A Good Spotting Scope On A Budget? First time buyer’s guide…

[gstanley102]

Has anyone experimented with add on filters to enhance a scpoes performance?

Polarizer?
Contrast enhancing?
Other?

 

[42769vette]

Has anyone experimented with add on filters to enhance a scpoes performance?

Polarizer?
Contrast enhancing?
Other?

Its a lot easier to buy the right scope the first time, than it is to buy the wrong scope, and turn it into the right one.

 

[42769vette]

Bummer. In that case... could you elaborate on vapor trail a bit? How much $$ is needed to purchase a spotting scope that will reliably see vapor trail? And how important is seeing vapor trail to a spotter's job?

Thanks!

Vapor trail is actually bullet trace, everyone calls it vapor trail, so its easier to just go with it. As a bullet moves through the air it causes a disturbance. That disturbance cause light to refract.

In my experience you need true HD glass to reliably see vapor trail. Every company calls a different level of glass quality HD (HD has become the "tactical" of the optics world). In the Vortex line your looking at 650 bucks to see it every single time you have the spotter set right.

How important is seeing it? Its the most important thing a spotter can do from a target shooter's standpoint. There are 2 ways of determining POI at long range. Splash (seeing the bullet hit the ground) and trail. Splash can easily lie to you if the shooter comes close, and the bullet lands behind the target depending on the angle you are viewing the target vs the bullets path. A 1 MIL right, could easily read as 1 MIL left with splash.

Trail never lies, you actually watch the trail go past the target, so you know exactly where it landed. You can actually call hit, mis, low, high, etc long before the bullet reachs the target because you see the arch, and know what the bullet is doing.

If I could have a spotting scope do only one thing, it would be read vapor trail.

 

[roscott]

Wow, that's really good info! Thanks for helping! Once the money becomes available, I'll be looking to get a good spotting scope from you!

 

[42769vette]

Wow, that's really good info! Thanks for helping! Once the money becomes available, I'll be looking to get a good spotting scope from you!

Anytime sir.

 

[gstanley102]

You hit the nail on the head here. Choice of equipment varies greatly by intended use. I wouldn't use a grenade to kill a coyote in my barn. I put my Diamondback on the wife's manfrotto to test it. It's solid, I liked it. It is good enough for my use. Couldn't go prone with it, so a solitary long range shooter wouldn't want it. I appreciate that you keep coming back with your views on tripods. Maybe you should do a comparison thread for them! Awesomeness.

Spent a few hours at the range today with my new Konus and a used Manfrotto 3046 tripod.

I could accurately score targets from 100 yards.
Not bad on black targets with those tiny white lines shooting .22's.

The Manfrotto 3046 is a horse but it fits our shooting style well.
It is as solid as a rock.

We'll have to try to push it out to 200 next time.

 

[tbhausen]

You seeing the chromatic aberration with black-on-white targets? I wish it wasn't there but my wallet says "Deal with it, pal!".

 

[sbu sailor]

We'll have to try to push it out to 200 next time.

Awesome!

You seeing the chromatic aberration with black-on-white targets? I wish it wasn't there but my wallet says "Deal with it, pal!".

Dispersion exists to some degree in any scope. It's less apparent near the center of your frame (like photos). Try reducing your zoom to make the bullseye smaller in your frame, working in the middle of your zoom range is usually best. Another trick is to slightly lean the target toward you to change the white section's reflective properties. Good luck!

 

[gstanley102]

Here's tiny white lines...........


https://onedrive.live.com/redir?res...authkey=!AGApVTDkYB9YOE4&v=3&ithint=photo,jpg

 

[Snowhawk]

Great post! sbu, I'm the guy you wrote this for! Newbie to spotting scopes and looking for exactly this kind of evaluation of under $500 scopes!
At first I thought I will just get a real cheapie - under $100 for use at the range at 100 yds.
Looked through a couple and was very disappointed.

So I thought why would I spend that on a scope knowing it was so lousy?
I did that with bino's and finally sprung for a decent one. Boy what a difference! My world changed and I want to use them all the time now!
So I began looking in the $200-$300 range but could not find any real comparision reviews of scopes in this price range.

Then I found your post. Awesome! Just what I had hoped I could find. You did a great job sbu!

So that bumped me up to your recommendation for the Konus 80 but I kept eyeing the next level up, the Alpen and Vortex.
Why not get a better one now so I can use it now? One that is good enough for all my possible uses (range, spotting animals out west, birds, people, etc.)?
Unfortunately, I could not find any of these scopes at any of the stores within my area. So hands on was not to be.

Previous research on the net turned up that the birdwatchers reviews of scopes raved about the Alpen as well for that price range. From 2009!
And then they have done more comparisons against new entries in that price range as recently as 2015 and they still recommend the Alpen.
I do not know if they compared it the Vortex Diamondback 80 or not but ....still their #1.

