Looking for Travel Scope but Cheaper End of Market (1 Viewer)

[John Bullfinch]

Hi.

I appreciate this has been covered a few times on here already, but would like your views on the following to ensure I have not missed any threads;

I am looking for a travel scope 50mm range but at the cheap end. I have a Kowa 884 which is superb, but when I go on holiday with the family and know I will only get a few mornings of birding during the holiday, it feels unnecessary to be lugging the big Kowa around or taking it with me in the first place. I just want something that will help me connect with birds where bins wont suffice, but something I can put in a rucksack and get out so I am not frustrated when I see a small wader is knocking about with the Dunlin and the bins are too low a magnification to identify it!!

Ive seen the Kowa 501/502 on sale second hand in a few stores for around 150:00 quid, would that suffice for what I need? I dont expect it to be amazing for that money, so my expectations are not high, but surely the optics in the 501/502 are better than say the old TSN1 or TSN2 models from the 1980's (which I previously owned)?

Is there any other options - the Opticrom ones are a bit too pricey for what I want, the Celestron ones have not had good reviews. What about the Hawke scopes, are any of their compact scopes like the Nature Trek 13-39x56 any good?

Thanks for any help and good birding to you all.

John

 

[dipped]

Hi John, if you're able to I would have a look/consider the new Viking Swallow 50 kit scope. I've looked through it and it seems a very good performer for the money, ( £159.95).

 

[Mike Crawley]

Hi John, if you're able to I would have a look/consider the new Viking Swallow 50 kit scope. I've looked through it and it seems a very good performer for the money, ( £159.95).

I have one of these, I take along on my RSPB volunteer days (to use on short lunch breaks) and it’s a good little tool on a reasonable day for a very reasonable budget.
Certainly worth looking through one, I think RSPB reserves which do optics sales will have one as a demo model (mine does)

 

[beacon hill]

We still have some of the discontinued Viking Swallow 50 (previous model) in stock to clear at £99 delivered.

 

[Strontium Dog]

I have the Hawke Endurance 12-36x50 Angled Spotting Scope (£189 at The Birder's Store) and am very happy with it.

 

[Luca1970]

Hi, I only tried the TSN 501 (the green one) for a short time and I must say that it seems good to me (I use a TSN3 and a more compact TSN 613 for travelling) I also heard very good things about the old TS503 or 504 with all fluorite lenses and I've seen nice reviews of the TS501/502, but I've never had the chance to try it.


The Yukon 20-50x50 is also not bad: very light and compact, but I don't like the ergonomics and the form factor.

 

[Binastro]

Is there a a 20-50x50 Yukon.

I thought mine is 10-30x50.

Anyway Yukon products have poor coatings and very variable quality with some bad mechanics.

I have several.

The 6-25-100x100 I have is good at 100x very lightweight but probably fragile.

The 30x50 binocular is very good but has poor coatings.

The various drawtubes are not very good optically as regards resolution.

The folded optics scopes are not very good mechanically.

They are also made in Belarus.

Regards,
B.

 

[b-lilja]

Nikon Ed50 all the way. Worth trying several samples and keeping best. Epoxy main seam.

 

[Luca1970]

The Yukon 20-50x50 is quite similar to the 6-25-100x100.
Its best qualities are its lightness and the possibility of using it without a tripod even simply by leaning on some makeshift support (obviously at 20x).

It has a fragile appearance, but it has never given me any problems; i carry it with me in my trekking backpack without fear.

Obviously it is not comparable to my Kowa ones, but if you are looking for a travel scope (light, economical and transportable) this is a good compromise.

 

[John Bullfinch]

Thanks for everyones replies - keep them coming please. I hope to compare at least 3 of those mentioned above at Old Moor soon - will wait for a cloudy day as pretty much everything has a good view when its sunny doesnt it?!!!? Thanks again.

 

[dwatsonbirder]

If you decide you like the Kowa, and don't mind a straight scope, this one looks competitively priced.

 

[jring]

Hi,

the Kowa 50X series will work well up to the 40x or so limit beyond which plain glass spotters tend to get increasingly blurry. Since that is the high mag (and thus widest afov) end of their zoom range, the view at 40x is quite usable.
Unlike on a TSN-1/2 with the old 20-60x zoom which was quite narrow at 40x and also didn't get really sharp even with a very good fluorite TSN-3 body...
TSN-1/2 bodies are best used with the 30x wide EP and still are nice with that.

