GS 665 ED or GS 815 ED (1 Viewer)

With the deals making these two scopes affordable which one would you go for [Nikon III non ED would also fall into range]?

Plus Zoom or 30 x lens?

I have tried them but am new to all this and they all start to blur into one after a while so your expert advice would be very much appreciated.

Thanks,

Joe

Hi Joe,

The GS 815 GA ED wins it for me, giving you that extra light gathering capacity for only a small increase in weight (300g extra over the 665). With regard to eyepieces it’s down to personal preference really, but coupled with a 32xWW, the 815 gives a superbly bright image, even in less than ideal light conditions and a great field of view. I guess it depends if you value the extra magnification with the zoom and how often you would need to use it. The 32x eyepiece equates to 25x when used with 665, but you could go for the 40858 eyepiece which would give you 35x and still maintain a good field of view. A comparison of the vital statistics is below:

GS 815 with 40809 HDF 32xWW; Field of view at 1000m = 36m

GS 665 with 40809 HDF 25xWW; Field of view at 1000m = 47m

GS 665 with 40858 HDF 35xWW; Field of view at 1000m = 35m

GS 815 with 40862 HDF Zoom: Magnification = 20-60x; Field of view at 1000m = 35m to 17m

GS 665 with 40862 HDF Zoom: Magnification = 16-48x; Field of view at 1000m = 42m to 20m

Hope this helps

Brian
_________________________
www.birders-store.co.uk

Thanks Brian appreciate your help.

Joe

I used the Opticron ES80 ED for a while with both the HDF zoom and HDF 32xWW. In the end I used the 32x lens almost exclusively and would recommend that lens.

Perry