Spotting Scopes

[arthury]

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I know that the Leica scopes are excellent but in terms of price, they are probably the highest I have seen when placed next to a comparable Zeiss, Nikon and Swarovski.

 

Any idea how they are ranked? Have you used them yourself? What are your experiences?

 

I am looking more towards the ones with 85mm objective lens diameter. My main usage is to observe wolves/bears that are somewhere around 1000-1500 ft or further away.

 

 

--

Arthur

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[arthury]

No one used/bought a Leica spotting scope in this forum?

[rcoles]

Check out:

Better View Desired

and

All About Birds : Spotting Scope Review

for reviews of scopes.

 

Hope this helps

Bob

[michali]

Hi Arthur- I've got a 77mm Leica Apo Televid straight scope with the 20mm - 60mm zoom lens. I bought this almost 18 years ago. It is incredibly bright and sharp, at the time I compared it to both the Swarovski and Zeiss scopes and found it to be superior in terms of image quality. The build is superb, it is waterproof, it's also larger than the others.

 

I use mine for wildlife & birding so I opted for the straight through rather than the angled version. I find this gives you more flexibility over the angled vers. and in my / your application more maneuverability in panning when viewing something.

 

The scope is mounted on a heavy duty Manfrotto tripod with the heavyweight pistol grip, not cheap but worth every penny. In my view this is the only way to go, don't take any shortcuts with this. I've seen several expensive scopes mounted on cheap / flimsy tripods with disastrous results.

 

I hope this helps.

Best

[Guest Joachim_I]

I am in the market for a spotting scope too. I compared the current range of 80-85mm scopes from Zeiss, Leica and Swarovski. I ruled out the new Nikons because of weight. It is very important that you compare the models yourself. It depends on your eyes if you feel comfortable with a spotting scope or not. Testing a spotting scope yourself is much more important than testing a camera yourself! There are birding festivals in many countries which the optics companies use to display their products. These festivals make it very convenient to compare spotting scopes in a natural environment.

 

Just some observations from my experience: I like the new zoom eyepieces with a wide field of view offered by Leica and Swarovski. These offer a 25-50x magnification and are therefore more restricted than the traditional 20-60x zoom eyepieces offered by many companies. However, the increase in the field of view is very noticable. If you can live with a maximum 50x magnification, you should have a look at these two spotting scopes. My wife and I easily get blackouts (kidney bean effects) with the Swarovski eyepiece. Others don't complain about this. We don't get this effect with the Leica. However, I prefer the wide focus ring of the Swarovski over Leica's solution.

 

At this moment, I am waiting for the new Zeiss Diascope spotting scope which comes with a zoom eyepiece with a very large magnifcation range: 20-75x! But it does not offer the wide field of view of the 25-50x eyepieces. Nevertheless, I look forward to this spotting scope because I mostly observe sea birds at large distances and sometimes would like to have an extra 25% of magnification (50% compared to the new 25-50x eyepieces). Given the distance you mentioned, the new Zeiss could be interesting for you as well. I guess Leica will respond to the new Zeiss eyepiece by offering a fixed magnification eyepiece with 75x magnification. But that's just a guess.

 

There is also a 88mm spotting scope from Kowa which gets very enthusiastic reviews. I did not have a chance to look through one of these. But I certainly will before I decide.

 

Joachim

[arthury]

Check out:

Better View Desired

and

All About Birds : Spotting Scope Review

for reviews of scopes.

 

Hope this helps

Bob

 

Thanks, Bob.

Yea, I read the 2nd link some time ago. I wished there are more current reviews.

[arthury]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

Hi Arthur- I've got a 77mm Leica Apo Televid straight scope with the 20mm - 60mm zoom lens. I bought this almost 18 years ago. It is incredibly bright and sharp, at the time I compared it to both the Swarovski and Zeiss scopes and found it to be superior in terms of image quality. The build is superb, it is waterproof, it's also larger than the others.

 

I use mine for wildlife & birding so I opted for the straight through rather than the angled version. I find this gives you more flexibility over the angled vers. and in my / your application more maneuverability in panning when viewing something.

 

The scope is mounted on a heavy duty Manfrotto tripod with the heavyweight pistol grip, not cheap but worth every penny. In my view this is the only way to go, don't take any shortcuts with this. I've seen several expensive scopes mounted on cheap / flimsy tripods with disastrous results.

 

I hope this helps.

