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Message: <blockquote data-quote="gcole" data-source="post: 3554581" data-attributes="member: 29223"><p>Hi FrankD.   If you recall I believe it was back in Sept. of 2009, about 5 years after I joined Birdforum that you were the first member here that responded to a question I asked about what was the best fixed low to medium power eyepiece that would work on a Promaster Infinity Elite ELX 65mm spotting scope. It was that time the Pentax XW line of eyepieces became known to me. Before that time the only spotting scopes I owned went back to the late sixties(1969) when I was a young man using Kowa's clunkers for stationary viewing to look at the wildlife in our rural back yard. I do not know if the Pentax XW line of eyepieces were even available back then. It was here on the Birdforum many years latter that rekindled my interest in the use of spotting scopes. I am very thank full to Birdforum, you and others members here. .......  The Pentax XW20 was the first high end, low to medium eyepiece I viewed in the little Pentax 65mm. It amazed me then and still amazes eight years latter. I still think its the best eyepiece I  have ever had the pleasure to use and the best eyepiece I have ever used in the Pentax 65 EDAII spotter.  I have owned five Pentax 65 spotters and as many XW20 eyepieces. I am not sure if its the XW eyepiece itself or when its used on the Pentax scopes. I do know when I permanently attached a Pentax XW20 eyepiece to a Brunton Epoch spotter awhile back, it transformed a so so view into a really good view. Now comparing the XW20 to the Explore Scientific 26mm. Things they have in common....Very relaxing view due to their oculars lens size, nice eye relief, both are waterproof/fog proof and have a high quality look/feel. Both give a open wide view. The 62 degrees from the Explore Scientific is not in the same league as the Pentax XW but it does seem wider than it is. Comparing the 26mm(15x) to the XW20mm(19.5xw) isn't really fair but both give a very sharp/clear and bright view. The Explore Scientific rubber eye guard has a very nice supple feel, easy to fold down and has just enough space for your glasses to rest on without worrying about touching the glass in ocular lens. The Explore Scientific has China on its barrel but if it said Japan or say Germany I would not have thought China. Does the Explore Scientific even come close to a XW20 view optically ? Well I do not know who Scientific sources their glass from but the quality of glass is excellent and holds its own to the Pentax XW. The differences seem to be getting closer every year. Build/quality wise and the immense view the Pentax gives, hands down to the Pentax XW20 but for a $119. eyepiece the Explore Scientific 26mm will please most. .... gwen</p></blockquote><p></p>

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