Advice on spotting scopes

[AL45]

My Wife and I were in Yellowstone NP a few days ago looking for wildlife, when the lady next to said her husband had spotted a Grizzly and her cub with his spotting scope. I looked through my 12x50 Nikon Binoculars and located a big furry dot followed by a small furry dot in a meadow high in a mountain. The Lady's husband invited me to look through his scope and what I saw was a slighly larger furry dot followed by a slightly larger smaller furry dot. It probably was a couple of bears, but there was no way to confirm it in my opinion. My question is what would be a quality spotting scope for $500.00 or less, that would bring things closer? My Wife and I enjoy looking for wildlife, but unless a scope is going to make a dramatic difference, we'll stick to binoculars.

[Lucas McCain]

It all depends on the magnification power. 12 power will work out to 600 yards. But if you had 60 X magnification that really brings the object up close. The draw back there is you need a good tri- pod to hold it still.
I have a Leupold 12X60 with a with a strong tripod. I am very happy with it. Spent almost $900 for the set up and it is worth every bit of it.
Find them with you binos, set up the spotting scope and find the object at 12 power. After you have found them crank it up and have a good look.

[g.willikers]

Yeah, I've found that the minimum scope that is a significant improvement over binoculars is 30X.
60X would be awesome.
But like Lucas sez, the higher the power the harder it is to keep it steady.

[Slamfire]

I have many spotting scopes, Kowa, Bushnell, Minox, Pentax, Celestron. Modern spotting scopes are much better than stuff produced before the 1990's.

I have been using this one in Bullseye Pistol. Primary desired characteristics were low end magnification (16X) and small. This is a very compact scope, fits well in my shooting box. I never use the 30X in competition as it is hard to get the scope aligned on target while attached to the shooting box, and I don't need the magnification. I can see everything I need to see at 16X. But, the scope is clear at 30X.

I paid $50.00 more for mine than what they are going for now.

Minox Spotting Scope MD 50
16x to 30x
http://shop.opticsplanet.com/minox-s...FQUEaQodt7MDyg

I have been using this one on and off. Mainly because it is compact and I have a small tripod. I can put it and the tripod in a tool box and carry to the range. My bigger scopes are on bigger stands. It is brightest at 18X. Fifty five X, what you find at higher magnifications is that mirage, air movement blur the image. I have played with this scope, and others, comparing them against 600 yard and 1000 yard targets and I came to the conclusion the bigger the objective lense the better, and, higher magnification does not mean you can make details out better. I like a bright scope and I like long eye relief.

This one costs less than I paid for mine, seems my timing is always bad.

Celestron Ultima 65 2.6"/65mm Spotting Scope Kit


18-55x Zoom Eyepiece

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ..._Spotting.html

[HiBC]

I bought a used Kowa 77 mm Flourite lense spotting scope years ago.I got a deal.
Amazing scope.
I can count on seeing .223 holes in an orange on white target at 300 yds nearly always.Under just the right conditions,I haveseen .30 cal holes in the black at 500 yds.,but that's a rare day.Its incredible for spotting and watching a deer two ridges away.
BUT,here are some important things to consider.
1) An eyepiece for that scope will about use up your $500 budget
2)I live at about 5000 feet in a dry climate. A big "optical factor" is the air between you and your object. Humidity,mirage,dust,pollen, smoke,haze and even altitude(maybe) will make a difference.
3) Optical quality and objective lens size make a difference.There are tradeoffs. A 60 mm lense won't "see" as well as a 82 mm lens,all else equal.
4) More magnification only goes so far.With my 77mm lense,about 45X is about as much as I get benefit from. That's only about a 1.5 mm exit pupil.
I narrow my field of view going to 60X,and the image is bigger,but I don't get better resolution.
5) Stability is everything!. If your scope is moving,via wind or whatever,at least my eye cannot see diddly.
I sometimes use a bunny ear benchrest bag. That's steady. Just don't mix sand with your scope.A really good tripod is a good investment.

