nikon ed82 v opticron hr 80 ga ed (1 Viewer)

why do i ask this question? Well , i have been priced out of buying a swarovski after trying to save for oh so long!!

I had pretty well decided to buy a nikon ed82, when after reading the forum the hr 80 ga ed caught my eye.

I know it has been said these scopes are in two different categories, but is that the case??

At WHE they are both priced at £799. That in my book puts them in the same category.

some shops sell the opticron for £750, but that is still in the same price bracket.

The nikon is heavy, but is still lighter than the opticron.

i think im right in saying that the nikon has ED glass but not internally.

The opticron has ED glass and a couple of internal ED elements , is that the case??

Does this mean that the opticron produces a clearer image?

The opticron has a bigger choice of eye pieces and at the moment comes with a free tripod, which i dont have yet.

Can you see why i am confused.

If the scopes are in different leagues then the nikon is a bargain and i will stick with buying that, but if the opticron performs as well then i can get a free tripod and can buy cheaper eye pieces and also another plus is the opticron comes with a 30 yr guarentee. The nikon, only 10yrs.......

Thanks for your help. regards Mark.

Hi Mark,

I have not compared the two together, so I can't comment. As you said the HR 80ED will have a better range of eyepieces and the eyepeice are cheaper. I'm not sure how they are now but I always remember the Nikon eyepieces do not have much eye relief and used to have a smaller FOV. That said they might have improved by now.

The HR80ED does have a 5 element APO lens system with a twin ED element which delivers a crisp, sharp image even at high magnifications.

The only thing to do is test them out yourself and see what you think.

Good luck!!!

Rob

Hi Mark,

I recently upgraded my Opticron ES80 ED and looked at both the ED82 and the HR80. I went for the ED82.

I compared all three together, the two opticrons with the HDF and SDL 20-60 zoom and the nikon with the MCii 25 - 75 zoom.

The nikon simply gave brighter and sharper images across the entire range. The biggest difference was when looking at objects against a bright sky and when looking at a Swan on water in bright light. The Nikon just stayed crisp and sharp.

The nikon zoom does have much less eye relief and smaller FOV, however I had no probs with this and was able to lock on to birds with the zoom at 25x quite easily. However I did also look through the MC30WW lens which was mint and have subsequently added this lens.

The other downside (for some) of the ED82 is it has a metal body whereas the opticrons are rubber coated and the ED82 uses a helical focus - but this took no time at all to get used to.

If you would rather go for the better eye relief and fov of the Opticron then look through the ES80 as well. To my eye there was very little difference between these two - I certainly wouldn't have changed my ES for the HR - and it will save you a few hundred quid.

You should definately try to lok through them first though, for some the fov, eye relief and helical focus is a stopper for the nikon.

Perry

thanks for those replies. there is an optic day at minsmere on the weekend, i will phone viking and ask what they are bringing.

I have always looked at the swarovski scopes and the nikon at these events but i dont think i have looked through a high end opticron before.

mark f said:

why do i ask this question? Well , i have been priced out of buying a swarovski after trying to save for oh so long!!

Click to expand...

The Swarovski would be a definite step forward if you are only wanting a zoom eyepiece on the scope. But if you are only going to use it with fixed magnification eyepieces, the Nikon is imho as good (if not better) in color rendition, sharpnes and light transmission as the Swarovski. I don't know about the FOV though...

mark f said:

why do i ask this question? Well , i have been priced out of buying a swarovski after trying to save for oh so long!!

I had pretty well decided to buy a nikon ed82, when after reading the forum the hr 80 ga ed caught my eye.

I know it has been said these scopes are in two different categories, but is that the case??

At WHE they are both priced at £799. That in my book puts them in the same category.

some shops sell the opticron for £750, but that is still in the same price bracket.

The nikon is heavy, but is still lighter than the opticron.

i think im right in saying that the nikon has ED glass but not internally.

The opticron has ED glass and a couple of internal ED elements , is that the case??

Does this mean that the opticron produces a clearer image?

The opticron has a bigger choice of eye pieces and at the moment comes with a free tripod, which i dont have yet.

Can you see why i am confused.

If the scopes are in different leagues then the nikon is a bargain and i will stick with buying that, but if the opticron performs as well then i can get a free tripod and can buy cheaper eye pieces and also another plus is the opticron comes with a 30 yr guarentee. The nikon, only 10yrs.......

Thanks for your help. regards Mark.

Click to expand...

Hi Mark,

I have just stopped using an ED82 and 30x DS eyepiece in favour of an Opticron ES80 ED with HDF zoom. I bought the Nikon assuming I could get along fine with only 30x magnification but I found it too limiting. I wanted a zoom e/p but the Nikon zoom was no good for me. I wear specs so the eyerelief was no good and even if it had been ok I would have been put off by the very narrow field of view.
Although the ED82 has a better quality view, I prefer the ES80 ED because I can use a zoom with reasonable fov and also because there is a wide variety of other e/ps available to go with it.

I have looked through the HR80 at a shop and thought it had a good view but not as good as an ED82. It is probably better than the ES80 ED but I'm not sure by how much. I have read other peoples opinions that the difference between the HR80 and ES80 ED is not that great and therefore not worth the extra cash. But that is only what I've read, I haven't made any direct comparison myself.

In terms of value for money I think the ES80 ED is very hard to beat especially as you can get it with HDF zoom and a tripod for £600.

Good luck in your hunt for the right scope.
Martin

so the decision gets harder!!

Just been onto viking optical and unfortunately they dont do the bigger opticron scopes. So it wont be worth going to minsmere.

Could mean a trip to norwich, to WHE.

regards. Mark.

I add a Celestron Regal 80mm to the equation if you dont mind 2041 gram weight, really good performance and low cost. £490 with the ep.