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New scope.A present from my father in law (3 Viewers)

ptalegui

Member
Hello...my wife and I, we are birdwatchers since 2002, using only binoculars(after 4 years with modest binoculars we bought a swarovski EL 8.5x42 and Zeiss FL 8x42).This year my father in love :king:wants to make us a good present and we choose a nice scope+tripod.What you recommend us??? it's sure that we are going to use it but do you think that a top model is too much(swarovski, Leica, Zeiss,Nikkon?? better one cheaper?Thank you
 
I'd put a Leica 82mm with the 25-50 eyepiece at the top of my list.
The Swaro 80mm HD with 25-50 next.
The Kowa 883 third.

I really like the idea of the new wide zooms Leica and Swaro have :t:

Don't be bashful, go for the best. Your new "dad" will like that he spent a lot of money on you ;)
 
I reserve widefield views for binoculars and prefer high magnification views from my fieldscope. For the price premium for the Leica/Swaro-scopes and their ultra-widefield zooms command, you could add on a Canon 18x50 IS binocular to my choices below!

That said, the Nikon ED82 with 25x-75x MCII zoom has to be the BEST VALUE in a fieldscope. I sometimes regret replacing this scope for my next choice.

My next choice (and the one I own now) would be the Kowa 88x Prominar with the 20x-60x zoom for the BRIGHTEST high power views. If you want to digiscope, this is the better choice.

cheers,
Rick
 
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Hehehehe yes I will get Nikon ED82 plus DS30x eyepiece for best value scope and my next one would be EDG 85 with W30x and 20-60x eyepiece.

Tested the zoom eyepiece between Kowa 883 and EDG 85, the FOV of EDG is wider than the Kowa during the Borneo Bird Festival :)
 
Tested the zoom eyepiece between Kowa 883 and EDG 85, the FOV of EDG is wider than the Kowa during the Borneo Bird Festival :)

Hmm, too close to call I'd think.

Official TFoV specs:
Nikon 85 EDG w/ 20-60x = 38m to 19m @ 1000m
Kowa 883 w/20-60x = 38.4m to 18.3m @ 1000m

cheers,
Rick
 
That said, the Nikon ED82 with 25x-75x MCII zoom has to be the BEST VALUE in a fieldscope. I sometimes regret replacing this scope for my next choice.

That's certainly true, IMO as well. I thought we were helping with a wish list, with little or no concern about value. I have very expensive tastes, when helping to spend other people's money. B :)
 
Don't worry....now i'm checking the weight of every kit(scope,eyepiece and tripod):quite important for me .......it's a hard decission ...also i'd like to compare the relationship between quality, weight and price(deep down i like my father in law o:D).
Maybe the 3 finalist are(high quality for use it during next 30 years):
-Swarovski ATS(or ATM but the price difference is too much i think) with 20x60 or 25-50 eyepiece
-Kowa 883 20x60
- Nikon EG82 or EGD 85 with 20x60

I'm not a digiscoper:Is it very important to choose a right tripod+head???? or the big price difference is the weight??
Thak you again and sorry but my english is awful
 
Don't worry....now i'm checking the weight of every kit(scope,eyepiece and tripod):quite important for me .......it's a hard decission ...also i'd like to compare the relationship between quality, weight and price(deep down i like my father in law o:D).
Maybe the 3 finalist are(high quality for use it during next 30 years):
-Swarovski ATS(or ATM but the price difference is too much i think) with 20x60 or 25-50 eyepiece
-Kowa 883 20x60
- Nikon EG82 or EGD 85 with 20x60

I'm not a digiscoper:Is it very important to choose a right tripod+head???? or the big price difference is the weight??
Thak you again and sorry but my english is awful
The tripod is very important. There´s no point putting an expensive scope on a light tripod (it may blow over), or on a cheap tripod that doesn´t "pan" smoothly (jerky movements will make it impossible to track a moving bird). I´ve had the Swaro HD65, and the Nikon ED82...both are great scopes, slightly different "feel" from each but optically superb. The Nikon is great value, but it is not inferior in any way to the European "alpha" scopes.
 
For a lightweight travel support for the Kowa 883, I use this kit Velbon El Carmagne 538 carbon fiber with FHD-51Q video head and QB-F51L long slide bar. The slide bar is mandatory to balance the scope with this head. This really is about the minimum support you can use for an 80mm class scope. Unfortunately, Velbon uses different product ID for the same tripods in different markets so you will have to do some detective work to find a local match. Maybe a CF535 model?

If price is no object then a Gitzo GT2531 Mountaineer with G2180 video head would be about the best you can get.

cheers,
Rick
 
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