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I'm looking for recomendations for spotting scopes in the $1000 dollar range, and could spend a little more if I need to. Has anyone had experiance with the Cabela's Euro 75mm made by Meopta? - they have a couple left on clearence for $899.
Thanks!
Marty

Leupold 12-40x60. Great spotting scope with the best eye relief I have found.

Last time I asked hem, Cabela's will take anything you buy from them back and refund your money if you aren't happy.
So, what I'd do is buy both on your credit card and try them out. Keep the one you are happiest with.
In general, the bigger the objective, the sharper the image at the higher magnifications. But, if you want to watch stuff for a while in the field, having that extra eye relief and extra eye box gos a long way at reducing the strain on the eyes. E

In that price range my current and favorite spotter is the Theron Mag82. Same design as the Nikon 82 Ed angled. The scope comes with a 25-75x zoom and a 30x wide angle eyepiece. Excellent optical performance. Images are very bright and very sharp. I haven't found a scope better optically at this price point and I have owned a few scopes.....

http://theronoptics.com/MAG82_ED_82MM_SPOTTER.php

FrankD, is the Theron variable eyepiece an improvement over the Nikon 82ED's variable of the same config?

That's a great price on the Meopta Cabela's spotter. It does have the old style roll up/down eyecup though vs the modern twist up. I'm sure the optics are great though. A bit over your budget, but I like the Kowa 664 with 20-60 zoom.

There are also some good deals to be had on the Bushnell Elite ED spotters and they're offering a rebate. However, they are pretty big, so that may matter depending on your uses.

JG,

An improvement in what sense? The two areas where the Nikon zoom is criticized are the field of view and the eye relief. The Theron has the same field of view and listed eye relief of 16.5-14.8 across the zoom range.

FOV and eye relief is what I'm referring to.

Someone has a Kowa 664 listed on MM for 1k or best.

Hi,

I have a Meopta Meostar APO S1 75 (same as Cabelas Euro). Mine is angled, wich I like more. I bought it throught Eurooptic. With 20-60x Eyepiece it cost me a little more than 1000. I added the 30X Wide Anlge eyepiece for 180. Both are fantastic. Splendid optics very much like other top brands costing double or more! Great! And the scope is light enough, short enough and very strong. Like all Meopta Meostar optics. Mmmmmm...sounds like I have some economic interest on Meopta...but I don�t!! I like the well made things whose price is good!!! Meopta are one of them!!! May be this S.Scope does not have the last design refinements (the new S2 does have them) but for around 1000 the Meopta Meostar S1 APO = Cabelas Euro APO is almost unsurpassed!!!

PH

PH,

How do you like the 30X wide angle eyepiece? Would you add it again?
Thanks,

Marty

Forget the price compare some side by side.

Laugh or not but the only scope I have that was better than the Tasco 20-60X80 is a NightForce 12-42X56. Both were set on 40X looking at a HIGH VOLTAGE transformer over 400 yards away. All the rifle scopes were set on their highest setting with the Tasco set on the same magnification as them. This included a Sightron II, Leupold, Bushnell 4200 and a couple others. None were as good as the Tasco on their respective settings.

The reason I brought this up is today at the range I had a chance to look through a Tasco 15-45X?. Maybe about 50mm. Anyway my target is nothing more than an "L" drawn with a black felt marker. The lines are 3/32" (1/8" is 4/32") wide and are easy to see with the Swraovski set on 25X. In fact I mark the bullet holes on a 3X5 card so I can mark the target later.

At any rate I noticed a fellow down the line with a spotting scope and asked if I could look through it. It was Tasco set on 30X. The tripod was terrible so never stopped wiggling. Even in that less than good setting I could see the lines but could not see the bullet holes 300 yards away. I am sure if it was on a good tripod I could have seen the holes.

Hello M70,

Absolutely! For a hunting SScope, this 30 Wide Angle fixed eye piece is fantastic!! Anyway, as I bought also the Meopta bag, it has a small pocket to carry another eyepiece. So I carry the 20-60 Eyepiece. Just in case.

PH

I have been debating between Zen-Ray ED2 20-60x82 and Vortex Razor 20-60x85 spotting scopes. Has anyone compared them side by side and can chime in

http://www.zen-ray.com/shop/spottingscopes/zenspotter82-angled.html

http://www.binoculars.com/spotting-...es/vortex2060x85razorhdspottingscope.cfm

There was some comparison between the two over on birdforum a couple of months ago. The designs are very similar overall but with slightly different internal components and construction. Optical performance is at a similar level. The one benefit to the Zen Ray is that you can get the 25-50x wide angle zoom which eliminates the need for a fixed wide angle eyepiece. The apparent sharpness and brightness at 50x is truly amazing. There were times I forgot that I had the scope at the 50x setting.

I am wondering why the spotter with 25-50x EP is more expensive than the 20-60x one.

Is the ZEN ED2 compatible with Vortex Razor 30x EP with reticle?

A buddy bought a 75mm Meopta when they first started coming into the country. The place where he works has a bunch of 80mm Kowas, his Meopta is head and shoulders above them. As in, "Oh, yeah, I can see the bullet trace through this scope".

Hawker,

The wide field zoom eyepieces are more expensive to make since it is a more complicated design. In addition, the ZR wide angle zoom is an entirely new design. It is not the same as the Leica or Swaro equivalents.

I can't answer your question with 100% certainty but I would be very surprised if the 30x WA Vortex didn't fit into the Zen Ray body.

There is a thread talking about this same issue at Sniper's Hide Forum and the 30x WA Vortex does fit into the Zen-Ray body.

http://www.snipershide.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=3133496#Post3133496