Talus,
Thanks for your thoughts on the astro binocular/tripod setups on your other thread. I'll relay my limited experience here in return. I've always used a premium bino, Zeiss or Leica, in combination with a spotting scope. My first scope was the old rubber armored zoom Redfield, which weighed about 700 pounds, was the size of a spare rifle and I think I even focused it clearly once. I went through a couple more as things advanced and finally settled on what I figured was the holy grail in the Leupold 12-40x60 Compact. This is an excellent little scope at 1-1/2 pounds, compact as the name implies and tough as, well as a Leupold. I'd still be using it today in fact if I hadn't made the mistake of spending time with a 77mm Leica Televid in Scotland last year. The friend that I hunt Red Deer with over there had just gotten it to replace one of the telescoping Swaros you describe because the Swaro had developed chronic leakitis. Man, I was blown away when I was able to sit in the Land Rover watching my friend stalk up on a deer all the way across a deep valley and could actually see the impact of his shot. I vowed I'd have one if they ever made a compact and sure enough I got a 62mm this fall and it's everything I'd hoped. I'd go as far as to say that it's perfect (for now <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />).
The thing I found in pricing is that you must be very careful with this scope that you're comparing apples to apples. There are armored, non-armored, straight, angled, regular and APO bodies and around five different lenses available. I'd be amazed if Cabelas was even close to Chris for the same package. I have the 62mm armored, non-APO with the 32x fixed eyepiece. I bought it from a local camera dealer I shoot clays with for a ridiculous price I won't mention, plus a great trade allowance on the Leupold. I found afterward that the same eyepieces fit the 62 and 77 and may add the 16-48x (20-60 in 77mm) later for target spotting at the range.
So there you go, all of that and no answer to your comparison question except that the new Leica is better than old Redfields, clearer than the Leupold (which I do like a lot) but not yet proven as durable, and is better both optically and build-wise than the Swaro telescope.
