Scope advice (1 Viewer)

[CWOBrien]

Hi everyone,

I'm looking to buy my first scope and would appreciate any and all advice. I'd like to keep it under 500 euro/$ if possible. It would be great to have a scope that's good for sea-watching as well as conventional birding.

Any advice with this would be great.

Kind regards,
C

 

[jring]

Hi,

the budget is rather slim, especially if you want a new scope. You also need a tripod and head - do you have those already or must we include that into the 500€?

Joachim

 

[Tero]

I have a Celestron Regal scope, 65mm, as my backup. It is poorly balanced, tipping over, but was the only one for about 300-400 then. Hard to find the straight one. Angled ones available. My good scope (Pentax) is no longer made.

I've seen people I know have Swarowski scopes use a Nikon for travel. This:

Amazon.com

or

Nikon ProStaff 5 20-60x82 Angled Spotting Scopes - Optics4Birding

Nikon ProStaff 5 20-60x82 Angled Spotting Scopes - The Nikon ProStaff 5 20-60x80 angled spotting scopes offer advanced optics and ergonomics to go wi...

www.optics4birding.com

Many scoped like that are available. Using it at the 20-30X zoom will give you nice views past the 10x of binoculars. At the past 40x zoom they get fuzzy.

 

[Sancho]

Hi CW, There's a used Hawke Endurance ED with 16-48 zoom ep on adverts.ie right now. Inside your budget. It's in Drimnagh. No offers yet. You'd better move fast...if you don't buy if, I will!

 

[CWOBrien]

Thank you very much for the advice, gentlemen! Much appreciated.

 

[jring]

Hi,

regarding the Hawke scope, the 500€ pricetag is kinda ambitious for a used unit... see the following for a new unit with the lifetime warranty... have not checked if that is transferable and whether it would apply if you bought it in UK and get it sent to Ireland (cause lifetime warranty might be problematic to offer in EU)... Also of course you might pay customs and tax... so it might come out the same or even slightly higher...

Hawke Endurance ED 16-48x68 Spotting Scope The Birders Store

When you require the finest image reproduction at extended distances, ED (Extra Low Dispersion) glass is a must. Designed around an optical system using ED glass components, the latest Endurance ED 16-48x68 Spotting Scopes are sure to provide you the clarity and colour reproduction you desire.

www.birders-store.co.uk

Or here from a german store... with a 10 year warranty (thanks to EU).

Hawke Endurance 16-48x68 Spektiv 5054492561001 | eBay

Entdecken Sie Hawke Endurance 16-48x68 Spektiv in der großen Auswahl bei eBay. Kostenlose Lieferung für viele Artikel!

www.ebay.de

The stay-on-case shown on the adverts.ie offer seems to be included by default, btw...

Joachim

 

[Sancho]

Good point, Joachim. Even allowing for postage/customs (much cheaper from Germany now, rather than UK), 500 euro is not a bargain. So I 'd start by making an offer. I think Birdwatchireland were selling these for about 650 euro (although they are a charity we like to support!).

 

[jring]

Hi,

yeah, the seller has declined offers of 300€ and a bit above before and suggested 400€. So that might work...

The question is how much that german shop with 449€ would charge for shipping to Eire and whether one would be willing to pay 50€ more for a new example with warranty... I checked the warranty conditions on the german page and they stated 10 years for the original owner, global page says limited lifetime for the original owner - both cases state proof of purchase is required...

Joachim