Best

 

Mike,

Good point about your recommendation for straight vs angled. I have never owned a high powered spotting scope so the knowledge I have are all theoretical and from reading what others have experienced.

Cheers,

Arthur

[arthury]

I am in the market for a spotting scope too. I compared the current range of 80-85mm scopes from Zeiss, Leica and Swarovski. I ruled out the new Nikons because of weight. It is very important that you compare the models yourself. It depends on your eyes if you feel comfortable with a spotting scope or not. Testing a spotting scope yourself is much more important than testing a camera yourself! There are birding festivals in many countries which the optics companies use to display their products. These festivals make it very convenient to compare spotting scopes in a natural environment.

 

Just some observations from my experience: I like the new zoom eyepieces with a wide field of view offered by Leica and Swarovski. These offer a 25-50x magnification and are therefore more restricted than the traditional 20-60x zoom eyepieces offered by many companies. However, the increase in the field of view is very noticable. If you can live with a maximum 50x magnification, you should have a look at these two spotting scopes. My wife and I easily get blackouts (kidney bean effects) with the Swarovski eyepiece. Others don't complain about this. We don't get this effect with the Leica. However, I prefer the wide focus ring of the Swarovski over Leica's solution.

 

At this moment, I am waiting for the new Zeiss Diascope spotting scope which comes with a zoom eyepiece with a very large magnifcation range: 20-75x! But it does not offer the wide field of view of the 25-50x eyepieces. Nevertheless, I look forward to this spotting scope because I mostly observe sea birds at large distances and sometimes would like to have an extra 25% of magnification (50% compared to the new 25-50x eyepieces). Given the distance you mentioned, the new Zeiss could be interesting for you as well. I guess Leica will respond to the new Zeiss eyepiece by offering a fixed magnification eyepiece with 75x magnification. But that's just a guess.

 

There is also a 88mm spotting scope from Kowa which gets very enthusiastic reviews. I did not have a chance to look through one of these. But I certainly will before I decide.

 

Joachim

 

Thank you, Joachim.

 

Yes, the wideness of the eye-piece is a good thing to take into consideration. Good reminder.

 

I am also quite attracted to the latest Zeiss product offering as well. I have not looked into the 75x magnification on the latest eye-piece yet. Thanks for highlighting it.

 

I will keep your recommendations in mind.

 

Cheers,

Arthur

[stealthman_1]

This afternoon I bought the Televid-82, 25-50X in Walnut Creek. I've got a (old, new stock) Swarovski 65 ATS that I bought in Cody and was very happy with in Yellowstone last month. Last week I went to Sportsman's Warehouse and we took a Swarovski 65 ATM and an 80 HD outside for a look. The 80 HD (20-60X) is definitely an improvement for purple fringing, I couldn't tell the difference for heat shimmers, but the shimmers were pretty significant (100 degree day, rooftops). I'll believe them that in a game viewing situation in modest temperatures there is an improvement. Inside, looking into a darkened room (30 yards) at the end of the store where they keep their decoy boxes, the 80 was just slightly better than the 65 for reading SKU # off UPC symbols. All in all I thought the 80 HD a nice scope with subtle improvements over the 65.

On my way home today, I stopped at a wetland viewing area just before you cross the Benicia bridge and plopped my Swarovski and the Leica on the bean bag and went to work. The Leica just mops the floor with the Swarovski, it's not a subtle improvement, it's massive. No purple fringing and that field of view is just magnificent. 25x vs 20x I see 10%+ more left to right in the Leica than the Swaro, it seems like the whole view is 50% larger, the contrast is strikingly better, since I shoot off a bean bag, I like the Leica (Zeiss method as well) focus better as rotating the scope on the bean bag doesn't move the focus ring. The zoom is smoother on the Leica...and did I mention that field of view, man it's magnificent, the 65 is like looking though a Bic pen with the ink cartridge removed. Now I haven't looked through the Swarovski 25-50X, but I hear a lot of tales of kidney bean blackouts and that is not an issue at all on the Leica. It's a bit heavy compared to the Green Scopes, but I'm ecstatic so far with the black brute! Oh and for digiscoping, it looks promising, that wide FOV is going to make things interesting. So far very impressed with hand held iPhone and Sony PS shots, especially the Sony. Can't get focus quite dead on with the M9 yet, but I'm working on it...

