Vortex Razor HD 86mm vs Opticron 80mm (1 Viewer)

Hello all. Im looking to purchase my first scope with a budget of about $2,000 for everything. Both scopes, listed above, fall within my price range, and I have been lucky enough to test them. My plan is to use the scope primarily for sea watching, but I am unable to test them side by side to decide which I prefer for sea watching. I have tested them side by side over looking over a pond at the waterfowl. Max distance was probably 150m (+/- 25m). In my area (Cape May, New Jersey, USA) I have only ever seen one person with the Vortex Razor HD 85mm and I have not seen anyone using an Opticron, so its hard to get user feedback. I also struggle to find unbiased reviews online for the Opticron. My personal feeling is that the Opticron has better resolution at distance than the Vortex, but the Vortex: a) lets in more light since its an 85mm allowing for more color, b) is slightly smaller and lighter and, c) has the two separate dials for focusing (not a huge factor in my opinion, but please correct me if I am wrong). MY QUESTION IS: what should I be looking for in a scope for sea watching? Is the larger size (85mm vs 80) going to give me an advantage? Is resolution better? Any and all feed back would be greatly appreciated.

Individual unit variation is the curse of the scope buyer. Believe it or not it's more likely that resolution will vary more among specimens of a single model than it will between two similar competing models. Read this thread about a particular Vortex Razor unit and the link to the review of the similar Zen-Ray scope to see what you are up against.

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=218231

I would add that (with the exception of designs that lose aperture at close focus) scopes perform essentially the same at long and close distances. Resolution won't change at all between the distances on your pond and longer distances on the ocean. The biggest problem with sea watching is finding steady enough air to allow the smallest details resolvable by a good scope to actually be seen.

Henry

thank you very much for your response it was very enlightening and surprising to be honest. I read the link you posted, but I must say I was lost in a lot of the rhetoric and techniques you used to determine the (defects?) you observed in the Vortex scope from your friend. Would you mind simplifying it or suggesting a website so I may familiarize myself your techniques/rhetoric?

The two basic tests I do are a "star-test" and a measurement of the resolution using the standard 1951 USAF Resolution Test Pattern. If something is wrong the star-test tells you what it is and the resolution measurement tells you how badly the image is degraded by whatever it is. You could Google "star-test". It's not hard to do, but it's tricky to interpret if you've never done it before. Measuring resolution is a little more trouble since it requires setting up a standard resolution chart at a measured distance.

If you don't want to get into any of that the simplest test is to just critically examine an intricate target at 60x under conditions where air turbulence is not a factor. Don't be suckered by a nice looking image at 30x or less. Even bad scopes can look OK at such low magnification. Good 80mm+ scopes should snap into a quite sharp focus at 60x. If the image seems soft or you find yourself hunting back and forth for the best focus something is off in the optics.

Henry

Thank you very much! I'm now curious to know if the Vortex I've looked through may have some issues because even at low magnification there is a blur around the outer edge and worsens as you zoom in.

tomgleason887 said:

...even at low magnification there is a blur around the outer edge and worsens as you zoom in.

Click to expand...

The tests I mentioned are for what are called axial aberrations. They originate in the scope body optics in front of the eyepiece and they cause a loss of image quality across the entire FOV equally, most importantly in the center where the resolution should be the highest. Image quality at the edge of the field is typically determined by the eyepiece design. The Vortex zoom eyepiece is a very faithful copy of the Swarovski 20x60 zoom, so normally it should have very good, though not completely perfect, edge sharpness throughout the zoom range. I've seen very few defective eyepieces. Performance limitations in them are virtually always caused by design compromises shared by every unit.

Hi Tom,

Do you have a store that has one of these scopes close by so you might be able to actually try before you buy? Opticron has 2 different 80mm spotters, ES80GS ED with 20-60x eyepiece and the HR80GS ED with 24-72x eyepiece. I would guess the HR stands for high resolution.

The big New York stores have very good return policy if you do not like the scope you buy from them. There are people from these stores that actually post on here that might be able to help you out.

Pretty sure its the HR and yes I do have a store near me where I have tried both. Thank you for the input.

Tom if the Opticron 80 is the HR series they show 24x-72x with both zoom eyepiece and 20-60x with the ES 80 ED, different focal length for the 2 with the HR series longer F/l . Maybe Pete Gamby can give you more information.
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=294484