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Advice please Rubbish Scope v No Scope (1 Viewer)

Dubliner

New member
Hello All.

I am new to this site and am impressed with the very friendly advice and tips in the forums so I hope maybe someone can help me.

My wife recently spent an afternoon with a friend who had a spotting scope and has been raving on ever since about the detail she could see of the birds. Being stuck for ideas I would like to buy her one for Christmas but I am reluctant to spend a lot of money on something that might be rarely used. I would prefer to buy a budget scope to start with eventually moving on to a better specified model once I know it's not just a passing fad.

I had thought about the Bushnell Sentry 18-36x50 which is around £150 and then I saw a complete kit Vanguard VSP-85 Spotting Scope [/B]
VSP 85 20-80x80 Spotting scope OUTFIT with 45 degree eyepiece and green coated ocular and objective lenses which comes with a camera adaptor but going by the price I think this one might be too good to be true at £120.

I think £300 might be a more realistic price to pay initially and I would be grateful if anyone could comment, critisize or suggest an alternative.

Many thanks

Ron
 
Cheap scopes are OK - we started out with an Acuter scope (about £180 I think). It did us for a while until a secondhand Lica came along. However, if you can stretch your budget a bit to something like an Opticron Imagic 80 or Nikon RA III 65 WP, you might be able to get something back by selling it on later, if you do decide to go further up market. Selling a "cheap" scope secondhand is virtually impossible - as we found out with the Acuter - which is now consigned to the cupboard!
 
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Hi.
Many thanks for your reply. I have seen the opticron mentioned several times so I'll check them out. The last thing I want is something consigned to the cupboard.
Ron
 
I've always found the view through a reasonable quality 60 mm scope (Bushnell 60 mm Spacemaster grade) with a good ~25x fixed power eyepiece to be quite satisfying. Such scopes used to be easy to find at very modest prices. Unless you're willing to buy a used one (at even greater cost savings), the challenge these days is to find such a scope for which a nice ~25x eyepiece is available. Many contemporary models (including the current 60mm Spacemaster) in this price range offer only a yucky zoom eyepiece.

I've no personal experience with it, but I'd take a look at the Opticron IS 60 Fieldscope with 25x eyepiece (total cost ~£200). Also get a nice tripod & pan fluid head for it.

--AP
 
Well, to get even the small investment out of the scope, you have to use it. So you may have to transport it to places to use it. I have several months in a row I don't use it at all. In Nov and Dec I use it quite a bit.

Those that do digiscoping tend to use them more through the year.
 
Hi. I have just purchased a Luyi 20x60x60 spotting scope, after years of just using binoculars, I know that it was cheap but the view through the lens was much better than I had imagined, I spent a couple of hours at Farlington Marshes and could pick out so much more with this scope.
 
Opticron Mighty Midegt ED + HR eyepiece or far better (but pricier) a Nikon ED50. What a truly wonderful present - she'll be utterly thrilled (as will you).

In my experience, cheaper scopes are often a disappointment and tend to lead to a fairly quick upgrade being purchased.
 
Welcome on board, Dubliner, I was going to invite you out to Bray to have a look at my scopes, to help you decide what you want, but then I realised you actually live in Edinburgh, and the Bray bus doesn´t go that far. You might want to consider size, weight, and what you´ll mostly be using the scope for. There are some cracking little mini-scopes about, Scampo already mentioned the Nikon ED50 (of which I´m a big fan) which is superb but pricey, and the Opticron MM2 which I think falls within the 300 sterling mark. I also have a little Kowa TS502 that is very clear and usable if a bit "flary" in sunlight (with non-changeable fixed 20x eyepiece), it fits in the pocket and costs only 120 sterling or thereabouts in the UK. It can be used adequately on a monopod or shoulder-pod. Opticron do a lot of really nice larger scopes, if you do make regular trips to Dublin check out the Birdwatch Ireland shop in Newtownmountkennedy, Wicklow...they sell them at reasonable prices and it all goes to a good cause. A friend has the IS60 (I think that´s what it´s called), and a normal reasonable person would never want for anything more. The problem is, with use, one can get more and more obsessive about the minutae of optics, and you can find yourself shelling out more and more moo-lah on "upgrading". That´s been my experience anyway. As an earlier post advised, consider also the cost of a tripod and head, good ones are as important as the scope for stability and smooth "panning". Best Wishes, good luck, let us know what you finally bought and how it was received!
 
Many thanks to all who have replied to my posting. I certainly have lots of suggestions to go on. Now I just have to make a decision.
 
I would go for the best that you can afford. However, as with many things in life, the closer you get to the top of the range, the less benefit you will see. A top of the range Leica (or in my case Swarovski) will knock spots off a low end scope, but are they really that much better than mid range, to justify spending an extra 1000 pounds? You get to a level where you won't notice much difference for your money.

Before I got the Swarovski in 2004 I had used a Bushnell Spacemaster quite happily for 20 years. The Swarovski is always clearly better, but is only dramatically better in poor light conditions (e.g. dawn / dusk / drizzly rain / at the maximum end of the zoom etc.).

If you're happy to use the scope for general birding, a low end scope will probably be fine, and a medium range is probably all you'll ever need unless you want to pay for the name.
 
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