with many minutes passing by without seeing another vehicle. I stopped opposite of the motor home to look at the different water fowl, pelicans, a variety of ducks, and a nearby lone swan.
The motor home contained a man and his wife. He walked across the highway to talk to me about the birds, and he turned out to be from Australia, on a year-long trip through the states. He had sold his business in Australia, flown to the states, bought a motor home here and was on his way to Glacier National Park after leaving Yellowstone National Park.
He turned out to be gregarious, and since I have been known to chat a bit, we talked for many minutes while an occasional car would zoom by. After comparing notes on our political systems (uniformly negative I might add) we focused on the swan. He had never seen one before, and the head and neck were a rustic color caused by the iron in the water. I knew it was a tundra swan from previous experience and told him so. Being by itself strongly suggested it had lost its mate - they mate for life.
That launched into a discussion about Montana's other swan, the magnificent trumpeter swan, which I hoped to see in my visit to Yellowstone. The trumpeter is the world's largest waterfowl, with some specimens having wing spans of 10 feet and weighing nearly 40 lbs. That is one big bird!
The gentleman from Australia was debating cancelling his Glacier Park trip due to heavy smoke from numerous wild fires which were blanketing the entire western region. But before he turned his motor home around to head south, I had taken the Dialyt out for a quick peek at the swan.
I showed him the little yellow spot at the end of the bill near the eye that tells the viewer it was a tundra swan, not a trumpeter. I simply laid the Dialyt on the roof, and it was steady enough to see that detail. He was very impressed with the Dialyt's view, since he only had binoculars, but I refrained from telling him that compared to more expensive spotting scopes, the Dialyt was not the best, lest I sound like a know-it-all American who even most Americans detest.
We bid farewell and I went to Yellowstone to visit a few days on Yellowstone Lake to stay on a friend's live aboard boat. All this time I was thinking about my earlier Yellowstone days, when 61 years before (1953) I worked pumping gas at Fishing Bridge. My experience with trumpeter swans came later in the 60s when canoe camping at the bottom of the lake brought me into the nesting areas and I saw them for the first time.
The trumpeter swan was near extinction by 1930, with an estimated 70 pairs left in the world, most located in western Montana. America had caused the passenger pigeon to become extinct (billions of them), and almost the bison or buffalo (around an estimated 60 million), and the trumpeter swan was going, too. But for bird lovers great relief, strict conservation measures stopped the decline, and today, thousands exist in many places.
Seeing trumpeters is always exciting, particularly in their natural habitat.
As I was leaving Yellowstone and travelling along the Yellowstone River just before it reaches the areas of the falls, I spied four large white objects on the river bank. These would be either pelicans or swans, resting about 40 yards away.
There was a pull off with just a few tourists stopping by to look. The swans were on the passenger side of my car. So I stopped, grabbed the Dialyt and a pillow from the back seat, and laid it on the roof. It cradled nicely and was steady enough to get good detail.
The swans were resting, and as they do, their heads and necks were curled around their bodies. Several minutes passed by before one raised its head. It was a trumpeter! Two pairs, obvious mates resting, going to destinations unknown. That was a Dialyt moment.
In conclusion I want to talk about an accessory for the Dialyt I have been playing with. It is called a tree fixing screw made by Swarovski. I'm not a brand loyalist at all. I'm basically a pragmatist. If it works, I'll use it.
The tree fixing screw is not a gimmick. One can screw it into any tree and it becomes a mini monopod. It will work with any spotting scope, but it was made for the Dialyt. For that matter it will attach to any kind of wood with minimum damage. It is extraordinarily well made and thought out. Really useful for back country use. See Swarovski literature for a description. Cost about $80 US plus postage.
John
From these comparisons have emerged impressions about the Dialyt. In an earlier post I had called it a hybrid. I would add to that term the word "compromise."
Compared to the old B&Ls, its optics are superior. Compared to the other alphas, meaning 65 mm zoom scopes, the Dialyt has a smaller FOV and its edges are a wee bit softer. In terms of resolution, I find it about the same, particularly at the lower powers. The Dialyt colors are vibrant and natural to my eye.
Ease of use on a tripod is another matter, since a user has to undergo a re-learning process of reaching to the objective end to focus. In this matter, the alphas are superior, something like owning two cars, one an automatic and the other a stick shift. Switching back and forth can create confusion.
If one were to operate outdoors on a tripod under favorable conditions all the time, the Dialyt wouldn't be my choice. But if inherent robustness were important to a user, the Dialyt is the clear winner. I have never seen a spotting scope as well built for rough conditions and rough handling, and even inadvertent abuse than the Dialyt. The more I use it, the more I appreciate those qualities.
It is in the area of what I call impromptu outdoor use, that the Dialyt shines in ways that ordinary spotting scopes cannot contend. Consider using a window mount. Most users have evolved to that. It means sitting awkwardly with the window rolled up just right. Then there is the attachment and removal of the mounted spotting scope. Now the scope and mount takes up room in limited space. Or you have to move your car or pickup to a better angle for viewing.
