Where do I go from here? (1 Viewer)

[Jonathan Avery]

Hello @Jonathan Avery

Did you manage to find a scope that met all your criteria?

I was in the same quandry as you and have the Opticron MM4 77mm as well. I tried that scope against several others, Zeiss and Swaro included, and from a price/ weight/performance perspective, it ticked all the boxes and it has suprised me with just how good it is.

I missed out on the recent Meopta sale at SWOptics as I have their bino’s and they are certainly Alpha class IMHO, the 15x56 in particular is astonishing. But they are difficult to find either new or used.

My eyes are certainly bigger than my wallet but I would be interested if you found your holy grail of scopes. VMT.

Hi PatR,

I haven't yet found that scope that would meet all the criteria and would be the obvious move up from the MM4 77. Every time I think "this would be the one", I find myself wondering whether it would be a real improvement on the MM477. Like you, it seems to me to have a very good price/weight/performance combination that makes it tricky to know where to move. As indicated in my last post I would be interested in comparing it with a Kowa TSN 773 as that, I believe, is only 200gms heavier but I haven't had that opportunity yet. These can only be found as remaining old stock or second hand. I would be intrigued to look through the Meopta S2 especially as this seems to be only 250gms heavier, but Meoptas seem very hard to find in the UK. I can't make Birdfair this year but Meopta don't appear in the list of exhibitors as far as I can see anyway. I don't think SW Optics sell S2s. The opinion of the contributor on #5 above is that the Meopta S2 is only marginally better than the MM4 77 anyway. Like you my eyes are bigger than my wallet but I am interested to research where to go next so that I know what to go for when I have the funds.

I would be very interested to hear what scopes you compared the MM4 77 with.

KR

 

[PatR]

Hi PatR,

I haven't yet found that scope that would meet all the criteria and would be the obvious move up from the MM4 77. Every time I think "this would be the one", I find myself wondering whether it would be a real improvement on the MM477. Like you, it seems to me to have a very good price/weight/performance combination that makes it tricky to know where to move. As indicated in my last post I would be interested in comparing it with a Kowa TSN 773 as that, I believe, is only 200gms heavier but I haven't had that opportunity yet. These can only be found as remaining old stock or second hand. I would be intrigued to look through the Meopta S2 especially as this seems to be only 250gms heavier, but Meoptas seem very hard to find in the UK. I can't make Birdfair this year but Meopta don't appear in the list of exhibitors as far as I can see anyway. I don't think SW Optics sell S2s. The opinion of the contributor on #5 above is that the Meopta S2 is only marginally better than the MM4 77 anyway. Like you my eyes are bigger than my wallet but I am interested to research where to go next so that I know what to go for when I have the funds.

I would be very interested to hear what scopes you compared the MM4 77 with.

KR

The search continues!

Meopta have disappeared from the UK market after the importer, RUAG, stopped err importing them! They did the same with Geco.

It is such a shame as Meopta optics are superb. I think that the chances of finding any for sale, let alone try, have long gone.

As I hade bought a cheap Hawke straight scope from WEX a few years back (and found it to be suprisingly good) I tried a selection of Hawke, Kowa, SW, Vanguard and Opticron equivalents (model numbers escape me) at Focal Point Optics and RSPB Conwy and thought that the Kowa's were the dogs wotsits. But the Opticrons ticked most of the boxes and whilst not in the same class as the Kowa's, were considerably cheaper.

If budget had not been a consideration I would have bought a Kowa over all of the others but the Opticron, with its SDLv3 zoom eyepiece, has been excellent and as it is for occasional use, is probably all I will ever need.

One day........