Anotherpyr
Ultimate Member
What options are there for decent spotting scopes with enough eye relief that I don't have to take off my glasses to use them? The cheap ones at the Ho Co show this weekend seemed to have 0 relief.
Spotting scopes and eye relief
- Thread starter Anotherpyr
- Start date
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- Feb 4, 2013
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The answer, unfortunately, is to spend more money.
I have a Vortex Nomad (which I need to get around to advertising in the Classifieds), which is a nice scope, but the eye relief is limited. We got a Vortex Razor (great deal used) and the eye relief is UNREAL. And they have a Wide Angle eyepiece that is even MORE eye relief.
You just have to try them out and see. Cabela's in DE carries a number of moderate to higher end spotting scopes.
I have a Vortex Nomad (which I need to get around to advertising in the Classifieds), which is a nice scope, but the eye relief is limited. We got a Vortex Razor (great deal used) and the eye relief is UNREAL. And they have a Wide Angle eyepiece that is even MORE eye relief.
You just have to try them out and see. Cabela's in DE carries a number of moderate to higher end spotting scopes.
photoracer
Competition Shooter
To be honest the scope with the longest eye relief is the Pentax PF80. And with its correct zoom eyepiece it lists for something like $1200(sells for $1050). It uses the Pentax telescope eyepieces (actually any standard 1.25" astro eyepiece will work but will not neccessarily have long eye relief as that is a function of the eyepiece design alone). Pentax also makes a smaller cheaper PF65 that also uses the astro eyepieces and it has a cheaper line of eyepieces available that still have long eye relief.
If you want a high end scope but don't want to pay the price for a European scope then the Pentax PF80 is the one to get. Same performance as a Swarovski or Zeiss at about 1/2 the price (plenty of online reviews since it has been out awhile). One of the top sites for spotting scope testing changed out their reference scope, a Leica, for the Pentax after testing it (about 10 years ago or so). Because it takes astro eyepieces some prefer the Televue 8-24mm zoom over the Pentax 8-24mm zoom (20-60x) because it has a little more eye relief (Pentax zoom has 18-22mm of it).
If you want a high end scope but don't want to pay the price for a European scope then the Pentax PF80 is the one to get. Same performance as a Swarovski or Zeiss at about 1/2 the price (plenty of online reviews since it has been out awhile). One of the top sites for spotting scope testing changed out their reference scope, a Leica, for the Pentax after testing it (about 10 years ago or so). Because it takes astro eyepieces some prefer the Televue 8-24mm zoom over the Pentax 8-24mm zoom (20-60x) because it has a little more eye relief (Pentax zoom has 18-22mm of it).
echo6mike
Ultimate Member
A decent, but not top-end $1000+ spotting scope with decent eye relief (I'm blind without my glasses) is on my shopping list for this year. What are some options for the under $500 crowd? I won't be able to shoot often past 100 yards (although I do intend to get at least a few trips to someplace where I can do a modified KD course), so extremely high power isn't a big thing.
Decent resolution for, say, a .22 at 50/100 yards, and an eyepiece I can see with glasses on, without breaking the bank. In something a little better than NCStar or the like, ya know. Those are what I'll be looking for.
Where to start?
Decent resolution for, say, a .22 at 50/100 yards, and an eyepiece I can see with glasses on, without breaking the bank. In something a little better than NCStar or the like, ya know. Those are what I'll be looking for.
Where to start?
