Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Spotters- Leupold GR HD 12-40x60 vs. Leica APO Televid 62 16-48

For folks with both or experience with both....

How do the 2 compare as far as sharpness and contrast goes when you get into the upper end of the magnification scale?

I ran the Gold Ring this sheep season and was pretty impressed with it, but 40x sometimes left me wanting a little bit more. I really enjoyed the gigantic eye relief and being able fo scan on 12x...

Thanks for any input.

Tanner

I suspect the glass is way better on the Leica. I used to own the gold ring hd. Sometimes I still miss it. Your right though at max power the scope kinda gives up. I normally just used mine almost exclusively at just below 30x. I use a vortex viper hd now. Way less money and I think at max power the glass is actually better. If you are considering a spotter in the leica price range check out the Meopta s2

I have a gold ring and for packing in which is most of my hunting, it is nice and compact which is very important to me, there are times when I wished for more power , but for the most part I'm pretty happy with it!

Tuner- I have no experience with either one. Would you still like my input?

That goes without saying, Dale...

I'm not really concerned with portability too much anymore. All of my gear is lightweight, and a spotter is one place I won't mind giving up weight. Both of these are pretty trim for top tier glass, anyways.

As starsky told me yesterday... "Portability matters when you have to hike across the canyon to see how big that ram is because your spotter couldn't show you".... or something like that.

Tanner

The Leupold is quite good and not as expensive. I would still give the nod to the Leica, if weight and size doesn't matter.

Portability always matters.....

I stick to the roads and my ATV normally so...

Tanner

I just went through this last year. I didn't get serious with the Lecia, but I looked at the the Zeiss Victory 65 and the Leupold HD. Undeniably the Zeiss is a better spotter, but for the significantly smaller size, a little bit lighter weight and much reduced cost the Leupold is good enough for me. I use a spotter primarily for moose and brown bears. The Leupold has been nigh on perfect for me, but if I needed extreme resolution then the top tier spotters are the only way to go. The HD is a step up from the original Leupold spotter, but it's still a significant step below alpha glass. I'd buy mine again, but that doesn't make it the same scope that you get when you pay double.

Because "HD" has no across the board meaning in optics, what does it indicate in the case of the Leupold?

Go with a Hubble .......

If size/weight are not an issue, the Meopta S2 is a phenomenal piece of equipment. Side by side with my Kowa 884 for a couple of weeks.....I kept the S2, it's that good.

I had a non HD Leupold and still have a non-APO 62mm Leica. The Leuca is significantly better. It's also significantly better than the 65mm Zeiss I had, and it's better than the 85mm collapsible Swaro I still own.

Pard has the Meopta, it's magnificent.

Tanner, I've run the Leupold HD and liked it. For the size and price it does a really good job-sounds like you know this from recent use. I'm curious if you think the Leica will be better than the Swaro 20-60x65 that you had? I have that Swaro in HD also and it seems to be about as good as it gets-what do you think. I understand if you are looking within a certain price range, but if not for the money what would the choice be?

He can play the spotter game until the cows come home. But in the end, everything he tries will fall short of the swaro or zeiss. Sure, some are lighter. Sure, some are smaller. Sure, some sound good on 'paper' and what 'other guys' think are good. But the 'eyes don't lie'. Trying to find the perfect choice can be fun (and expensive), tho.....

For the price, the Razor line of spotters is mighty impressive.

Oh yeah. I forgot. Some are cheaper.....

I'd be curious to compare the APO Leica to the non-HD Swaro. That Swaro always really impressed the heck out of me. I'm more than willing to squirrel more dough away to get the really good stuff....

Tanner

Hello Tanner,

I have tried all the top SScopes. Today I think Meopta have the best price/quality relation. By far...
One of the top, top Spotting Scopes today, at ANY PRICE is, in my oppinion, the Meopta Meostar S2. Period.
And a second choice (the one I have) is the previous Meopta top S Scope, the Meosar S1 APO. Today it can be found for around 1200 with the cordura case and both eyepieces: 20-60 and the faboulous 30X Wide Angle. I have both. This scope is great optically, light in weight and very strong, I can assure you, having use it in various backpack hunting here in Patagonia. The main differences with the S2 are: S1 lighter in weight, almost half the price but less field of view than the S2 eyepieces. I can live with the latter....
Good luck in your search!

PH

Hey Don, Agreed. I like my Zeiss a lot, worth the dough and the weight to me.