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Vanguard Endeavor HD 82A First Impressions (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter kbrabble
- Start date
wachipilotes
Well-known member
..and the 25-50X zoom eyepiece Vortex ? compatible with the Vanguard Endeavor HD 82?
eitanaltman
Well-known member
Well if it is accurate that the Vortex 30x eyepiece fits then it can be assumed that all the Vortex Razor, Zen ED, and Swaro eyepieces should fit too. The Vortex and Zen 20-60x eyepieces are clones of the Swaro and they all use the same bayonet mount.
I received my 65A yesterday and the eyepiece mount does appear to be a similar triple flange type of bayonet. I'll post a photo later today. It remains to be seen if these other eyepieces will engage the locking pin.
Haven't done much optical testing but build quality and fit and finish are extremely impressive for the price. The eyepiece locks securely, zoom action is smooth (but a bit tight at this point), focus knobs are nice and smooth, attractive and comfortable black rubber armor, even the lens hood extends with a smooth and well damped feel. Aesthetically it reminds me of the new Diascope.
Unfortunately I may need Vanguard to swap the zoom eyepiece. There is a big black speck of dust or something right in the middle of the FOV which appears to be on one of the internal elements.
eitanaltman
Well-known member
Glad I ordered when I did! The codes above appear to be gone, and the price of the 82A is now $689 at Optics Planet! Even after the $50 rebate it's now over $250 more expensive for the 82mm and $100 more for the 65mm.
eitanaltman
Well-known member
Added a couple of photos below; one "scenic" shot of the scope at the coastal estuary near my office where I took it out today at lunch, and a second close-up of the bayonet mount of the eyepiece.
The good news: the scope optics are very bright, and do not appear to degrade much towards the edge. Chromatic aberration is well controlled (only slight fringing outside the central axis) and the mechanics and build feel solid and precise.
The OK news: as expected from the specs the FOV isn't anything to write home about; it feels like a pretty typical AFOV (40 degrees at min zoom - 60 degrees at max zoom) for a zoom eyepiece. Can't knock it too much for this as it's essentially right in line with its competition (Vortex Viper 65mm and Celestron Regal 65mm). But, coming from the 25-50x WA zoom of the Zen ED scope I used to have it's a definite step back (or of course the wonderful fixed Pentax wide angle ep's on the PF-65!).
The bad news: in addition to the black speck in the ep that I mentioned above, this scope loses sharpness rapidly at 30x and above. It's not that noticeable at lower mags but at the upper end it's impossible to get the image to "snap" into focus, there is a fuzziness or gauziness to the view that prevents crisp "critical" sharpness. I don't expect an inexpensive 65mm scope to look dazzling at 45x but I'm pretty confident this is indicative of a bad sample, e.g. spherical aberration. So instead of just asking Vanguard to swap the eyepiece I might just ask OpticsPlanet to send me a different unit and hope for a better sample.
A bit disappointing because otherwise I'm quite happy with it, but the optics are the most important part of course! This is the unfortunate risk with sample variation on lower priced scopes. Considering kbrabble's comments about sharpness on his 82A beating the Regal and Vortex, and approaching the Zeiss, I think he likely got a cherry sample. In a way I'm sort of kicking myself for not going with the 82A for an extra 30 bucks. More testing to come before I draw a firm conclusion...
The good news: the scope optics are very bright, and do not appear to degrade much towards the edge. Chromatic aberration is well controlled (only slight fringing outside the central axis) and the mechanics and build feel solid and precise.
The OK news: as expected from the specs the FOV isn't anything to write home about; it feels like a pretty typical AFOV (40 degrees at min zoom - 60 degrees at max zoom) for a zoom eyepiece. Can't knock it too much for this as it's essentially right in line with its competition (Vortex Viper 65mm and Celestron Regal 65mm). But, coming from the 25-50x WA zoom of the Zen ED scope I used to have it's a definite step back (or of course the wonderful fixed Pentax wide angle ep's on the PF-65!).
The bad news: in addition to the black speck in the ep that I mentioned above, this scope loses sharpness rapidly at 30x and above. It's not that noticeable at lower mags but at the upper end it's impossible to get the image to "snap" into focus, there is a fuzziness or gauziness to the view that prevents crisp "critical" sharpness. I don't expect an inexpensive 65mm scope to look dazzling at 45x but I'm pretty confident this is indicative of a bad sample, e.g. spherical aberration. So instead of just asking Vanguard to swap the eyepiece I might just ask OpticsPlanet to send me a different unit and hope for a better sample.
