Eastern brands getting better? (1 Viewer)

Any chinese or other eastern-made spottingscopes there are any GOOD? Like Kowa in the old days was a cheaper but still performing and reliable alternative to the european scopes.
Thanks,
Carsten J

You need to define "good" and a "price point".

I'd say Vortex Sandpiper is "good" for it's price point $200 to $300.

The Cornell review seemed to agree with that too. I was quite surprised on my first look through one. They seem to have put some effort into the design of the eyepiece (larger than usual ocular on a low middle scope).

In general Chinese optics has improved a lot in the last few years. We've seen this in the some bins and in some of the scopes. But you have to pick the good models.

Kevin Purcell said:

... We've seen this in the some bins and in some of the scopes. ....

Click to expand...

"Fax", where are the "fax" (as Bill Clinton would say) !?

Of course there are "good" Chinese scopes. One need only look as far as the Nikon ED50. It is so good in fact that numerous members of this very forum have described how they have all but retired their large Alpha scopes in favor of this little gem.

The already-mentioned Stokes Sandpiper is another good example.

The question is not whether the Chinese have the technical abiity to produce alpha-quality products. Clearly they do.

Rather you should be asking what manufacturers are requiring they follow sufficiently stringent QA protocols (despite any higher costs) to allow them the opportunity to produce alpha-quality products.