Spare spotter (1 Viewer)

Just what it sounds like, conspicuous consumption you think. I'ts not the first time I'm taking this route of thought. Last time, it ended more or less nowhere.

I'm again looking at potential bargains among ordinary spotters so I can take my ED50A home from work to keep another scope there, with which I can go directly and unplanned from work to the reserve any evening.

Not so keen on touting around the big scope from home to work and back every single day (I ride the bike), but without a scope there I may certainly miss a more than few rare birds. The ED50A is really fine during daytime, but I work quite late and I decided I'm up for a 70-80 mm scope.

Used to think about the EDIIIA, and I have a 30x eyepiece, but the exit pupil and the magnification are only marginally more than the ED50A with 27x.

An ED78A or ED82A (although a bit unimaginative to have two copies) would probably be the best alternative since I love the wide, bright view the fixed Nikon eyepieces provide, and 38x Wide is just about perfect for it.
I feel they are a bit steep in the pricing, although I found a straight one fairly cheap.

Furthermore, I'm not so keen on putting big money on a scope I may not even have the possibility to look through before the purchase.
As if that wasn't enough, I remember looking through many fellow birders' scopes wondering how in the world they can accept such a crappy view.
I mean blurred, dim, narrow, colour-skewed or tinted. For real! :eek!:
Those are scopes like the Diascope 85, Kowa TSN series, Kowa 883, Swaro AT80, Optolyth 80 mm, a newer Swaro, Vortex Razor and more.
The only scopes I recognise being immediately perfect are the newer Swaros 80 and 95 mm.

Let's suppose I find a cheap Optolyth 80 mm fluorite scope, older version with the 22-60 zoom or its Kowa equivalent. Do scopes deteriorate with time with regards to colour and brightness?

Is it still possible to make bargains?
Buying factory-new scopes, cheap or expensive, is out of the question.
My pain threshold is somewhere in the €450 region depending on how much a bargain the thing is. There's a multitude of scopes around €1000 that don't interest me. Feel free to comment.

//L

LCE Guildford have an Optolyth 80 plus 30x for £299.
Not sure what this is, but 3 stars, I prefer 4 stars.

Ffordes have something, but often less reliable on condition.

I bought a Mirador 30x75 collapsible scope for very little money, maybe £60. It is good.

Old scopes vary in condition depending on storage and use.
If they are left in a British attic they may be fit for the scrap heap.
Be wary of seaside locations.
But often as new.

Best to buy from a local source after inspection, maybe in Sweden.

P.S.
I suppose Denmark is also possible for you.

Elof Hansson Gothenburg was one of my customers, so I used to stay in Gothenburg.

I took photos of a Saab Draken coming in to land.
I was quickly surrounded by police who came from two directions in souped up Volvo estates.
The pilot had seen me.
It took less than ten minutes, maybe five minutes.
I hoped they would take me to the airbase and let me see the plane, or maybe give me a Mach 2 ride.
I told them the plane was obsolete, which I thought wouldn't help.
No such luck, they just let me go.
I offered them my film, but they let me keep it.

Nowadays, it is unlikely the police would turn up even if I waited a week.

Binastro said:

Old scopes vary in condition depending on storage and use.
If they are left in a British attic they may be fit for the scrap heap.
Be wary of seaside locations.
But often as new.

Best to buy from a local source after inspection, maybe in Sweden.

Click to expand...

That is unfortunately impossible, since Swedes not only pay too much for new scopes, but then also try to convince themselves and the prospectice buyers that 80-90% of MRSP is feasible for a fifteen year old scope :-O
It's up to them what they want to pay, but it makes me sad they're so gullible.

//L

Hi,

since you rule out most recent and out of production scopes in your list of bad glass (which I don't think is valid in general), only a few remain:

Leica APO Televid 77 or 82 - the ones I have seen were ok but not more - anyways probably not for 450€
Swaro ATS/M 80, ATX95 and ATX85 (or does this fall under newer Swaro from the bad list?) - seen good and bad - probably not for 450€
Optolyth TBS 80 APO - I know one fairly old example which was not so great - no idea on pricing
Kowa TSN-3/4 - do these fall under Kowa TSN or Kowa Fluorite? My TSN-3 with Opticron SDLv2 is great. I got it below your budget in a package deal but with the zoom bought new it's above. The old 90s 20-60 zoom is awful, the 30 wide from all vintages is great.
Kowa TSN-823/4 - again do these fall under Kowa TSN from the s**t list or under Kowa fluorite? Optically usually also great, might have problems with tacky rubber armour or plastic body breakage when falling to the ground.
Nikon ED 78 or 82 - probably not for 450€, especially not with EP.

