-
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.
Meopta scopes (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter binfield
- Start date
Torchepot
Well-known member
Hi Binfield
The importer is Viking Arms in Harrogate (not to be confused with Viking Optics). It was a major struggle to see a Meostar S2 back in October. Eventually they shipped one to Braces gun shop (noticing a theme here?) in Bristol. They did mention a camera shop in Devon that they were thinking of using as a retailer, but it hadn't been set up back then.
Braces wouldn't have been my first choice but none of the local Optics retailers were interested. In fairness though they could not have been more helpful and I tested the scope against my Nikon ED82A at their shooting range out in the country South of Bristol for over an hour.
I believe they take the scopes and bins to gun shows on occasion (and the Birdfair) but it would appear that their priority is rifle scopes (or at least it was then). I wasn't hugely impressed by Viking.
I expect that you've done your research on the Meopta scopes - but if you are thinking of buying the S2 I can say that it is a real quality instrument, however the rolling ball type effect that I experienced while panning was very pronounced and actually quite uncomfortable in use. The other big surprise for me was how well the Nikon with a fixed 38x eyepiece stood up against the zoom of S2. They had a whole lot of targets set up at different distances and I pinned a resolution chart to one about 150' away. I thought I could detect finer detail with the S2 using the chart but I wasn't totally convinced. The clincher for me though was when a buzzard landed in a distant tree - probably 200yards away, although the 30-60 zoom brought the bird closer I couldn't see any more detail than with the 38x on the Nikon and the image was more pleasing because it was brighter. In short I think it's a good scope but not really a big enough step-up (if any) from the Nikon for me to make the change. I hope this helps.
All the best,
Phil
The importer is Viking Arms in Harrogate (not to be confused with Viking Optics). It was a major struggle to see a Meostar S2 back in October. Eventually they shipped one to Braces gun shop (noticing a theme here?) in Bristol. They did mention a camera shop in Devon that they were thinking of using as a retailer, but it hadn't been set up back then.
Braces wouldn't have been my first choice but none of the local Optics retailers were interested. In fairness though they could not have been more helpful and I tested the scope against my Nikon ED82A at their shooting range out in the country South of Bristol for over an hour.
I believe they take the scopes and bins to gun shows on occasion (and the Birdfair) but it would appear that their priority is rifle scopes (or at least it was then). I wasn't hugely impressed by Viking.
I expect that you've done your research on the Meopta scopes - but if you are thinking of buying the S2 I can say that it is a real quality instrument, however the rolling ball type effect that I experienced while panning was very pronounced and actually quite uncomfortable in use. The other big surprise for me was how well the Nikon with a fixed 38x eyepiece stood up against the zoom of S2. They had a whole lot of targets set up at different distances and I pinned a resolution chart to one about 150' away. I thought I could detect finer detail with the S2 using the chart but I wasn't totally convinced. The clincher for me though was when a buzzard landed in a distant tree - probably 200yards away, although the 30-60 zoom brought the bird closer I couldn't see any more detail than with the 38x on the Nikon and the image was more pleasing because it was brighter. In short I think it's a good scope but not really a big enough step-up (if any) from the Nikon for me to make the change. I hope this helps.
All the best,
Phil
A short comment on Phil's excellent assessment which I generally agree with. From the Nikon Fieldscope ED 82 the Meopta is a sideways step, not a real step up.
There is strong rolling ball coming from prominent barrel distortion in the Meopta 30-60x zoom, but their 20-70x zoom is very neutral and easy to view with. It is not a wide-angle like the 30-60x, but when I tested the scope and the eyepieces, I ended up preferring the 20-70 against my expectations. Compared to the Nikon 25-75x zoom, it is much more eyeglass-friendly and offers wider fields of view at low magnifications.
Which of these two scopes would offer better resolution would depend entirely on sample variation, i.e. which of the two individual specimen would happen to have lower aberrations. From what I have seen, the Meopta S2 has been very good in that most units have had very low aberrations, but my experience of them is based on fewer total number of units than with the Nikon.