A bit disappointing because otherwise I'm quite happy with it, but the optics are the most important part of course! This is the unfortunate risk with sample variation on lower priced scopes. Considering kbrabble's comments about sharpness on his 82A beating the Regal and Vortex, and approaching the Zeiss, I think he likely got a cherry sample. In a way I'm sort of kicking myself for not going with the 82A for an extra 30 bucks. More testing to come before I draw a firm conclusion...
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henry link
Well-known member
Here's a photo of the Zen-Ray (left) and Swarovski bayonets.
http://www.birdforum.net/showpost.php?p=2165570&postcount=2
The Vanguard doesn't look very similar and those screws sure seem like they should get in the way of mounting a Vanguard eyepiece on the Zen or Swaro, but I suppose it's still worth trying a Zen/Vortex eyepiece on the Vanguard.
If you look carefully at the Zen/Swaro photo you can see that they are not actually quite identical (and the Vortex is slightly different in dimensions from either). Notice that the flange at the bottom is wider on the Zen mount. I think that's why a Swaro eyepiece can be fitted on the Zen scope but doesn't quite align with the locking pin.
I'm afraid sample variation is the curse of birding scopes of every price. Poor focus at 60X in a 65mm scope is a sure sign that something is amiss. You can usually count on spherical aberration in spotting scopes, but there could be something else as well, like astigmatism or coma from misaligned optics. A star test test will show what's wrong.
Henry
http://www.birdforum.net/showpost.php?p=2165570&postcount=2
The Vanguard doesn't look very similar and those screws sure seem like they should get in the way of mounting a Vanguard eyepiece on the Zen or Swaro, but I suppose it's still worth trying a Zen/Vortex eyepiece on the Vanguard.
If you look carefully at the Zen/Swaro photo you can see that they are not actually quite identical (and the Vortex is slightly different in dimensions from either). Notice that the flange at the bottom is wider on the Zen mount. I think that's why a Swaro eyepiece can be fitted on the Zen scope but doesn't quite align with the locking pin.
I'm afraid sample variation is the curse of birding scopes of every price. Poor focus at 60X in a 65mm scope is a sure sign that something is amiss. You can usually count on spherical aberration in spotting scopes, but there could be something else as well, like astigmatism or coma from misaligned optics. A star test test will show what's wrong.
Henry
eitanaltman
Well-known member
Wish it was just 60X, but it only goes up to 45x and starts getting soft above 30x.
Is a star test at only 45x magnification going to be enough to determine aberrations?
henry link
Well-known member
I don't think you'll need more magnification to see what's wrong. You don't need a real star. Just set up a small round shiny object at 100' in sunlight and use the glitter point as an artificial star. Rack through focus to about 5 diffraction rings out of focus on either side of best focus and tell us what you see at best focus and on each side.
eitanaltman
Well-known member
I did actually attempt a brief star test at 45x on a real star the night I got it. What I noticed was that the diffraction rings seemed asymmetrical on either side of best focus, looking pretty clean and round on one side but smudgy and lumpy on the other side. I'll try again and see if I can be more precise. At best focus the star wasn't quite a pinpoint, I had to struggle to get it fully sharp even with the slow gearing of the fine focus knob, and it never "snapped" into focus.
Hi. I am new to forum & brand new to digiscoping. I bought the Vanguard Endeavor HD 82A from Optics Planet a couple weeks ago. I got a good deal, but not as good as some others I see here (final cost about $480 assuming I get $50 rebate). Definitely not an expert at this yet, but I liked the quality of the scope so well, I bought a pair of Endeavor ED 8x42 binos from Amazon yesterday while they were in GoldBox ($210 minus $50 rebate I hope I get). Good to see others like the scope. I think I may have got lucky & got a good one. I will try to post image after I figure out how to do it.
Hi, been reading this thread, I bought the 82a also a week back in the uk for £420, it was a decent price for my budget, id like to have a go at digiscoping with it, besides the slr mount vanguard do , can anyone recommended a nice mount for a compact , ive got a Panasonic lumix dmc-lx7 that I could use, or I can get my hands on a canon s110. Id like a uncluttered mount really, one that looks part of the scope if that possible?
Just thought I would report that I received the $50 rebate check. It also included a choice of one of three free accessories in exchange for a review of the product.
I should also say, that after a LOT of field use in the past few weeks, I am still very impressed by this scope and my initial impressions stand.
eitanaltman, were you able to resolve your issues with the 65mm? I am still considering purchasing one to keep in my truck, and would like to hear your impression of it.
Kevin
I should also say, that after a LOT of field use in the past few weeks, I am still very impressed by this scope and my initial impressions stand.
eitanaltman, were you able to resolve your issues with the 65mm? I am still considering purchasing one to keep in my truck, and would like to hear your impression of it.
Kevin
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