My experience with window mounts is that they are quick peek in usefulness. And something gets banged mounting and dismounting. The Dialyt was made for quick peeks. And it can be laid on a bare window without marring anything and will provide a steady enough view when needed.
Weather permitting, how does one use a conventional spotting scope outdoors without a tripod? With difficulty at best. Lay it on top of your car roof or hood sometime and try to hold it steady. You can do that with the Dialyt and not scratch anything.
Some recent experiences travelling through Montana have shown me the Dialyt's versatility. On my way to Yellowstone Park last week (180 miles from my home), I was passing by a man-built reservoir called Cottonwood on Highway 89,which was designed to accommodate migratory waterfowl. It rarely goes dry and is a favorite spot for birders who catch both the spring and fall migrations.
It is many miles away from anything in Montana we call a city - 60 miles from Bozeman and 40 miles from White Sulphur Springs. Yet birding groups will come from all over the area for visits. It sports no accommodations whatsoever. Look from the highway or walk through Sage Brush to the shore line.
On this particular day sat a vehicle with turned out to be a small motor home. Highway 89 is rarely busy, with many minutes passing by without seeing another vehicle. I stopped opposite of the motor home to look at the different water fowl, pelicans, a variety of ducks, and a nearby lone swan.
The motor home contained a man and his wife. He walked across the highway to talk to me about the birds, and he turned out to be from Australia, on a year-long trip through the states. He had sold his business in Australia, flown to the states, bought a motor home here and was on his way to Glacier National Park after leaving Yellowstone National Park.
He turned out to be gregarious, and since I have been known to chat a bit, we talked for many minutes while an occasional car would zoom by. After comparing notes on our political systems (uniformly negative I might add) we focused on the swan. He had never seen one before, and the head and neck were a rustic color caused by the iron in the water. I knew it was a tundra swan from previous experience and told him so. Being by itself strongly suggested it had lost its mate - they mate for life.
That launched into a discussion about Montana's other swan, the magnificent trumpeter swan, which I hoped to see in my visit to Yellowstone. The trumpeter is the world's largest waterfowl, with some specimens having wing spans of 10 feet and weighing nearly 40 lbs. That is one big bird!
The gentleman from Australia was debating cancelling his Glacier Park trip due to heavy smoke from numerous wild fires which were blanketing the entire western region. But before he turned his motor home around to head south, I had taken the Dialyt out for a quick peek at the swan.
I showed him the little yellow spot at the end of the bill near the eye that tells the viewer it was a tundra swan, not a trumpeter. I simply laid the Dialyt on the roof, and it was steady enough to see that detail. He was very impressed with the Dialyt's view, since he only had binoculars, but I refrained from telling him that compared to more expensive spotting scopes, the Dialyt was not the best, lest I sound like a know-it-all American who even most Americans detest.
We bid farewell and I went to Yellowstone to visit a few days on Yellowstone Lake to stay on a friend's live aboard boat. All this time I was thinking about my earlier Yellowstone days, when 61 years before (1953) I worked pumping gas at Fishing Bridge. My experience with trumpeter swans came later in the 60s when canoe camping at the bottom of the lake brought me into the nesting areas and I saw them for the first time.
The trumpeter swan was near extinction by 1930, with an estimated 70 pairs left in the world, most located in western Montana. America had caused the passenger pigeon to become extinct (billions of them), and almost the bison or buffalo (around an estimated 60 million), and the trumpeter swan was going, too. But for bird lovers great relief, strict conservation measures stopped the decline, and today, thousands exist in many places.
Seeing trumpeters is always exciting, particularly in their natural habitat.
As I was leaving Yellowstone and travelling along the Yellowstone River just before it reaches the areas of the falls, I spied four large white objects on the river bank. These would be either pelicans or swans, resting about 40 yards away.
There was a pull off with just a few tourists stopping by to look. The swans were on the passenger side of my car. So I stopped, grabbed the Dialyt and a pillow from the back seat, and laid it on the roof. It cradled nicely and was steady enough to get good detail.
The swans were resting, and as they do, their heads and necks were curled around their bodies. Several minutes passed by before one raised its head. It was a trumpeter! Two pairs, obvious mates resting, going to destinations unknown. That was a Dialyt moment.
In conclusion I want to talk about an accessory for the Dialyt I have been playing with. It is called a tree fixing screw made by Swarovski. I'm not a brand loyalist at all. I'm basically a pragmatist. If it works, I'll use it.
The tree fixing screw is not a gimmick. One can screw it into any tree and it becomes a mini monopod. It will work with any spotting scope, but it was made for the Dialyt. For that matter it will attach to any kind of wood with minimum damage. It is extraordinarily well made and thought out. Really useful for back country use. See Swarovski literature for a description. Cost about $80 US plus postage.
John