What spotting scope are you using?

[showgun]

I am looking at spotting scopes as I need to upgrade. I have a cheap simmons, my 6.5-20x50 vortex viper works better! What are you long rangers using? I am looking at a konus 20-60x100 as an affordable upgrade but would rather spend the money once if you know what I mean!

[Cycler]

Any 20-60x100mm Spotting scope should be an ultra premium optic and if this one is "reasonably priced" something has to be compromised. Optics are one product where you, at best, get what you pay for. Sure, there are absurdly pricey scopes where you are paying a lot for the maker's name but at least you are assured of their quality. I'd stick with Leupold, Bushnell's higher line, Burris or Nikon in the mid-priced product. If cost is no object, Zeiss, Swarovski and the other European scopes are extremely good but bring a lot of money.

Mine is a older Leupold 30x60mm fixed power and it is extremely good and reasonable but not cheap when I got it in 1993.

[chj3]

I took a different approach than most (but I am not a serious long-range shooter).

After using a few less expensive spotting scopes, which were disappointing, I bought an Orion Short Tube 80 (general purpose scope, not waterproof). Much sharper than comparably priced units sold as dedicated spotting scopes. Also have a Meade ETX-90mm, which is nice for some uses, but tend to use the lower magnification (and wider field of view) Orion more. Standard 1.25" eyepieces can be swapped between the two scopes. Have an older Bushnell 20x I use at the 100 yd public range.

[Balljoint]

Myself using an antique Swift spotting scope about 30 years old works fine for me

[blom]

Vortex has a nice line of spotting scopes, the more up spend the more you get. I'm happy with mine but don't remmember the model # off hand.

[range rat]

If you DON'T want to upgrade after your next purchase, Go with a Kowa 20-60X???

[showgun]

If you DON'T want to upgrade after your next purchase, Go with a Kowa 20-60X???

Funny you said that, A good friend of mine suggested the Kowa.... I suggested that we trade my simmons for his Kowa because he uses it for smallbore!

[barrel-nut]

I have the Konus 20-60 100mm scope. Bought it about 2 mo. ago, used it a couple times at the range. Overall, a good scope for the money, but as others have cautioned, in optics at least, you do get what you pay for. I shoot to 600 yds. w/ .308, and was hoping to be able to see bullet holes, but I have not yet been able to see them in plain paper. With Caldwell Orange Peel targets, under ideal conditions (no mirage) I can barely find them at 600, but bear in mind these leave a chartreuse hole about the size of a nickel on a black background. With a 12" steel plate painted white, I can clearly see bullet splashes with it.
Another thing to bear in mind is that this is one seriously large and heavy, big honkin' piece of glass. A sturdy tripod is absolutely necessary (and not included). Even with a tripod, the profile of this thing is so large that it catches breezes and shakes continuously, making focusing extremely challenging. I have worked around this by cranking down on the tripod until the objective lens comes to rest on the shooting bench, but this is not the way I would prefer to have to use this thing. By the way, that 100mm lens out front makes this scope very unbalanced, with a pronounced weight-forward bias, to the point that I would not feel good about leaving it on the tripod without some other means of support or weighting it down with a sandbag on the center post of the tripod. Again, this is where cranking it down onto the surface of the bench helps a lot. Konus also makes a 20-60X 60, and this is the one I wish I had bought, as for my usage of it (at the range only), I don't think I would have lost much if anything except maybe a tiny bit of light gathering, which as a practical matter doesn't matter for me at the range.
Bottom line, a huge improvement over my 10-yr old $60 bushnell, but still just a $300 scope, with $300 performance. Also, in fairness, I have never used any $1000 glass, so I can't fairly compare it to scopes in that league, but be careful about putting too much faith in all those reviews that claim this is equivalent to those types of scopes. To put it this way, if I had paid $1000 for this scope, it would have been returned. For the price I paid, I'm happy.
Also, the soft case included with it is basically a joke- it's so small that you have to jam the scope in there to be able to zip it, and the zipper on mine is already beginning to unravel. A hard plastic case could not have cost them very much more to produce, and would have been a very nice improvement.

[Cover Dog]

One of my goals at this years SHOT Show was to find out what spotter I needed to have. 3 of the 29.9 miles I walked at the Shot Show must have been going back and forth between spotting scope makers. Leica is what I would have liked to end up with but couldn't pull the trigger on that price tag. Kowa is great and so was the Zeiss, about 800-1200 less then the Leica. I was not impressed w/the Swarovski. I looked at Vortex and thought the new model Viper 20-60x80 was very good for the money and thought that is the way I would go when they hit the market.

I then went to the big show in Harrisburg several weeks ago and was ready to buy. Euro Optics made me a great deal on a Leica or a Zeiss but once again just couldn't justify that much. I then came across a Vortex dealer who made me a deal I couldn't refuse. I came home with a Vortex Razor 20-60x85. I have not gone afield with it yet but the limited use here at home has been very impressive. And I have more then enough money left over to pay all expenses for a P-Dog hunt this summer.

Anyone with a Razor might like to jump in here and give your opinions since I haven't had mine long enough to give it a valid test. Every review I have read since I bought mine has been great. Most rate it a "best buy". Hope I don't regret not getting something else.

[showgun]

Barrel nut, Thanks for the reply.

I am very happy with my vortex scopes thus far and to be honest I have the vortex bug. Just looked at their new line up and they have a viper zero stop for $500ish... Just want to get some feedback on other products.

Im raising three girls (7,3,9mos) so price counts!

[barrel-nut]

Understand completely about price counting, and raising kids (3 boys, 5, 9, 12)! Have read lots of good reviews of various Vortex products on here.... Didn't mean to scare ya off of the Konus, by the way!

[barrel-nut]

Also have used a friend's Redfield Rampage 20-60, and was very impressed. Probably equal to the Konus, but significantly cheaper, and smaller.

[showgun]

b-nut, I'll trade you a girl for a boy, I need an extra set of hands around here!

[Cover Dog]

showgun....you have to be a paid member to do any trading on this site.

[showgun]

showgun....you have to be a paid member to do any trading on this site.

I guess its time to cough up 12 bucks!

[Rick_W]

showgun....you have to be a paid member to do any trading on this site.

I guess its time to cough up 12 bucks!

Well, the mods may make an exception if you're "ONLY" trading children. :D

I have a Pentax PF 80. Great glass but big & heavy. A super-duty tripod is a necessity for the big pieces of glass.