Scope comparison 2014 (1 Viewer)

Vespobuteo · Sep 7, 2014

Since I plan to upgrade my current scope I had to sort out my thoughts a bit since my confusion started to get a bit bothersome. The result is a comparison of the candidates. See attached PDF-document.

The result was not exactly what I had expected…unfortunately for my wallet..
:-O

Previously I had the Nikon Fieldscope EDIII which I sold to buy the Nikon Monarch fieldscope 82A, but since it has been delayed for OVER 1 YEAR, and the release date is still unknown, that does not seem to be a valid solution.

Currently I use an an ED50 with a 20x eyepiece so it's included in the comparison.

Would be happy for any input on the subjective ratings of image quality for the scopes in the comparison. Ratings are based on my own (brief) experiences of the scopes and reviews I have read. The Meopta I haven't used at all and the Monarch Fieldscope the ratings are fictive and interpolated from the ED82.

Stephen Mark · Sep 7, 2014

Is there a reason you didn't have the Kowa scopes in your chart?
Steve

Vespobuteo · Sep 7, 2014

The 88mm is bit over budget..
The 77mm could be interesting,
Lack of rubber armouring and possible quality issues
might be cons.
The sample I tried had visible dust specks inside.
But IQ is good, The lack of CA is very nice.

Ratal · Sep 7, 2014

Go to the shop, buy an angled Meopta S2 HD with 30 / 60 wide zoom, make a cable tie sight, live happily ever after.

Hermann · Sep 7, 2014

I don't know the Meopta, so I'll have to limit my comments to the other scopes you mentioned.

IF you can still get a Nikon ED82 with the 30x WA and the 25-75x zoom AND if you can live with the narrow field of view of the zoom, get it. For the money you'll save you can get an additional ED50 just for fun.

Otherwise get a Sawro 65 HD with the 25-50x zoom, or, if money is no object OR if you want to get a 95 ATX at some stage, the 65 ATX.

What I'd do? I'd probably get one of the Swaros at the moment. Not sure which one. The wide zoom is pretty addictive, and I don't like investing in what is, after all, a dead system now that Nikon decided to focus on the ludicrous EDG scopes.

BTW, I still don't understand why you sold the EDIII though BEFORE you had a chance to check out the Monarch. Now that it seems the Monarch is vaporware and may never materialize ...

Hermann

Kammerdiner · Sep 7, 2014

Ratal said:
Go to the shop, buy an angled Meopta S2 HD with 30 / 60 wide zoom, make a cable tie sight, live happily ever after.

Yup, that's what I did. Had it side by side with an ATM 80 and sent the ATM packing. I don't even need a cable tie with the Meopta. Uncanny.

But KEEP the ED50. Nothing better for lightweight travel and all-around hiking. Tough to aim, though. I always aim high, but have learned to just lower it.

I like your statistical effort, Vespo, but I'm not sure it will correspond to what you actually like best.

Mark

Ratal · Sep 7, 2014

Cable tie sight makes for high raptors in a blue sky a total doddle to find, as well as fast flying waterfowl over stormy waters.

As I just got the opticron 50mm and 24x wide angle eyepiece for hiking, the meopta nails it for my big budget sea watching scope. Truly a stunner.

Vespobuteo · Sep 7, 2014

Ratal said:
Go to the shop, buy an angled Meopta S2 HD with 30 / 60 wide zoom, make a cable tie sight, live happily ever after.

:t:

I will try to find a meopta for evaluation,
not the easiest where I live unfortunately,

Vespobuteo · Sep 7, 2014

Kammerdiner said:
Yup, that's what I did. Had it side by side with an ATM 80 and sent the ATM packing. I don't even need a cable tie with the Meopta. Uncanny.

But KEEP the ED50. Nothing better for lightweight travel and all-around hiking. Tough to aim, though. I always aim high, but have learned to just lower it.

I like your statistical effort, Vespo, but I'm not sure it will correspond to what you actually like best.

Mark

yep, IRL is something completely different,

by the way, does the S2 have two-speed focusing?

focus speed compared to swaro?

I will go to the shop soon and try them all again,
but no meoptas for sale there,
meopta is a very rare scope here,

Vespobuteo · Sep 7, 2014

Hermann said:
I don't know the Meopta, so I'll have to limit my comments to the other scopes you mentioned.

IF you can still get a Nikon ED82 with the 30x WA and the 25-75x zoom AND if you can live with the narrow field of view of the zoom, get it. For the money you'll save you can get an additional ED50 just for fun.

Otherwise get a Sawro 65 HD with the 25-50x zoom, or, if money is no object OR if you want to get a 95 ATX at some stage, the 65 ATX.

