Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics OL's ranking on new Spotting Scopes

Just saw this from my FB feed. I am intrigued by the vibration reduction EDG model. Wondering how good it will be by handholding the spotter in the field.

http://www.outdoorlife.com/photos/g...potting-scope-re?photo=0#node-1001355453

Another OL joke...

The only thing worse than a bad joke is a thief.........

Good comedy

I haven't seen it yet, but what is everyone's beef with OL's testing?

I think it was that for the 1st time ever a Chinese produced scope was the Editor's choice.

Well at least we know who paid the most for advertising in that issue!

From what I read, the Zen-Ray spotter is excellent. I have their ZRS HD binoculars and I am very happy with it. My only beef with that review is that they randomly put those spotting scope from $300 to $5500 together and try to rank them. It will be better if they can compare EGD, ED2 with those from Kowa, Swarovski or Vortex. But how many people can afford those $1000-$5500 spotting scope? I can't. Really wish they can find a winner for $200-$300 range.

If I understand you correctly, that is my issue with the OL testing as well. If they say, for example, a $300 Leupold as an excellent image and a $2000 Leica/Swaro/Zeiss has an excellent image do I assume that they are referring to an excellent image within their respective price points or are they both the same regardless of the price points.

That's right. If they can break them into different price range, such as under $500, $500-$999, >$1000, the comparison will be more meaningful. If I read those review correcly, the ED2 has better low light performance than EDG? Does the vibration reduction feature in EDG somehow degrade the transmission? Is normal EDG spotter going to be brighter than VR one?

IIRC, I think they used to test stuff within reasonable price points and somewhere along the line, they just performed blanket reviews.

One of the problems these days is that separating optics into price categories doesn't work nearly as well as it used to. This trend started in the 1990's but has accelerated since.

Recently I've tested binoculars retailing for $250 that beat others in the $1000 range.

I understand what you're saying John. You think perhaps they are using one standard regardless of price then ?

Outdoor Life, in my opinion, is the men's equivalent of those women's tabloid type magazines that you see next to the checkout counter at WalMart.

John,

Was one of those binoculars the Kruger 10X50 Backcountry?

I have one and am very impressed.

Steve

OL spells out the testing procedure for each category IIRC that explains the criteria the use. I usually find it interesting how well relatively inexpensive glass compares to high $$$ stuff. The performance gap continues to narrow and that's not gonna change.

People just schittt their pants when they read how good the glass is in a VX2.

Well I didn't soil myself, but the glass in my 4-12 is nice. Alot better than I expected.