[stealthman_1]

I watched four turkeys bed down in the trees tonight, long after the sunlight had departed. 460 yards out, the contrast of the Leica really makes a difference. Of course at 2x the price is should be better, but it's a lot better and we all are quite versed in the laws of diminishing returns... At 50x, I have no feeling that this is an 'emergency' magnification, it's still quite pretty at 50x. I've got it sitting on the Berlebach right now and it's really at home there. I'll take it into Sportsman's Warehouse next week to compare it side by side with the S-80HD. I'm fairly confident in the result against the 20-60x...maybe they'll have a 25-50x eyepiece...that's what I really want to see.

 

Now I'm afraid I'll end up with some Leica Ultravids as well. My Pentax 8X25 looked pretty mushy tonight after the scope war! I've checked out the 10x25s, I know I like them....

 

I don't like the body rotation which is very important on an angled scope. It's sticky or so loose it's just sloppy. The body tapers through the ring, I don't think this is a good design. The Swarovski rotates like butter.

 

The M9 needs distance. I've got the 50 pre-ASPH lux on it and it needs to be back away from the eyepiece. Now I wish the M9 had live view! Oh it PAINS me to say that..

[stealthman_1]

Just a little follow up. I took my scope down to Sportsman's Warehouse this weekend and we mounted it up side by side with the Swarovski ATM 80HD. Unfortunately we did not take them outside and it's tough to evaluate indoors with no more than 60 yards of looking distance. What you can tell is this. The Swarovski is a masterpiece of ergo design, it's sweeping lines, smoothness in both focus operation and swiveling the scope, really are design jewels...Did Apple design this thing?

I've read complaints about the alignment aid on the Leica (open gun sight like notches on the hood) and that they are useless on an angled scope and the Swarovski peep sight is better. I think in the end I'll like the Leica better. With practice, I think I'll perfect its use and it will be useable in all scope positions. WIth the Swaro, I didn't get very good with it in a weeks worth of continuous use and with the scope laid over to the right, the peep is on the bottom and really useless. One definite advantage of the Leica in design is the scope foot, which is of the Monfrotto design, so if you have a Monfrotto tripod and head (other than the geared head), no plate is necessary. While I'd prefer an Arca-Swiss type, I appreciate the attempt to allow some to use the scope without a plate.

Unfortunately no Swarovski 25-50x eyepieces so my comparison is to the 20-60X and again, you are blown away by how nice the WA eyepiece is. I'm sure the Swarovski is equally impressive in its FOV, but you can't evaluate what they don't have in stock. Indoors, contrast and fringing are tough to evaluate and reading SKU numbers off UPC symbols on decoy boxes in a darkened cubby 57 yards away (how do I know 57 yards you ask...more later) seemed a dead heat. What I did notice was that the Swarovski didn't hold focus to the edges. I pulled up a backpack with a huge orange price sign in the middle of it. Focusing on the black lettering of the sign, I noticed that the top of the backpack, which had the backpack logo was slightly OOF (it was at the top of the frame). If you adjusted focus just slightly you could pull the logo and the pack stitching into focus, tack sharp, but the black lettering of the sign would then be OOF. The Leica has no such issue at all. Pin-prick sharp from center to edge.

Over all, I don't think you could go wrong with either scope (especially if you could get the 25-50X eyepiece for the green one), but I think I'll be quite happy I bought the Leica, I like the dual focus knobs (though Swarovski's implementation of the barrel focus ring is very, very good) and I like the 3 position click stops of the eye cup vs the continuous twist.

So the other reason I went was I wanted to upgrade my Pentax 8X25 binos. Had looked before at the 10x25 Ultravids and wanted to compare my Pentax to the Leicas and the Swarovskis. I walked out with a pair of 10X42 Geovids... Man having an integrated rangefinder is going to be cool come elk hunting time! And oh man are they beautiful to look through!

[stealthman_1]

I do realize I'm talking to myself at this point... but here are some shots from this weekend. I bought a Vortex universal digiscope adapter for 65 bucks. All shot with a Canon S90.

Cheerios at 11 yards, 1800mm (approximate, haven't created an excel spreadsheet to do exact conversions yet).

 

Cheerios at 11 yards, 5250mm (exactish, full zoom scope and camera), 1/20th second, there is some motion blur (hardwood floor above crawlspace).

 

Indian Paintbrush at 14 yards, 4400mm, moving in breeze as indicated by motion blur. 100% crop.

 

Fishing, 780 yards, 1100mm.

[stealthman_1]

I just found this one from the last night.

5250mm, 100% crop, 1/10th second.