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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Six Point Five" data-source="post: 3194878" data-attributes="member: 125978">I use a Nikon 50ED angled with 20 WA eyepiece, mounted on a light Manfrotto. This is for 80-90% of the birding that i do near water or coast, etc. I don't use scopes when over dry land, unless i know that i am looking for some far away rare bird, etc. When i know i will be looking at shorebirds and waterfowl in great numbers over large distance for significant time, i take a serious carbon fiber Manfrotto with a Swarovski 80mm HD straight and the great new 25-50x zoom. That zoom is outstanding, but i still use it most of the time at 25x. When i take groups out, i use angled Vortex Razor HD scopes, on Manfrotto tripods. Angled scopes are easy to adjust for view by people of varying height. The Razor scopes are great, but the zooms on them are just average. At low power they are sharp and bright, but more than 1/2 increase in power will bring dark blurry images.I am partial to Manfrotto tripods as long as they are still made in Italy, and because i once dug up and pried up my Trabant car out of a mud hole using a super big and heavy Manfrotto tripod. It still works and is still usable, after being air-dropped, shipped, schlepped, trashed, submerged in sea water, and abused by many. I just am not willing to backpack it anymore.</blockquote>