An ED scope will go higher if good quality, but with a 50mm aperture, the image might be too dark in bad light...

Joachim

 

[Peregrine Took]

You obviously know your scopes if you have a high-end Kowa, so no need to teach you to suck eggs about ED glass and so on.

I tried the Hawke Nature Trek 9-27 x 56 a couple of years ago and was surprised how good it was - and how solidly built it felt. (The Hawke you mention is only available straight.... that would rule it out for me, even for a backpack scope, but maybe you don't mind.)

The Kowa TSN-501 appealed to me when I was in the market for that type of scope, but for my needs 20x minimum was too much reach and wasn't wide enough of a FOV. I'd still be be interested to hear what you think of it, if you try one.

Best of all, for budget price vs quality, I would say, is the Opticron MM4 50mm with the HDF-T eyepiece, or the MM3 50mm, which you might pick up for about £250.00 used.

Good luck.
.

 

[John Bullfinch]

Hi

Just an update - tried a few of those suggested above, but went with the Hawke Endurance ED 12-36x50. I managed to pick up a second hand one in virtually mint condition for less than 200 quid, so fairly pleased with that. It feels tiny compared to my other scope, so just the job for putting in my rucksack when either out birding on my bike or taking on a non-birding holiday! Not had the chance to field test my actual purchase yet due to other commitments, but I will report my thoughts on its performance in due course. Thanks again for the input.

John

 

[Ries]

Nikon Ed50 all the way. Worth trying several samples and keeping best. Epoxy main seam.

Wanted to post this. Regularly secondhand for around 400 with zoom ep, worth trying to find a fixed one (I love the 27x). Hard to beat under 1000

 

[4th_point]

Hi

Just an update - tried a few of those suggested above, but went with the Hawke Endurance ED 12-36x50. I managed to pick up a second hand one in virtually mint condition for less than 200 quid, so fairly pleased with that. It feels tiny compared to my other scope, so just the job for putting in my rucksack when either out birding on my bike or taking on a non-birding holiday! Not had the chance to field test my actual purchase yet due to other commitments, but I will report my thoughts on its performance in due course. Thanks again for the input.

John

I'm interested in your thoughts with the 50mm Hawke. It seems like a well regarded scope. I recently got the 13-39x50 version, also second hand, mainly due to various anecdotal reports of sharp focus with the model that you have but I don't know how much they share in terms of design.

The model I have compares well to the ED50, except for weight, but I have not performed extensive comparisons yet.

Jason

 

[chill6x6]

I use a TSN-660 with a 30X eyepiece as my travel scope. It has been excellent and I'd rebuy it. Fits in my backpack and goes on the plane with me.

 

[John Bullfinch]

I'm interested in your thoughts with the 50mm Hawke. It seems like a well regarded scope. I recently got the 13-39x50 version, also second hand, mainly due to various anecdotal reports of sharp focus with the model that you have but I don't know how much they share in terms of design.

The model I have compares well to the ED50, except for weight, but I have not performed extensive comparisons yet.

Jason

Hi Jason and any other birders viewing,

Sorry its took a while but my initial impressions are the Hawke Endurance ED 12-36x50 is just what I wanted - re - to take on those non-birding holidays and to put in my rucksack when I am out birding on my mountain bike. Image feels crisp to the edge, pretty bright for a 50mm lens, no obvious chromic issues. Yes FOV not amazing but wouldnt expect it to be. The scope works well to top end of zoom, able to get focussed on the subject regardless of distance across the whole range of the zoom. Only issue with this version, which I knew about before purchasing, is how the zoom is operated on the eye piece, its only a slim part of the eyepiece which would be fiddly for those with big hands, although even with gloves I am getting used to it. I believe they have sorted this out and changed it on the newer version which I think came out in the last year. But for the price I paid I cant grumble.

All the best, John

 

[fazalmajid]

The TSN-501/502 are surprisingly good for the price despite lacking ED glass, and ridiculously light. I also have an Opticron MM4/50 and a Meopta Meostar S2+ 82 HD. In a scope that won’t necessarily be mounted on a tripod the straight TSN-502 made more sense for me.