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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

scope recommendations (1 Viewer)

dreamngtree

New member
Hi all-

I am researching scopes for my employer. New territory for me. Would like to keep the scope under $1000, but maybe a little flexibility. Looking for a good scope that is waterproof, good glass, and will working well in low-light conditions. Going to be used for watching wildlife such small birds and foxes, sometimes around dawn/dusk. Weight maybe not an issue, as will likely be mounted on a car window most of the time.

Thanks bunches!
 
Hi:

Under a thousand narrows it down a bit.

I use a Pentax 80mm and it is very nice which includes a very good 20-60 zoom and stay on case for about $740 after rebate. After having one for about 6 months and comparing it with others I have found that it is a hard to beat at that price. The Pentax eyepieces are great and very comfortable to use!

http://www.17photo.com/product.asp?id=KB61550

Optics are really excellent under 50x. I'm not saying it is the absolute King re optical quality (which you won't likely get for <1k) but it is very good. I also have a TeleVue 85 (which many do consider the best optics), with fixed eye pieces for comparison, and the Pentax holds its own nicely considering it is about 1/3 the price.

The savings you can put to use for a really good car window mount. I've seen some cheap ones that are horrible. I've never used one much but my guess is that you don't want to skimp there.

Cheers,
Craig Ryder
 
The Pentax is probably the best 80mm scope under $1K. It might be a little bulky to use from a car window. Pentax makes a 65mm scope, but I've not had the opportunity to look through it and for some reason is not widely available. The Swaro, Leica, Zeiss 62mm-65mm scopes are all over $1k. The 60mm Nikon Fieldscope should be around $800-$900.
 
I think the reason that the Pentax 65mm scope is not widely available is that it just came out. It looks very interesting to me, and I'm anxious to see some reviews! The 80 has always tempted me too, but just seems too large.
 
Yeah, thats why I got rid of it. Too big, too heavy and needed a heavy tripod (Bogen 3246) to keep the shake down to where I was happy. Decided to streamline when the 65mms came out, but by the time I got serious about it the smaller 80mms came out. Swaro ATS 80 was OK on the Bogen 3011, and is really nice on the Gitzo 1227.
 
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