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Advice on a bird scope (1 Viewer)

H

harold9649

Well-known member
I am new to birding and have a mm2 mighty midget with an sdl zoom eyepiece but i now wish i had bought a bigger scope any suggestions as what to go for .Iam happy with opticron brand and i think the eyepiece will fit other opticron scopes .Iwould be willing to spend about £400 pounds.But not sure if i should stay with opticron or go foe say Nikon.My binos are nikon and very happy with them.
Harold
 
Evening Harold

I bought a second hand ES80 and have used it all through the winter and its been exelent. A nice bright sharp image even on poor days. It has no stay on case and gets carted about in all weathers on the back of a motor bike. Although it gets some soakings its proved nice, reliable and water proof. I am very happy with it. Its a bit heavy compared to the MM. Will you need a new tripod if you up grade?
Try before you buy if you can.
Daf.
 
My SDL eyepiece doesn't fit the second-hand MM2 I recently bought (which has it's own dedicated zoom but also accepts my fixed 32XW HDL Opticron lens, albeit rteduced to 18X), but it's been excellent on my ES80 GA ED. You've already got an excellent £200 lens in the SDL, so I'd save the money and stick with Opticron if I were you.
 
As others have already said just get the ES80ED body as you already have an eyepiece. I used to have an ES80 & it was excellent for the money. The SDL zoom needs an adaptor, (free from Opticron), to be used on the MM2.

Cheers,

John.
 
John
Can i ask you if you think the diffrence between the ES and ES ED is particularly noticable.?
 
Hi Dafi,

Dunno to be honest I've never tried the standard ES80 I had the ED version. I don't think there is that much difference in price between the two so I would go for the ED all the way, particularly if you're into digiscoping.

Cheers,

John.
 
dafi said:
John
Can i ask you if you think the diffrence between the ES and ES ED is particularly noticable.?
Click to expand...

IMHO, there is a difference, but to my eye the difference wasn't huge but it was visible. That said, I had budgeted enough to go for the ED version so went for that anyway (ES 80 ED).

Your best bet is to try to find somewhere to test them side by side, then you can decide if any difference you see is worth the extra money.

Perry
 
I am quite happy with the ES it was just a thought realy.

The standard of the images i get digiscoping have jumped since i started with the standard ES....Sorry if im hijacking your thread Harold
 
I,m sure the ES80 and ES80 ed are one and the same , It,s the way Opticron word there goods. I,ve had mine a few years now and it has ED thingy. hb
 
Don't build up your expectations too much or be too ready to drain your wallet.
I have a MM2 with an HDF eyepiece and an ES80ED with an SDL eyepiece - guess which one gets used most.
The MM2's zoom range is far more useable and useful, the ES80 has a strange narrow view and it's zoom range makes it very difficult to use (for me) as I sea watch a lot and everything is very mobile.
The ES80 is undoubtedly a better scope especially in poor light but the MM2 has found me all my major rarities and shown them to others.
I'll never get rid of it as it's so useful.
 
Chris Oates said:
Don't build up your expectations too much or be too ready to drain your wallet.
I have a MM2 with an HDF eyepiece and an ES80ED with an SDL eyepiece - guess which one gets used most.
The MM2's zoom range is far more useable and useful, the ES80 has a strange narrow view and it's zoom range makes it very difficult to use (for me) as I sea watch a lot and everything is very mobile.
The ES80 is undoubtedly a better scope especially in poor light but the MM2 has found me all my major rarities and shown them to others.
I'll never get rid of it as it's so useful.
Click to expand...

Thanks chris for that info i would not want to spend money for not much difference .
Iwill bide my time and try to visit a field day and try to try out another scope.
Harold
 
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