Couldn't find any comparisons of the Alpen to the Vortex except yours and you picked the Alpen. Would love to know more about how those two compared from you.
I thought the smaller, lighter Vortex Diamonback might be worth the additional cost with "a close second in image quality".
Being able to see them side by side as you did would have been great.

Then I found that Optics Planet has 15% off the Alpen with the hard case. Let's see, $468 on sale with free shipping.
(Interesting that the same scope with a soft case costs more than the hard case one.)
So, as you said, the value of the hard case and tripod brings the cost of the scope itself to under $400 I think.
So that was enough for me to buy the Alpen over the Vortex. Couldn't quite see myself springing for the higher end Vortex's as much as I would have liked to.

So far, I have really liked the Alpen but I do not have anything to compare it to.

Anyway, I really appreciate all the time and effort you put into finding your scope.
But more importantly, I want to really thank you for taking the time to share it with the rest of us.

WELL DONE!

 

[Markus]

Vapor trail is actually bullet trace, everyone calls it vapor trail, so its easier to just go with it. As a bullet moves through the air it causes a disturbance. That disturbance cause light to refract.

In my experience you need true HD glass to reliably see vapor trail. Every company calls a different level of glass quality HD (HD has become the "tactical" of the optics world). In the Vortex line your looking at 650 bucks to see it every single time you have the spotter set right.

How important is seeing it? Its the most important thing a spotter can do from a target shooter's standpoint. There are 2 ways of determining POI at long range. Splash (seeing the bullet hit the ground) and trail. Splash can easily lie to you if the shooter comes close, and the bullet lands behind the target depending on the angle you are viewing the target vs the bullets path. A 1 MIL right, could easily read as 1 MIL left with splash.

Trail never lies, you actually watch the trail go past the target, so you know exactly where it landed. You can actually call hit, mis, low, high, etc long before the bullet reachs the target because you see the arch, and know what the bullet is doing.

If I could have a spotting scope do only one thing, it would be read vapor trail.

After reading this thread multiple times, it was this post and talking to Alan in person that convinced me not to get cheap on my spotting scope. This was going to be my third and final spotting scope purchase. Now don't laugh but my first spotting scope actually came from Kmart and had a built in flimsy tripod. I used it for years and anyone who looked through it grimaced. Second was a slightly better and I can't remember the brand. It was a $10.00 garage sale find. Dropped it once and it was done. I am now the proud owner of a Razor HD 20-60x85 angled spotter thanks to Alan. After reading about Vapor Trail here and doing some research on the internet on the subject, it became obvious that if you want to do any distance shooting, seeing the trail would be of great benefit. So Alan's final sentence above is more prophetic than anything else said in this entire thread if you want to go beyond 200 yards. If you never plan on going beyond that range, this won't apply to you.

 

[tbhausen]

Konuspot 80 is $140 shipped for the next 9 hours... GOGOGO!

https://www.indianagunowners.com/fo...140-shipped-next-9-hours-wow.html#post6168712

 

[tbhausen]

It's back--get the Konuspot 80 for $145. This is an amazing deal!

Konus Spotting Scope Kit Deal Just $144.99

 

[tradertator]

I ordered one of these, should be here this weekend hopefully.

 

[Osprey]

Let me know if you have any issues. Their promo expired. However, I did checkout the site and they had some bad reviews. Similar to Optics Planet so I guess they're all the same. I was going to get the Redfield Rampage but I am settling for a set of good binoculars since I can do more with it than a spotting scope.

 

[Doublehelix]

Just as an FYI, I ordered a Konuspot 80, and the accompanying literature says it has a two-year warranty, rather than a one-year warranty. Not sure if this is a change from when you made your original post, but it appears to be at two years now.

 

[rvb]

In the Vortex line your looking at 650 bucks to see it every single time you have the spotter set right.

Alan, I see Diamondbacks at the $400-500 point, and the viper 20-60x80 at the $900 point, so are you saying the viper is the minimum in your opinion?

thanks for clarifying.

edit: just saw the 15-45 viper is $650... So is it better to have HD glass or go to 60x?
Will see some high power matches, and use to see hits to avoid walking, well, as far as possible...

-rvb

 

[Lee11b]

I read this spotting scope review from time to time.....finally getting ready to sink the money into seeing better at distance....sucks getting old!!!! Sbu, did such an awesome review, I hate to see this get buried deeper. So, once again, sbu, thanks for the review!!!

 

[sbu sailor]

I read this spotting scope review from time to time.....finally getting ready to sink the money into seeing better at distance....sucks getting old!!!! Sbu, did such an awesome review, I hate to see this get buried deeper. So, once again, sbu, thanks for the review!!!

My pleasure, glad you liked it!

 

[T-DOGG]

I also want to say thanks, it only took me a few years, but I finally upgraded my cheapo $60 Simmons and bought a Konus Spot80 with the smartphone adapter. My first trip out with it was a success and I am glad I upgraded. It was a night and day difference in quality. So again, thank you!