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New scope shopping. Pentax or vortex (1 Viewer)

Pauhana

Well-known member
United States
Looking to upgrade my 80 mm scope. Narrowed down to Pentax pf80 and vortex viper. I want a straight scope. Will be used primarily to scope large impounds in the area for ducks and gulls

I tired the Pentax this past week for 4 days using the Pentax zoom. Only thing I would like a wider fov on low end if possible. Beside that I thought the view was very good.

Viper I have not tried. So looking for input on it vs Pentax.

One concern I have is warranty on the scopes. I know vortex is unlimited warranty. Am I correct tha Pentax only is good for one year. Their web site to me is not real clear

Thoughts

Randy
 
Hi Randy

No idea about the Vortex but I had the PF80 for a while but sent it back as it had bad flare where a cell edge caught the sun. Don't know if current models exhibit this. Did you notice anything?

Regarding the zoom the Baader Hyperion MkIV should be a bit wider than the Pentax and fit on.
 
Opticron do a new 77 model available as a straight scope which I think might take the Baader zoom too.

You don't say what scope you are upgrading from so don't know how much of an upgrade a new scope might be.
 
Don’t forget that the Pentax takes Astro eyepieces so if you want wider fov a fixed Astro (which can be extremely wide) or a Pentax XW could begoodforyou
 
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