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celestron regal 65ED vs vortex viper 65HD (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter mblank
- Start date
gr8fuldoug
Camera Land / Supporting Vendor
My I suggest you add the Athlon Ares 15-45x65 ED into consideration. Less $ than the Vortex and higher quality.
What's included with the spotting scope please?
gr8fuldoug
Camera Land / Supporting Vendor
It comes with case and caps
mTown
Well-known member
What about a used Nikon ED50 or ED III?
Few months ago i bought a ED50 and am very, very satisfied with it.
Compact, light and sharp! Every day when i go birdwatching i have it with me in my backpack.
Unfortunately i did not try any of named celestron, vortex, athlon pentax scopes (@mblank @dae33)
Few months ago i bought a ED50 and am very, very satisfied with it.
Compact, light and sharp! Every day when i go birdwatching i have it with me in my backpack.
Unfortunately i did not try any of named celestron, vortex, athlon pentax scopes (@mblank @dae33)
I made the international order for Athlon Ares at OpticsPlanet a week ago.
Some days later my order was cancelled with the explanation, that USA dealers should not sell internationally.
Then i had an opportunity to make a quick test of Celestron Regal 80f-ed. It was quite nice, but looked too dim to me.
To be honest, i should mention, that Zeiss DiaScope 65 looked a little dim and warm for my taste as well.
I also had a quick look through Pentax 65ed of a local birder. Which suited me well.
So i went with Pentax pf-65ed, which bought second hand. Pentax is very good spotting scope, better than Regal. I recommend it.
The only issue is that i need to find a suitable zoom eyepiece now.
Some days later my order was cancelled with the explanation, that USA dealers should not sell internationally.
Then i had an opportunity to make a quick test of Celestron Regal 80f-ed. It was quite nice, but looked too dim to me.
To be honest, i should mention, that Zeiss DiaScope 65 looked a little dim and warm for my taste as well.
I also had a quick look through Pentax 65ed of a local birder. Which suited me well.
So i went with Pentax pf-65ed, which bought second hand. Pentax is very good spotting scope, better than Regal. I recommend it.
The only issue is that i need to find a suitable zoom eyepiece now.
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You made a good choice with the Pentax, I have PF65ED and it's bigger brother the PF80ED.
I think the only top quality zoom that would work, would be the latest Baader Zoom. I have the earlier one and it just falls short to focus at infinity. Personally I would get three fixed eyepieces, around the 20x 30x 40x mark.You can swap them out that quick, it's nearly as fast as zooming. You have load of fixed EPs to choose from. If your not bothered about waterproofing the BST explorer are an excellent inexpensive choice. The 15mm works an absolute treat and would give you 26x a 12mm Pentax XF is an excellent choice for 32x and it's waterproof.
You really are spoiled for choice when it comes fixed EPs for the Pentax.
Ron
I think the only top quality zoom that would work, would be the latest Baader Zoom. I have the earlier one and it just falls short to focus at infinity. Personally I would get three fixed eyepieces, around the 20x 30x 40x mark.You can swap them out that quick, it's nearly as fast as zooming. You have load of fixed EPs to choose from. If your not bothered about waterproofing the BST explorer are an excellent inexpensive choice. The 15mm works an absolute treat and would give you 26x a 12mm Pentax XF is an excellent choice for 32x and it's waterproof.
You really are spoiled for choice when it comes fixed EPs for the Pentax.
Ron
I found a nice review at allbinos
https://www.allbinos.com/165.1-article-Review_of_four_65_ED_spotting_scopes_Introduction.html
https://www.allbinos.com/165.1-article-Review_of_four_65_ED_spotting_scopes_Introduction.html
mblank, you can test Delta Optical Titanium 65ED II in a local shop.
It looks like cheaper (or the same) version of Athlon Ares.
It looks like cheaper (or the same) version of Athlon Ares.
