• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Budget scope (1 Viewer)

Nickrs90

New member
Hello everyone,
I've only really been birding for about 6months,I've got myself what I believe to be a decent pair of bins in the opticron imagic, which I am extremely impressed with,purchased through infocus. I would like to get a scope aswell for an upcoming trip to Skye and Bulgaria (wife is Bulgarian) so we visit a couple of times a year and general birding trips. I would like something quite lightweight but can only spend£200, so realise this may not be realistic. I was hoping someone may have experience with something in this price range or be able to shed some light on if its even worth getting a scope for this budget or should i just wait a year and get something a bit more expensive? I have seen a 2nd hand opticron 1560id wp in this price range, is this a good scope? Thanks in advance for any help you can give.
Nick.
 
Hi Nick,

welcome to birdforum, first of all!

If you got the 611 - congratulations, you will like it!

Joachim
 

1. I hope you got it, as it seemed a great deal, I was trying to find the thread when I noticed Suart had bumped it. Enjoy it in the New Forest, Testwood Marshes, Farlington etc my old turf, loved birdwatching there. Many birders in and around Hampshire on the forum that have great current suggestions of places to go.

2. Welcome to the forum, its a great place to learn - use the Opus and Gallery and don't be afraid to ask about birds.

H
 
Hi guys, thanks for the replies, unfortunately someone got in there before I could, so I'm still on the hunt. One of my current favourite places is blashford lakes, I have been to the other places aswell. I actually work on a nursery in the new forest so take my bins out at lunch, which is great. Will have to check other threads to find more new places for me.

Thanks Nick.
 
It may not be the best, but as a good budget beginner and if you wanted new, you could look for a deal on hawke-nature-trek-16-48x65-spotting-scope or the 20 - 60x 80 (£229 on Amazon), maybe.
If you're looking for something longer term, it may be better to go to a specialist and look at their 2nd Hand scopes, (Defo try the scope out first, everyone is different, so what may be crap to one person is the mutts for someone else)
I am out of sync with current dealers in and around Hampshire, but I know Action Optics in Hythe do repairs (He did a grand job on my old binoculars) but I don't know if they do sales.
Personally I have never purchased optics without having held and used them first, but others buy over the internet, as they can usually return them if they arent happy.
Good luck.
Harry
 
Just keep an eye on the big auction site. Just today I picked up a Fieldscope EDiii with 30x MC, original soft case and box in what appeared to be great condition for $299 US, which should be right around the top of your budget.

It's all about patience and having a few scopes researched so you jump as soon as you get the opportunity.

Thanks,
Nick

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk
 
new telescope

Action Optics in Hythe do sell new and second hand instruments and it is very advisable to view before purchasing.
He will let you take one at a time for a decent time to see if one suits you.
I know where you can get an Acuter Natureclose 16x-48x65 with angled eyepiece for £136.
Or a Bushnell Spacemaster ED 60 with 15x-45x for £179 and
a Bushnell Natureview 15x-45x60 for £119
 
Hello everyone! I am new to this site and thankfully I found it. I am also looking for a budget scope tripod for my hunting, although I have Vortex Optics Pro as my front runner. Been reading many reviews online for the best tripod scope and I came across this site: https://bestgunscope.com/best-spotting-scope-tripod/

I had a good read about different scope tripod but I want to have feedback from this community before purchasing one.

Have a great day everyone and happy hunting!
 
Hi,

welcome to birdforum! As you might have noticed, this forum is about birds and birding - the word hunting might be used, but further discussions on it are not allowed.

You might also want to ask your question in the respective subforum on tripods and heads instead of answering to a random thread.

As for what tripod to choose, the Vortex offering seems a fairly poor choice for a spotting scope. The included pan head is fairly clumsy to adjust - a video or fluid head is much preferred. A ballhead might be in order for tiny 50mm scopes.

Also 4 leg sections are less stable than 3, although the review/advertisement site you have linked seems a bit confused as it mentions 4 leg sections in the text and the image right above it shows 3.

In my personal opinion flip locks are less ideal than twist locks as they can fail catastrophically while the twist variety tends to get bad gradually and needs just a bit more force when it starts to do so.

The max height of 67 inch seems to be a bit on the low side for standing use as one usually would want to keep the center column down (or mostly so) for max stability.

The max load of 10 pounds seems ok for an 80mm scope without much accessories (given that one wants to put about half of the max load on any given tripod for good stability). I would not choose it for heavy stuff like a BTX95 or any scope with a big camera on it.

Joachim
 
Warning! This thread is more than 5 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top