Christmas Day, opened the box, enclosed a Leupold Wind River 18-45 spotting scope, asthetics of fit and finish=nice,yea I'm excited.
Test it out....at 20X the Edleman taget text is clear.....any power higher and it is terrible. Cost of scope from D&R was $217.00.
I'll be returning the scope tomorrow. To bad I had to pay shipping just to test it out.
Wish I could afford a nice scope.
Anyway, Merry christmas,
Don
dcarkhuff-at-hotmail.com.47120.0
Returning a spotting scope
Moderators: rexifelis, pilkguns
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pdeal
Re: Returning a spotting scope
Don: Been there. It is really discouraging that stuff like that is so hit and miss-mostly miss. If you can live with a straight scope you might have a look on ebay. I have seen older bushnell spacemsters go for under $100 commonly. These have always had excellent reputations. I have a 30 year old b&l and to get something with comparable clarity that is new you have to pay over $500.
pdeal-at-mylanlabs.com.47126.47120
pdeal-at-mylanlabs.com.47126.47120
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Mark.
Re: Returning a spotting scope
Don,
I'll make a recommendation here that I hope will help. I had a chance to look through a bunch of spotting scopes side-by-side at our local optics shop. I was looking for a 60mm, 15-45x, 45degree eyepiece scope. At the shop I had a chance to look at Bushnell (no 45deg eyepiece, but I looked through them anyhow), Skywatcher, Nikon, Meade, Swarovski and one other high-end brand (can't remember the name). Since the store is in town, I couldn't really duplicate range conditions. So instead I decided to look out through the store window, across the road into an adjacent parking lot. My "target" was the raised lettering on a car tire. The results were astounding.
Without doubt, the best glass for the money was the Nikon Sky and Earth scope. In Canadian $$ it costs about $525, but can be had for something on the order of $300 in the US. That's a bit more money than the Leupold you were looking at, but believe me, it's worth it. My measure of quality was as follows. The tire I was looking at in the parking lot was a performance tire with an arrow marking the direction of rotation. With some scopes I could make out the arrow. With another scope I could see there was printing above the arrow. With the Nikon I could clearly read the word "Rotation" written above the arrow. I looked at scopes costing the same amount, and ones that cost more than twice as much, and none of them provided the same optical clarity. Of the scopes I looked through that day, the only thing that offered the same optical quality was a European scope costing almost three times as much.
My shooting buddy bought this Nikon model on my recommendation (he trusted me, I don't know why!). He shoots AP at home and at the range with us, and is very, very pleased with the glass. At 10m one can turn the magnification all the way up and with only minor focus adjustments one can see not only the pellet holes in the black, but one can actually see the individual paper fibres without difficulty. I haven't had a chance to try it at 50m, but my parking lot experience assures me it'll be awesome; I'm sure .22 cal holes are no problem at all.
Unfortunately, I don't have the $$ to buy the Nikon, so have settled on something that cost less and offers commensurate performance. Now I drool over my buddy's scope. I'm sorry to hear of your bad experience, but hope you may be able to benefit from the results of my testing. There is good glass out there, and you don't need to spend a grand to get it. Happy glassing!
Mark.
PS: I don't work for Nikon or any other glass maker, and just to prove it, my hunting rifles wear Tasco, Bausch & Lomb and Simmons scopes! No brand loyalty - I just buy the best bang for the buck for any particular application.
.47148.47120
I'll make a recommendation here that I hope will help. I had a chance to look through a bunch of spotting scopes side-by-side at our local optics shop. I was looking for a 60mm, 15-45x, 45degree eyepiece scope. At the shop I had a chance to look at Bushnell (no 45deg eyepiece, but I looked through them anyhow), Skywatcher, Nikon, Meade, Swarovski and one other high-end brand (can't remember the name). Since the store is in town, I couldn't really duplicate range conditions. So instead I decided to look out through the store window, across the road into an adjacent parking lot. My "target" was the raised lettering on a car tire. The results were astounding.
Without doubt, the best glass for the money was the Nikon Sky and Earth scope. In Canadian $$ it costs about $525, but can be had for something on the order of $300 in the US. That's a bit more money than the Leupold you were looking at, but believe me, it's worth it. My measure of quality was as follows. The tire I was looking at in the parking lot was a performance tire with an arrow marking the direction of rotation. With some scopes I could make out the arrow. With another scope I could see there was printing above the arrow. With the Nikon I could clearly read the word "Rotation" written above the arrow. I looked at scopes costing the same amount, and ones that cost more than twice as much, and none of them provided the same optical clarity. Of the scopes I looked through that day, the only thing that offered the same optical quality was a European scope costing almost three times as much.
My shooting buddy bought this Nikon model on my recommendation (he trusted me, I don't know why!). He shoots AP at home and at the range with us, and is very, very pleased with the glass. At 10m one can turn the magnification all the way up and with only minor focus adjustments one can see not only the pellet holes in the black, but one can actually see the individual paper fibres without difficulty. I haven't had a chance to try it at 50m, but my parking lot experience assures me it'll be awesome; I'm sure .22 cal holes are no problem at all.
Unfortunately, I don't have the $$ to buy the Nikon, so have settled on something that cost less and offers commensurate performance. Now I drool over my buddy's scope. I'm sorry to hear of your bad experience, but hope you may be able to benefit from the results of my testing. There is good glass out there, and you don't need to spend a grand to get it. Happy glassing!
Mark.
PS: I don't work for Nikon or any other glass maker, and just to prove it, my hunting rifles wear Tasco, Bausch & Lomb and Simmons scopes! No brand loyalty - I just buy the best bang for the buck for any particular application.
.47148.47120
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Charles
I'll second the Nikon...
Though I would get it with the fixed 20x objective if possible - it has better eye relief and costs less. I have used both eyepieces and ended up selling the zoom one.
Though if I was shooting 25 yards or less I would get a used US Army M17 elbow scope with about 8x of mag and over 50mm of eye relief. Great for those wearing glasses. They show up on ebay pretty regularly and sell for $50 or less usually. They are built like a tank (or more exactly, a piece of artiliary).
Charles
crrmeyer-at-yahoo.com.47150.47148
Though if I was shooting 25 yards or less I would get a used US Army M17 elbow scope with about 8x of mag and over 50mm of eye relief. Great for those wearing glasses. They show up on ebay pretty regularly and sell for $50 or less usually. They are built like a tank (or more exactly, a piece of artiliary).
Charles
crrmeyer-at-yahoo.com.47150.47148