Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Spotting scope under $90??

Well...you only gotta fool yourself and it sounds like you had great fortune there.

Congratulations................

What can you see on a mule deer at 400 yards with a spotter that a decent pair of binocs didn't already show you ?

<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

Thanks Chaz. This info is useful in my opinion regardless of whether or not I would buy one of the listed scopes.
BS and A ... whatever. No news here.
-P

Chaz - thanks for the evaluation. Nothing wrong with some objective information; all too rare on the internet forums. I agree with the general consensus that higher quality in optics is money well spent, but I also believe that there is often a price point where quality is decent and any significant increase in performance costs an exponential amount more.

I've got the Burris Landmark, thrown in when I bought a Fullfield II scope. Actually, the resolution is pretty good.

So, if you're interested in a cheap spotter, look at that one.

i did; it was the first of the series i evaluated (burris 20x50).

China optic quality....... Dont knock it, and i bet it will be getting much better for the money. I had a pair of Nikon 10x40 roof prisms that were about 5 years old. Japan glass, and they were pretty good. I knocked them out of alignment and cracked a prism. I sent it back to the warrenty service place and got a brand new pair of Nikon Monarchs as a replacement. The New pair are made in China, and guess what, the optics are better than the Jap optics were.
China, while being known for producing tons of cheap junk, is capable of high quality items. The key is management from a high end company sent to china to oversee production.
China is and will become a big player in optics, mark my word for it. We all know that the first company to come close to matching optic quality of Euro glass at a fraction of the price will sell a boat-load of them.
China has come a long way in quality with many items. Take a look at the shoes you are wearing, you complaining about them? probably not. Its all in the management, not the location.

I think Cabela's has the Burris compact on sale for around $80, or $100 with the little tripod.

Also back to the original question:

I came across an inexpensive lightweight spotter from Alpen (the Calif. remnant of Bausch & Lomb). Well made, waterproof, decent optics (Hakko glass I believe). Also had good eye relief, which can be a problem with some cheap spotters. I have an older version of their 18-36x60. They have a few models at your price limit. Just another option to consider. Mine works well, and has been tested on some rough hunts.

When I bought mine in Idaho, I spent about an hour in a store parking lot, looking at distant hillsides, tree leaves, etc. I had the Alpen set up on a tripod side-by-side with an $1800 Swarovski ATS 65. I'm an unrepentent optics snob (Nightforce, Swarovski, Zeiss), and was there to buy the Swaro. With my eyes, that day, I couldn't see anywhere near enough of a difference in resolution, distortion, color, etc to choose the Swaro. In fact, I couldn't detect a difference at all. The guy I hunted with knew the guys at the store, they were hunters, and had compared the Alpens against the Swaro's & others extensively while mountain glassing, etc and had come to the same conclusion.

My eval was on a sunny day, so I wondered how the Alpen would compare in low light. If anyone has more good/bad info or experience on the Alpens I'd like to hear it. I'd be tickled to be talked back into a Swarovski, or Nikon or Leica or Zeiss spotter. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

http://www.alpenoutdoor.com/products/alpen_spotting_scopes.shtml