I have been bird watching for only about 6 months now and find it soooo relaxing and thought my experiences in purchasing spotting scopes might be useful for other beginners. I do most of my bird watching in the backyard but in the near future will move to a hill property in the bush with good views. In both situations there is plenty of interesting bird life. There are no other bird watching enthusiasts in my area to my knowledge and I am sure the neighbours start wondering about me when I pull out my binoculars and scopes in the backyard.
I originally started this pastime with a superb pair of Carson 8x42 XM binoculars ($169 US new). I then went looking for a scope to complement my binoculars. The two scopes I eventually purchased this year were an Alpen model 728 scope (15-45x60 with a 45 degree eyepiece) and a Yukon 6-100x100 spotting scope (with the straight eyepiece). The first spotting scope cost me $102 US from ebinoculars.com and the second $199 US from ebay. These are the only spotting scopes I have ever looked through but both had generally received excellent reviews. A couple of threads even compared the images from the Yukon to those from a Swarovski, but even as a beginner optics person I have to admit I had some doubt about that. The only negative review I found was for the Yukon (on Amazon.com), but obviously from someone who had no idea what they were doing and where the problems described seemed like they were more linked to using an unsuitable tripod at high magnifications rather than
the quality of the Yukon.
There were good reasons why I purchased scopes in this price range. Some time back Australian customs informed me that provided I kept my total cost of purchase plus delivery cost to less than $350 Australian there would be no import duties. Go over that amount and you pay 15% import duty in Australia. As it is, if I were to buy something within Australia I have to pay 10% GST anyhow plus delivery costs (I live in rural Australia hundreds of kilometres from any quality optics stores) and generally prices in Australia for optics are “over the top” compared to places like the USA. So I bought from overseas dealers where I found the cost to be considerably cheaper. The Australian dollar hovers at just under 75 cents US most of the time and delivery costs from the USA to Australia are usually between $30 and $50 US. So both these scopes fell within the criteria of less than but near to (because I wanted reasonable quality) $350 Australian.
I have mentioned the Alpen spotting scope in other threads. It is a superb scope and ideal for distances of 100 metres or less and in the 15 to 30 magnification range. Its depth of focus is wonderful, it is very lightweight, images are crystal clear and bright, it is waterproof etc. etc. Go over the 30 magnification range and the images are still good but start to get darker except in bright sunlight. For bush viewing and backyard viewing, I can’t imagine a better scope to complement a good pair of binoculars.
The Yukon seemed plasticy compared to the Alpen. But it did come with a nice soft case that can be left on the scope on the tripod to afford it extra protection – which is what I do. Compared to the Alpen, the Yukon in the 6 to 25 magnification range was a “dog”. The image was darker and the depth of field of focusing much shorter. The minimum distance to view and be in focus was also longer than the Alpen. But for those unfamiliar with the Alpen, the 6 to 25 magnification range is with a 25 mm objective. For higher magnifications (25 to 100), you switch the lens over to a 100 mm objective with the flick of a switch and that is when the Yukon comes alive.
When the Yukon is switched to the 100 mm objective, the image lights up beautifully. At over 25 magnification and distances over 100 metres, the Yukon is wonderful giving clear bright images. I only found three deficiencies.
The first was that the minimum distance of observation at x25 was listed as 14 metres in the manual (but I did not find that to be true when the 100 mm objective was used, it was more) and 214 metres at x100. I actually felt like a fool when I first started using the Yukon in my backyard. I couldn’t get it to focus when the 100 mm objective was used. I even complained to the seller that it must be broken. And then I read the manual and realised that I had been spoilt by my Carson binoculars and Alpen Scope. The reason I couldn’t get it to focus was too simple. Everything in my backyard was too close.
The second deficiency (if you could call it that) I found was that when I used the 100 mm objective the so called x25 was actually a higher magnification (at least compared to my Alpen magnification dial) and slightly more distance than 14 metres was required for focusing. To be honest though, I had no complaints about the superb image I was getting. I now tend to use the 25 mm objective only for lining up the view and rarely for general viewing – the 100 mm objective is just too nice – provided you are far enough away from what you are viewing to get it in focus.
The third deficiency was that my manfrotto 190D tripod and 141 head were not a good combination with the Yukon at high magnifications – there were too many vibrations at high magnifications. I am now taking steps to fix that by buying a sturdier tripod – probably a heavyweight manfrotto 058 and perhaps a better head. I would appreciate any advice on a good head from experienced spotting scope users. I’ve been looking at the Manfrotto 501 (Bogen 3051), the Manfrotto 701RC2, and the Manfrotto 128RC (Bogen 3130).
