Advice on purchasing my first spotting scope (1 Viewer)

I'm a plant biologist whose work is focused more on the genetics of invasive species than the biology and ecology of birds. However, my long time mentor has recently given me five hundred dollars as a graduation present, with the stipulation that I use the money towards something permanent ('Don't blow it on espresso', which seems to be good advice.). I was first introduced to the joys of birding by Terry himself, and I've long wanted to explore the wonderful activity, yet only recently have found the time to do so. It seems entirely appropriate to invest the generous gift in a good spotting scope, yet I am uncertain of what direction to go in purchasing said scope.

I find myself lost as to how to use this amazing gift most appropriately after looking over the dizzying cascade of websites advertising advice and equipment. My own fieldwork often involves standing on hilltops and conducting on-the-ground evaluations of invasive species spread, so I will likely use this new scope in my own schoolwork. I've looked over the Nikon, Pentax and other company product lines, yet can't seem to locate an appropriate scope in my price range.

I'm hoping to find a complete outfit including field case and tripod. I'm 6'3'', so an angled or variable angle scope seems appropriate. Weight is not a serious issue as I don't expect to carry this scope more than a few miles from existing road systems, so I'm interested but not sworn to a locating a scope with a larger objective (I was looking in the 80 mm range). A sunshade and view-through case seem rather integral features to seek, though it appears that nitrogen filled parts and ED glass are likely out of my price range. I will soon have to cover my expenses with a graduate stipend only, but could possibly put another hundred dollars or so towards the purchse of this equipment. Buying used is certainly an option. If geography matters in the decision, I currrently live in Seattle, but will be soon moving to Burlington, VT, to begin a 5+ year PhD study.

Thank you in advance for your thoughts! Your assistance is quite valued.
cheers,
James

There is so little to choose between the top makes: Leica, Zeiss, Nikon or Swarovski. But... the Zeiss 20-60x zoom stands out from all others because it offers around 50% greater field of view compared to any other make. That makes it my top choice as locating birds is easier when you can see more of what you want to see!

If a zoom is not a concern, then the Nikon ED82 with either a fixed 30 or 38x WA eyepiece stands out (for me and many here) because it offers such amazingly natural contrasty colour and a truly 3D "walk-in" wide view.

Swaro offers a fine ergonomic design being fully rubber covered. The Leica Apo77 is now the oldest design and is rather longer and heavier, but offers legendary Leica quality.

five hundred dollars is about £270,with that amount I expect the best option
would be nikons little ed50.
however, your budget might only cover the cost of the body only.us brits can expect to find a body only for around £250,often through discount mail order companys.not sure how much the eyepieces would cost,but i'd recommend a fixed magnification wide angle...20 or 30x.,to get the best results from the 50mm objective.

good luck which ever you choose

matt

The Nikon ED50 with an eyepiece and tripod is going to be well over your budget. You might squeeze something like the non-ed Nikon 60mm spotting scope, 30x eyepeice into your budget though.

I tried to go the cheap way witha a cheap tripod as well, as I had the scope and no useful tripod. I struggled with a camera tripod for a year. It was only good at 20x. No sense buying a shaky useless tripod for any scope. So the budget may be a little low. But you could find a good scope and eBay for a tripod.

There are some smaller scopes, that are fixed with some eyepiece. They are meant to be easy to carry. I can't recommend any brand as I have no clear memory of any. But generally they look like this:
http://www.eagleoptics.com/index.asp?dept=1&type=4&purch=1&pid=3741

that with a decent but light weight tripod might work.

I can sympathize with your predicament as I went through something similar recently. Check out the Spotting Scope Pentax forum and general Spotting Scope forum for the specifics in that regard. To make a long story short I bought a Pentax 65 mm ED glass Angled spotting scope body for the total of $419.99 shipped from cameralandny.com (gr8fuldoug here on the forums). That price did not include the eyepiece. I did not have the money to spend on a $300 or $400 Pentax eyepiece so I went the inexpensive route and bought three (20 mm, 15 mm and 9 mm) eyepieces from www.owlservices.com. Their newest eyepieces the EWA series is quite good with an exceptionally wide field of view. Any one of them sells for approximately $37 though I would suggest the 20 mm for general use (19.5x magnification) as it offers an exceptionally bright and wide image with excellent eye relief. You could always buy other sizes later.

I went the more expensive route with the tripod and head (Manfrotto 3001 legs and 3130 head) but you should easily be able to find a video tripod like the Cabelas brand models (Vanguard actually) for around $65 (Deluxe field will work well for your height as I am 6'4" and it worked for me). Check them out at www.cabelas.com.

Scope body $419.99 + Knight Owl 20 mm eyepiece $37 + Cabelas Deluxe Field Tripod (comes with its own case) $65 = $522. Well within the price range you mentioned for a waterproof, ED glass spotting scope and tripod.

Hope you find this helpful.

Thank you all for your advice

Thank you Frank, Tero, Matt, Richard, and Scampo. I ended up purchasing a 20-60x80 Nikon Earth and Sky Model with Nikon tripod this weekend (and with a few extras like a cleaning kit and monopod I'm curious to try) from various sources for slightly over my budget, about 540 USD total. I tried a few scopes in the local shop, then hit upon this one. I already have a Nikon SLR setup that I'm extremely impressed with, so it the choice seemed obvious. I look forward to posting a bit here in the future - the local raven population is first up, I think. Thank you again for your advice and assistance.

cheers,
James

my_marquee said:

Thank you Frank, Tero, Matt, Richard, and Scampo. I ended up purchasing a 20-60x80 Nikon Earth and Sky Model with Nikon tripod this weekend (and with a few extras like a cleaning kit and monopod I'm curious to try) from various sources for slightly over my budget, about 540 USD total. I tried a few scopes in the local shop, then hit upon this one. I already have a Nikon SLR setup that I'm extremely impressed with, so it the choice seemed obvious. I look forward to posting a bit here in the future - the local raven population is first up, I think. Thank you again for your advice and assistance.

cheers,
James

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Hi James....a bit too late for advice ..i wanted to recommend the Celestron Ultima ED 80mm....i have the Pentax and im happy ..but i am sure the celestron ED 80mm is a good scope for less than 500$ ..actually is probably an amazing deal in an 80mm ED scope!!!!..APM telescopes out of Germany is a company with great reputation in the astronomy world,and they now endorse the same scope(im sure)sold with the german brand TELESKOPE SERVICE at a much higher price....Pentax and Nikon out of japan and Swaro,Leica and Zeiss out of Austria and germany..but Chinese ED glass is maybe a good inexpensive way to get GOOD optics at a budget...

my_marquee said:

Thank you Frank, Tero, Matt, Richard, and Scampo. I ended up purchasing a 20-60x80 Nikon Earth and Sky Model with Nikon tripod this weekend (and with a few extras like a cleaning kit and monopod I'm curious to try) from various sources for slightly over my budget, about 540 USD total. I tried a few scopes in the local shop, then hit upon this one. I already have a Nikon SLR setup that I'm extremely impressed with, so it the choice seemed obvious. I look forward to posting a bit here in the future - the local raven population is first up, I think. Thank you again for your advice and assistance.

cheers,
James

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Nikon never disappoint, James - have fun (you will!).

Congratulations on the new scope. I agree with Scampo that Nikon really offers some superb products at fairly reasonable prices. I had the 60 mm version of the scope you purchased and thought it was very good for the price.