Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics swaro spotting scopes????

Hi,

I am going to be buying a swaro spotting score in the near future. I plan on taking it to the range and using it in the field on western hunts. My questions are straight vs angled, and 65 mm vs 80 mm. The 80mm I think is a little big for field application. I am also torn ob the hd vs non hd.

I am only planning on getting one spotted so I want to do it right.

Thoughts and opinions are greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Jon

I like the 65 straight for your app. HD if you plan on taking pics thru it. The wide angle eyepiece is nice, but not really needed.

Go all out and grt the 80 HD. The 80 mm models are only a little bigger and heavier than the 65s.

Here is a review from a model or two ago but the pics about half way down the page will give you some idea.

http://www.betterviewdesired.com/Big-Scopes-Fight-Back.php

Angled HD 65mm with 20-60 eye piece. Great for field, range and backpackable if required.

If you wear glasses I really like the angled eye piece. It just works better for me. The Swaro has just adequate eye relief for the the eye glass wearer. Great for backpack sheep hunting to.

HD for photo taking, and to my eyes, they are better side by side as seen on a few grizzly hunts.

65 mm for back packing or in the pack while hunting trophy critters.

If you are going to schlep it around, get the 65mm. If you can afford the HD, buy it. When it comes to optics, always buy the best you can afford. Also, it will be worth that much more used if you sell it.

I've had a few of them - both 80mm, 1 regular, 1 HD. Just sold my HD glass one as I was on a hunt a few weeks ago and had a chance to compare my HD side by side with the old grey HD scope. The old one was clearer and brighter to my eyes. You can find the grey model for under $1000. It's heavier than the HDM (magnesium body) model, but even when packing a scope, I like the 80mm for the clarity and brightness. The brand new modular Swarovskis are awesome, but I'd get the 95 mm and those go $4,000 right now. Hard to justify for something I only use a few weeks a year.

Oh - and contact Stoney (slg888) for a good deal on one. You can get some good deals right now on the last generation since the new modular ones are coming out.

I just got back from my colorado elk hunt where I used my new non hd straight 65 w/ 25-50 ww eyepiece and loved the scope/eyepiece.

I recently upgraded from a cheapy to a good one. Swaro is certainly a great product - I have some of their other stuff - I went in a different direction due to what my eyes saw. Mine is a Leica.

To your point though, I went with an angled head and the 65mm objective.

My other spotting scope had the straight run off the body. What I found at the range was that I had to contort more to get behind it. I found this worse in the field. For me, the angled head is much easier to get on and use both in the field and at the range. The only place where I think the straight scope is better is if you had one of those window rests and were using it from your pick up.

The only thing that I had to get used to was the angle initially takes some time to get on target on something you spotted with the bare eye or bino's. This was transitory for me.

As far as size, again this is likely somewhat subjective as some think that an 8lb rifle is heavy. I chose the 65mm more from a space constraint perspective rather than weight. There is limited space when I'm pack hunting.

I think that the Swaro 80mm will be better in low light than a 65mm. As I understand, simply put, all things being equal the larger objective will be better in low light. Mind you with my Leica I'm still looking at things after all the other spotting scopes have been put away (excepting Zeiss and Swaro).

Anyway, I hope these real life observations help you in your decision process. Buying a Swaro you are not likely to go wrong with whatever model you choose.

I had a Leica 65mm APO as well and loved it...just couldnt justify the amount of money tied up in it for the amount I used it. I think the Leica's are built tougher than the Swarovski's IMO. Leica would be my choice out of the 2.

If buying new, your decision between HD or not will depend on whether you buy it soon or wait a while.

Swarovski no longer produces any non-HD spotters and those in the marketplace currently are the last of them.

I'd go with the ATM (discontinued but still plenty out there) or the ATS (aluminum=less expensive) 80mm HD. I prefer the 25-50 eyepiece, but i am in the minority. The angled is much more versatile and it only takes a day to get used to the angled eyepiece.

Guys thanks for the in put after reading the replies and talking to a few people I am going to go with the 65 mm hd angled, I plan on packing it in the field and think the 80 is just to big for that application. I know it would allow more light in low light situations

I would have to take the 80 and pack it to see.

Just to give you a little extra info to think about, two years ago I was upgrading my spotter and trying to decide on which one and whether to stick with straight or go with angled. During all the research I did on the straight vs angled, the majority of people that supported straight also admitted to only ever owning straight where as the angled supporters had owned both. I went with the angled and I definately prefer it over the straight ones Ive had.
Another thing you might want to consider is the brand, I dont like to spend anymore than I have to to get high quality. I went with a Kowa 66 Prominar because it repeatedly came up in reviews on different sites being compared with the big three. I lent it to a friend last year for a couple weeks for a grizzly hunt. He used it side by side with his friends swaro 65 for two weeks at the range and in the field and other than some minor differences(one angled one straight, carrying case differences, objective cover differences), neither guy could tell any difference in the optics. The Prominars are HD and they have a 77mm that might be a size compromize between the two. Just something to consider. Good luck.