Alpha Scopes which Support Pentax XW's (1 Viewer)

My primary use of a spotting scope is to see wildlife, birds (not an avid birder like most of the members here but I enjoy seeing birds doing their own things), and hunting deer during the fall.

I purchased a Pentax 65ED III as my first spotting scope with an Vixen 8-24 Zoom.
- I also have Pentax XW 14,10,7 eye pieces which I use in my Telescopes and extensively use XW14 in Pentax 65.


I think Pentax ED II is an ok scope. Now, I have an aperture fever and looking for Alpha scopes in 80-90mm range, .But I like the wide views of fixed EP's and want to use XW EP's to keep the costs down.

My Question is: Which Alpha scopes, supports XW eye pieces:

1. Swaro
2. Zeiss Diascope
3. Kowa 883
4. Nikon Field Scope 82ED

The Zeiss doesn't focus at >200m distance - see http://www.pt-ducks.com/cr-telescopes.htm#Test%20of%205mm%20eyepieces
The Swaro X can't receive eyepieces...

Nikon won't take XW eyepieces since they have elements in the barrel and the Nikon EP mount is quite narrow - although some other astro EPs can be adapted when the empty barrel is removed. Kowa works nicely with astro EPs and there is an adapter commercially available (see Kowa forum).

There is an astro adapter available for the older Swaro ATS/STS models from here: http://www.juelich-bonn.com/site/spektiv/swarovski/z43/astroadapter.html

Joachim

What about the Pentax 80mm?

This is a post regarding the Pentax PF80 and a Kowa 773. From surfbirds.com
His thoughts are exactly the same as mine when I compared the Pentax PF80ED to a Kowa 884 with the 25x60 zoom. The Kowa did have the edge, but to my eyes, it's so slight, it's not worth bothering about.
I was also using the fixed eps on the Pentax.. Everybody says how big and heavy the Pentax is. It's actually lighter than the Kowa and about two inches longer. And when it comes to EPs for the Pentax, the worlds your Oyster.