So far, I am very pleased with my purchases and I hope my experiences may in some way be useful for other beginners.
I originally started this pastime with a superb pair of Carson 8x42 XM binoculars ($169 US new). I then went looking for a scope to complement my binoculars. The two scopes I eventually purchased this year were an Alpen model 728 scope (15-45x60 with a 45 degree eyepiece) and a Yukon 6-100x100 spotting scope (with the straight eyepiece). The first spotting scope cost me $102 US from ebinoculars.com and the second $199 US from ebay. These are the only spotting scopes I have ever looked through but both had generally received excellent reviews. A couple of threads even compared the images from the Yukon to those from a Swarovski, but even as a beginner optics person I have to admit I had some doubt about that. The only negative review I found was for the Yukon (on Amazon.com), but obviously from someone who had no idea what they were doing and where the problems described seemed like they were more linked to using an unsuitable tripod at high magnifications rather than
the quality of the Yukon.
There were good reasons why I purchased scopes in this price range. Some time back Australian customs informed me that provided I kept my total cost of purchase plus delivery cost to less than $350 Australian there would be no import duties. Go over that amount and you pay 15% import duty in Australia. As it is, if I were to buy something within Australia I have to pay 10% GST anyhow plus delivery costs (I live in rural Australia hundreds of kilometres from any quality optics stores) and generally prices in Australia for optics are “over the top” compared to places like the USA. So I bought from overseas dealers where I found the cost to be considerably cheaper. The Australian dollar hovers at just under 75 cents US most of the time and delivery costs from the USA to Australia are usually between $30 and $50 US. So both these scopes fell within the criteria of less than but near to (because I wanted reasonable quality) $350 Australian.
I have mentioned the Alpen spotting scope in other threads. It is a superb scope and ideal for distances of 100 metres or less and in the 15 to 30 magnification range. Its depth of focus is wonderful, it is very lightweight, images are crystal clear and bright, it is waterproof etc. etc. Go over the 30 magnification range and the images are still good but start to get darker except in bright sunlight. For bush viewing and backyard viewing, I can’t imagine a better scope to complement a good pair of binoculars.
The Yukon seemed plasticy compared to the Alpen. But it did come with a nice soft case that can be left on the scope on the tripod to afford it extra protection – which is what I do. Compared to the Alpen, the Yukon in the 6 to 25 magnification range was a “dog”. The image was darker and the depth of field of focusing much shorter. The minimum distance to view and be in focus was also longer than the Alpen. But for those unfamiliar with the Alpen, the 6 to 25 magnification range is with a 25 mm objective. For higher magnifications (25 to 100), you switch the lens over to a 100 mm objective with the flick of a switch and that is when the Yukon comes alive.
When the Yukon is switched to the 100 mm objective, the image lights up beautifully. At over 25 magnification and distances over 100 metres, the Yukon is wonderful giving clear bright images. I only found three deficiencies.
The first was that the minimum distance of observation at x25 was listed as 14 metres in the manual (but I did not find that to be true when the 100 mm objective was used, it was more) and 214 metres at x100. I actually felt like a fool when I first started using the Yukon in my backyard. I couldn’t get it to focus when the 100 mm objective was used. I even complained to the seller that it must be broken. And then I read the manual and realised that I had been spoilt by my Carson binoculars and Alpen Scope. The reason I couldn’t get it to focus was too simple. Everything in my backyard was too close.
The second deficiency (if you could call it that) I found was that when I used the 100 mm objective the so called x25 was actually a higher magnification (at least compared to my Alpen magnification dial) and slightly more distance than 14 metres was required for focusing. To be honest though, I had no complaints about the superb image I was getting. I now tend to use the 25 mm objective only for lining up the view and rarely for general viewing – the 100 mm objective is just too nice – provided you are far enough away from what you are viewing to get it in focus.
The third deficiency was that my manfrotto 190D tripod and 141 head were not a good combination with the Yukon at high magnifications – there were too many vibrations at high magnifications. I am now taking steps to fix that by buying a sturdier tripod – probably a heavyweight manfrotto 058 and perhaps a better head. I would appreciate any advice on a good head from experienced spotting scope users. I’ve been looking at the Manfrotto 501 (Bogen 3051), the Manfrotto 701RC2, and the Manfrotto 128RC (Bogen 3130).
So far, I am very pleased with my purchases and I hope my experiences may in some way be useful for other beginners.