Kimmo
There is strong rolling ball coming from prominent barrel distortion in the Meopta 30-60x zoom, but their 20-70x zoom is very neutral and easy to view with. It is not a wide-angle like the 30-60x, but when I tested the scope and the eyepieces, I ended up preferring the 20-70 against my expectations. Compared to the Nikon 25-75x zoom, it is much more eyeglass-friendly and offers wider fields of view at low magnifications.
Which of these two scopes would offer better resolution would depend entirely on sample variation, i.e. which of the two individual specimen would happen to have lower aberrations. From what I have seen, the Meopta S2 has been very good in that most units have had very low aberrations, but my experience of them is based on fewer total number of units than with the Nikon.
Kimmo
Having done a bit of research on the meopta scope I did come across the rolling effect on the 30-60x eye piece. infact it is constantly mentioned, this has pushed me to think about the 20-70x eyepiece. Problem is finding a stockist . Will try Braces and see if they can help. Thanks for the replies guys.
Torchepot
Well-known member
Viking Arms seemed to have little or no knowledge of the optics retail industry and didn't even know of the existence of specialist optics dealers like Ace, Swoptics, Cley Spy etc.
Incredibly they asked me to contact the retailers to ask them if they would be interested in their scopes! Nobody wanted to know (hardly surprising) and after a couple of very frustrating days I finally hit on the idea of asking them who they supplied with rifle scopes in the Bristol area and whether they could ship a scope to them. That's how I ended up at Braces - if you would prefer to look at the scope a bit closer to home it might be worth calling Viking to see if they supply anyone near you - but be prepared - you may have to do a lot of their job for them - they just gave me Braces' phone number and I had to arrange it all myself! As I mentioned before their priorities lie elsewhere.
Anyway, best of luck
Incredibly they asked me to contact the retailers to ask them if they would be interested in their scopes! Nobody wanted to know (hardly surprising) and after a couple of very frustrating days I finally hit on the idea of asking them who they supplied with rifle scopes in the Bristol area and whether they could ship a scope to them. That's how I ended up at Braces - if you would prefer to look at the scope a bit closer to home it might be worth calling Viking to see if they supply anyone near you - but be prepared - you may have to do a lot of their job for them - they just gave me Braces' phone number and I had to arrange it all myself! As I mentioned before their priorities lie elsewhere.
Anyway, best of luck
Cosme
Well-known member
http://www.ebay.es/itm/Meopta-Optic...066444?hash=item1e92b09b0c:g:q1IAAOSwnDZUKrCR
I try this on the ebay.es page.
Maybe in .uk ebay or amazon, the vendors who sell meopta products can deal with the brand and bring what you want even if they dont have that specific stuff in their catalogue.
British have reputation of be very gentle ;-)
I try this on the ebay.es page.
Maybe in .uk ebay or amazon, the vendors who sell meopta products can deal with the brand and bring what you want even if they dont have that specific stuff in their catalogue.
British have reputation of be very gentle ;-)
Last edited:
Cley Spy, Viking Optical and Focus Optics can gain access to Meopta, as can Lamberts in Lancaster, One Stop Nature in Norfolk, Pennine Photo in Rochdale..
In December, last year, Viking took on a person who spent 18 years at Zeiss in the UK. The distribution name in the UK for the nature market is Avisum.
I got mine from Anderssehen.eu. Good price too. I don't use it much as I haven't been birding of late, but I can recommend it highly. I got the 30-60x, no complaints, it's bright, sharp and wide to the max. What previous posters said about RB is true, but it doesn't bother me; panning is not such a big deal with scoping.
Kammerdiner
Well-known member
Don't pass on the 30-60x without trying it first. The rolling ball disappears around 40-45x and even below that it doesn't bother me. You will see it though.
The plus is that at 30x wide the scope is almost uncannily easy to aim. I've never had a quicker, easier scope in that regard.
If I recall correctly, the 30-60x is actually wider at 30x than the 20-70x is at 20x. It's nice!
Mark
The plus is that at 30x wide the scope is almost uncannily easy to aim. I've never had a quicker, easier scope in that regard.
If I recall correctly, the 30-60x is actually wider at 30x than the 20-70x is at 20x. It's nice!
Mark