Being realistic? If you have $500 to spend,unless you get a deal on something used, between the scope body,eyepiece,and tripod....I think I'd focus on the best binocularsI could find.

If you go with a compact spotting scope...50 or 60 mm,understand how exit pupils and magnification are related.In really good light,about a 2mm exit pupil matches your eye's exit pupil. You won't see much advantage in more than 30X for a 60mm lens,or 25X for a 50MM lens,and 20X will be better on a cloudy day.
A 20 to 60 zoom is not going to be much benefit on a 60 mm scope.
Without putting anything else down,I'm a KOWA fan.No personal experience,but I suspect Vortec may have merit.
IF you wear glasses,do consider LER eyepieces,and eye relief.Look for around 20mm eye relief,

[DPI7800]

Unless you are in the got to have it now club I would say take the 500 put it in a separate account from your normal everyday use account and save up. You won't be sorry for spending more.

Some years ago that is exactly what I did and eventually I had the cash to get a Swarovski 20-60 X 80, sure it took awhile but man was it worth it. Now I not saying you should get a Swarovski but there are some other mid-range spotters out there for 1000-1500.

[MislMan]

I would check on some of the bird watching sites and look comments there. I'm pretty sure they have options we rifle shooters haven't heard of or thought about.

[ocharry]

creedmore sports has their spoters on sale every once in a while,,,i think i just saw it a couple weeks back,,,they have the good stuff at good prices when its on sale,,,and fathers day is just around the corner so they might have them soon,,,,check them out

ocharry

[Capt. Charlie]

Celestron makes a number of spotting scopes that will do the job, but I recommend that you go with one that uses Maksutov-Cassegrain optics.

Most spotting scopes are refractors. That is, light is transmitted in a straight line from the object of interest to the eye, through a series of lenses. Same thing with rifle scopes.

Those that use Maksutov-Cassegrain optics are reflectors that use concave ground mirrors to magnify an image. Until recently, good reflectors were expensive, but the Maksutov-Cassegrain system, along with computer controlled machinery to grind the mirrors, brought the quality up and the prices way down.

The advantages of these scopes includes small size, incredible power and resolution, and VERY bright optics. No standard spotting scope can hold a candle to them. They can easily spot .22 caliber holes at 300-400 yards, even in low light.

The down side is that they are generally more fragile and they aren't (to my knowledge) nitrogen filled and sealed, so they're more prone to fogging.

I have a Meade ETX series telescope that uses the Maksutov-Cassegrain system, that cost me roughly a thousand bucks. The same quality and power telescope would have cost around $10,000. thirty years ago.

Even with the disadvantages, I don't think you'll regret going with a Celestron spotting scope that uses the Maksutov-Cassegrain system.
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[ShootistPRS]

I will second the Celestron spotting scopes. You can get a low price with superior optics. These folks make telescopes for looking at the stars and they know what they are doing.

[std7mag]

Where were you guys when i asked about Celestron???

[Unclenick]

Ever since I looked through a pair of Olympus binoculars with optical stabilization a number of years back, I have wanted that to appear in a spotting scope, and it has. Vibration is the enemy of high power spotting and Nikon has a unit. But in your price range, if you are willing to settle for less brightness and about 20X magnification, SigSauer markets a hand-held one called the Oscar3.

[darkgael]

I have been using image stabilized binoculars for years. I have three sets. The first set that I acquired is out of your budget (unless you want to take the advice to save up). The set is a Fujinon Techno-Stabi 14X40s (about $1K). Great optics and were designed for use on boats so they will stabilize an image through a great range of vibration.
The other two sets are Canon IS Binos - 8X25 and 10X30 - they are lighter than the Fujinons with superb optics but a narrower range of stabilization. They work perfectly well under every situation that I have tried...nature walks, astronomy, at the range (performance like larger binos). You press the button and vibration stops. Affordable at $299/$499.