Good luck,

Joachim

The Optolyth Fluorite scopes are pretty good, but the 22x60 zoom is a non starter. It's awful, make a nice paperweight though.

jring said:

Hi,

since you rule out most recent and out of production scopes in your list of bad glass (which I don't think is valid in general), only a few remain:

Leica APO Televid 77 or 82 - the ones I have seen were ok but not more - anyways probably not for 450€
Swaro ATS/M 80, ATX95 and ATX85 (or does this fall under newer Swaro from the bad list?) - seen good and bad - probably not for 450€
Optolyth TBS 80 APO - I know one fairly old example which was not so great - no idea on pricing
Kowa TSN-3/4 - do these fall under Kowa TSN or Kowa Fluorite? My TSN-3 with Opticron SDLv2 is great. I got it below your budget in a package deal but with the zoom bought new it's above. The old 90s 20-60 zoom is awful, the 30 wide from all vintages is great.
Kowa TSN-823/4 - again do these fall under Kowa TSN from the s**t list or under Kowa fluorite? Optically usually also great, might have problems with tacky rubber armour or plastic body breakage when falling to the ground.
Nikon ED 78 or 82 - probably not for 450€, especially not with EP.

Good luck,

Joachim

Click to expand...

Thanks Joachim for a nice summary over the options :t:
No, I agree the bad glass list isn't universally valid. But I'm shocked to learn that there seems to be so many birders out there with defective scopes.
Even with those not clearly faulty, their colour biases were downright painful for my sensitive eyes. Not that I couldn't live with them (under the threat of a gun, at least :-O )

Should add that the Televids 62 and 77 may be prone to breaking like the Kowa 823.
The Meostar B1 APO might be nice, but sells at the same price as other comparable, semi-new APO/ED scopes.
The Opticron range might hide a few interesting animals in their extensive line-up.
Unless I run into some irresistible offering, I'll continue keeping my eyes open for ED78As and TSN-3s.
Best thing, I have many eyepieces I can use with an ED78, in particular a WF 38x.

giosblue said:

The Optolyth Fluorite scopes are pretty good, but the 22x60 zoom is a non starter. It's awful, make a nice paperweight though.

Click to expand...

Isn't it true that the internal, waterproofing glass window precludes the use of newer eyepieces, being situated so close to the eyepiece thread?

--------------

Are there still bargains to be made? :h?:

//L

Lars
Check out this one: https://www.cleyspy.co.uk/opticron-hr80-ga-ed-body-ref-71632.html

Lee

Troubador said:

Lars
Check out this one: https://www.cleyspy.co.uk/opticron-hr80-ga-ed-body-ref-71632.html

Lee

Click to expand...

Thanks Lee, and I'm visiting Cleyspy and LCE regularly. There is an ED78 somewhere else at a reasonable price, to which I need no eyepiece, but I chose to pass on it as I wouldn't put too much money in a straight scope.

//L

Good luck with your searching.
You might find the In Focus used optics list useful too. This is published here on Bird Forum. Scroll down to find the latest list:
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?p=3679182#post3679182
Lee

Troubador said:

Good luck with your searching.
You might find the In Focus used optics list useful too. This is published here on Bird Forum. Scroll down to find the latest list:
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?p=3679182#post3679182
Lee

Click to expand...

Thanks Lee! Right now I'm in the unfortunate stage of the disease where I figure I actually NEED to change (or complete) the setups.
I can see clear signs I'm not alone in this :-O

The recent purchase of the Meostar HD 12x50 was a great success, but I seem to imagine that the overall perfection got disturbed so I need to purchase perfect spares too :eek!:

So I'm trawling the web extensively at the moment, but try to navigate responsibly, in order not to hit a mine (something too expensive or something faulty)

//L

Sherwoods Photo is also worth a visit.

:t:

A 60mm Fieldscope EDIII seems like the natural solution. (Be sure to get the ED version!). Lightweight and compact. Your 30x EP will work fine in normal birding light, not so good in low light though. With a 20-60x Zoom you would get a larger exit pupil. Or a 24x fixed EP perhaps. No, it won't be better than your ED82 but you will have to live with that...o

Vespobuteo said:

A 60mm Fieldscope EDIII seems like the natural solution. (Be sure to get the ED version!). Lightweight and compact. Your 30x EP will work fine in normal birding light, not so good in low light though. With a 20-60x Zoom you would get a larger exit pupil. Or a 24x fixed EP perhaps. No, it won't be better than your ED82 but you will have to live with that...o

Click to expand...

For a very long time, the EDIIIA was on top of my list for this application.
I do know it's a tremendeously fine spotter, but also too rare to find at the price I'm willing to pay. Considering that I often cannot get out until 6.30 pm, I need as much light as possible. The ED82A is very addictive and the ED50A is not all that far behind, so I'd probably enjoy an EDIIIA as well.

I am still leaning towards a bigger scope, otherwise I may stop birding earlier in the evening or waste time going home for my ED82A. If I get the chance to acquire a fine EDIIIA, I wouldn't hesitate if the price is right.
It's just not my main route of thought anymore.

//L