What I'd do? I'd probably get one of the Swaros at the moment. Not sure which one. The wide zoom is pretty addictive, and I don't like investing in what is, after all, a dead system now that Nikon decided to focus on the ludicrous EDG scopes.

BTW, I still don't understand why you sold the EDIII though BEFORE you had a chance to check out the Monarch. Now that it seems the Monarch is vaporware and may never materialize ...

Hermann

I can't live with the Nikon zoom…
only having the 38X eye piece will be limiting,

I sold the EDIII because I wanted a bigger, brighter scope with a unique photo adapter…like the Monarch would have had…a 1 year delay was not in my imagination….

stereotruckdriver · Sep 8, 2014

I have the Swarovski 65 HD in the angled configuration. Its now my wife's, I have moved on to the Kowa 773. Both with 20-60x zooms are close, the Kowa still wins out. That said this week I will receive the wide angle zoom for the Kowa, I expect it to be even better.
Bryce...

Vespobuteo · Sep 8, 2014

stereotruckdriver said:
I have the Swarovski 65 HD in the angled configuration. Its now my wife's, I have moved on to the Kowa 773. Both with 20-60x zooms are close, the Kowa still wins out. That said this week I will receive the wide angle zoom for the Kowa, I expect it to be even better.
Bryce...

in sure the Kowa has the edge in IQ (bigger 77mm lens, CA free etc) but
the price difference is also quite significant,
the Kowa 773 + 25-60x costs $1000 more than the ATS65 + 20-60x, where I buy my stuff...
(and the price is about same as an ATX65)

:smoke:

when I tried the Kowa the focusing felt a bit awkward (I was used to heliocentric focusers)
but since I started to use the ED50 more I find "top mounted" focusers quite restful in most situations.
think both types of focusers have their advantages.

Kammerdiner · Sep 8, 2014

Vespobuteo said:
yep, IRL is something completely different,

by the way, does the S2 have two-speed focusing?

focus speed compared to swaro?

I will go to the shop soon and try them all again,
but no meoptas for sale there,
meopta is a very rare scope here,

The Meopta has a one-speed helical focus which is faster and stiffer than the Swaro. I liked the Swaro focus better, but preferred the Meopta view so I went with that.

Mark

Binoseeker · Sep 8, 2014

You missed warranty...important...and maybe subzero performance

keep cool...
Fov should be judged at same magnification level....to be comparable...

Vespobuteo · Sep 8, 2014

Binoseeker said:
You missed warranty...important...and maybe subzero performance keep cool...
Fov should be judged at same magnification level....to be comparable...

I will consider adding that,
at least warranty,
subzero performance I hope will be ok for so expensive gear…

judging FOV, yes, good idea
I will normalize FOV vs Magnification.
:t:

But the absolute value of FOV is also of interest for me.
since I tend to prefer wide views.

Vespobuteo · Sep 9, 2014

New version of the comparison.
Had an issue with the spread sheet rank-function that was not suited for the task. Normalizing score vs max or min value instead. Should give more consistent results. At least the results seem to better match my reality.
But it's a work in progress….errors may exist…so don't use this data for building nuclear power plants...

Added Warranty to specs, and a couple of new scopes to the comparison (Kowa773 and Zeiss85mm).
Also normalized FOV vs Magnification.

Meopta S2 is the winner after the adjustments. Seems reasonable. Good overall specs and good price.

Binoseeker · Sep 9, 2014

If you are using spectacles while looking through the tube then eye relief might be judged as 1 if ER is equal or bigger than your personal need and 0 if less, like a go or no-go funktion. In the future if selling the scope maybe you will get a larger customer base the larger the ER...maybe a thing to evaluate ;-)

Vespobuteo · Sep 9, 2014

Binoseeker said:
If you are using spectacles while looking through the tube then eye relief might be judged as 1 if ER is equal or bigger than your personal need and 0 if less, like a go or no-go funktion. In the future if selling the scope maybe you will get a larger customer base the larger the ER...maybe a thing to evaluate ;-)

yep, perhaps, on and off, ER-figures are not showing how it will work in practice.
Varying ER could also be a problem for zooms.
IRL testing is the only way to figure it out.

Binoseeker · Sep 10, 2014

So have you ordered the Meopta to try it out, maybe write a review ?

Vespobuteo · Sep 10, 2014

Binoseeker said:
So have you ordered the Meopta to try it out, maybe write a review ?

I will probably visit the store that sells them, it's about 400 km from where I live,
then I can compare the meopta with the rest of the candidates.
So I think it could be worth the travel cost…and a whole day of scope testing
will be fun.

Scope comparison 2014 (1 Viewer)

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Mostly using spectacles (myopic) with binoculars.

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