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Just wondering... (1 Viewer)

MurometsVLD

Active member
I am looking at a few scopes at the moment and I was wondering if angled or a straight scope would be better for birdwatching or does it not really matter? Thanks.

Ilya
 
MurometsVLD said:
I am looking at a few scopes at the moment and I was wondering if angled or a straight scope would be better for birdwatching or does it not really matter? Thanks.

Ilya

Ilya, you should find plenty of opinions here on BF if you enter something like angled into the search function above! To some extent, it is a matter of what one is accustomed to. But there are also other points that speak for one or the other. E.g. tall persons can get by with a shorter tripod or without having to extend the center column, thus gaining some stability. Also, to some extent, angled is fashionable nowadays. But you'll find much more. Personally I prefer straight, but I am not tall. I like to be able to look where the scope points. And for birding from the car window, straight is definitely more convenient.
 
I don't have a car, nor do I use hides, therefore I prefere an angled, but then I am quite tall and, as Swissboy said, an angled scope makes more sense for me. IBut it all boils down to personal preference I guess.
 
One of the biggest advantages of an angled scope is that it is easy to share the scope between people of differing heights. As Robert mentions, even a tall person can use an angled scope set at a fairly low height. So, if a tall and short person are both looking thru the same scope, you set the height for the short person and the tall person can still easily see thru it. This is very difficult to accomplish with a straight scope.

I'm not sure I agree that a straight scope is easier to use in a car. If I rest my scope on the car window frame, it is well below my eye level. With the angled scope, I can easily see thru it. With a straight scope, it would be too low, although I guess I could roll the window up some to bring it level with my eye.

As mentioned, you should do some searching on this forum. There are a ton of postings about this very topic.
 
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