[paulwfromtheden]

I have the HR 66 GA ED and have been very happy with it, but I am looking to upgrade to an 80mm lense.
Does anyone own the HR 80 and would give an opinion on it?
The angled verson is available for £600 from Hilton Photographic and that seems to represent reasonable value for money, especially as I have two HDF lenses (20x and 28x).
Any comments welcome.

[Jaff]

Hi Paul.
I can tell you this much. 2 years ago at the Birdfair I was on the Opticron stand and talking to one of their people and he said that although the HR 80 ED is an older scope than the ES 80 ED (would've been the Mk1 back then), optically it was a slightly superior scope. Can't offer a personal opinion I'm afraid as although I did look through both I can't remember what they were like.

Hope this helps (as little as it is )
Jaff

[scampo]

I owned the ES80ED for a short time. I don't think it would be significantly better than what you have -which is supposed to be a super scope. Are you sure it's worth changing?

[paulwfromtheden]

Originally Posted by scampo

I owned the ES80ED for a short time. I don't think it would be significantly better than what you have -which is supposed to be a super scope. Are you sure it's worth changing?

That's a good question, and one I ask myself. I am very happy with the 66, but the max magnification I can get really is about x28. After that, unless the light is really good, the image just gets too dark.
If the 80 has the image quality of the 66 then that will suit me fine as the the x28HDF eyepiece in the 80 is a x38, which sounds ideal.
But your point is well made, I think I am going to try and make some field days....

[scampo]

I am surprised that the HR66 provides a dim image at higher magnifications, truly surprised and I'm not sure that the 80mm scope will offer such a very noticeable improvement.

I used to own a Swaro 65HD, which my brother now has and I can't say that my Zeiss 85 or my son's Nikon ED82 are that much brighter. I recall somewhere, too, that a comparison review of the Swaro 80 and 65 concluded that there wasn't that much between those two scopes.

I'd be interested in hearing what you find when you get the chance to test out a few scopes.

[paulwfromtheden]

Originally Posted by scampo

I am surprised that the HR66 provides a dim image at higher magnifications, truly surprised and I'm not sure that the 80mm scope will offer such a very noticeable improvement.

I used to own a Swaro 65HD, which my brother now has and I can't say that my Zeiss 85 or my son's Nikon ED82 are that much brighter. I recall somewhere, too, that a comparison review of the Swaro 80 and 65 concluded that there wasn't that much between those two scopes.

I'd be interested in hearing what you find when you get the chance to test out a few scopes.

Interesting comments.
I think that I need to try my 66 out with the x38 lens. I have found even with the x28 that it is ok until it gets gloomy, then I switch to my x20 and it brightens up the image considerably.
There is no substitute to trying them out in the field.

[scampo]

I need to find that review. The reviewer compared the Swaro 80HD and 65HD through to dusk and found that whilst the 80HD was brighter, just as much detail could be seen with the 65HD but it took a little longer. I can't say I have ever compared at dusk. What is clear is that with all zooms, the image dims noticeably above about 50x. For me a very pleasurable eyepiece is the 38x on the Nikon scope. I suspect that would make a good all-round eyepiece.

[trealawboy]

Originally Posted by scampo

I need to find that review. The reviewer compared the Swaro 80HD and 65HD through to dusk and found that whilst the 80HD was brighter, just as much detail could be seen with the 65HD but it took a little longer.

http://www.betterviewdesired.com/bigscopes/index.html ?

[scampo]

Thanks - seems a good review with fair conclusions.