Suggestions for 50mm ED compact spotting scope (1 Viewer)

I am after a compact, lightweight, 50mm ED spotting scope. It is something I wish to take to for nature and landscape observations as well as some casual night sky viewing, say, if I went to visit a national park.

My priorities, in descending order, are that this instrument ideally:

- is portable and lightweight;
- resolves well on-axis;
- has good eye relief;
- has reasonably preserved edge performance;
- has a relatively wide field;
- can do double duty as a monocular, especially at low powers
- can take astronomical eyepieces.

The three obvious choices are the Nikon Fieldscope 50ED, the Vortex Razor HD 50, and the Opticron MM3. I would like to hear your personal views.

Here in the USA, and for birding, I consider the ED50 (smallest and lightest of the optically best) hard to beat now that we can order it from Amazon USA direct from Japan for around $300 for the body and $200 for the 27x eyepiece. You might prefer lower powered eyepieces but I think you'd have to find them used or adapt a small astro eyepiece. But it might not be the best choice for compatibility with bigger astro eyepieces. I doubt the Vortex is any better, but the Opticron might be. Bad recent news about the Opticron, if I recall correctly, is that they are no longer making the fixed 24x eyepiece.

--AP

hey mate

My preference of the 3 would be Vortex.

I had the Vortex Razor 65mm and before purchasing that considered the Vortex 50mm as well. I spoke to the aussie importer (Extravision) who talked me out of the 50mm simply because its eyepiece is very different to the 65mm/85mm.

There's are no eyepiece choices on the Razor 50mm besides the 11-33 that comes with it. The rep at Extravision advised that there's a noticeable quality difference between the standard eyepiece and this one. I also wanted an adjustable eyecup which the 50mm doesnt have.

That begin said if weight is your first priority then the 50mm might be the better choice as the 65mm is almost double the weight. It'll certainly have the widest field.

The Vortex scopes dont have an astronomy adapter, however the Swaro adapter fits. Your challenge there will be the short focus on the spotting scopes - it will prevent you from focusing beyond a couple of hundred meters before you hit the focus stop.

Finally, I found Extravision a pleasure to deal with. They really reinforced the Vortex VIP warranty and customer service to the point of offering to sell the 50mm first with option to return within 30 days if i didnt like it for a full refund.

cheers
Jeelan