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

FWIW, ~3-4yrs ago I owned a pre-FL 65MM Zeiss, a Swaro CT85, and a 62MM Leica all at the same time, all with their respective variable eye-pieces. Several times I had them all set up on more or less equal rests (window mounts and or tri-pods) and without fail, the 62MM Leica was the favorite of everyone, those who know the difference, and folks who'd almost never used a spotter or alpha glass of any sort. This was mostly due to resolution, for folks with glasses, the Leica also had more perceived eye-relief, especially at the highest powers. This was all done during the day with good lighting.

Although portability is very important to me, that is indeed an excellent point!


Casey

Not to hijack, but.....

How does the Nikon 50mm ED stack up against the Leupold Gold Ring 60mm HD with folks who've had the chance to use them in the field?

Casey

Good glass is great to have...


easy to use of patent pending easy-rest- stabilisatio -trons


Makes any dink look pretty...


, while portable to a t, your mule (guide) will not notice a thing



, you know, that guy, who just wants to be outthere and gets it done, pretty much no matter what with...


Is there a moral in there? Yes - I am not done sheep hunting.

Sorry for the sidetrack. Back to regular programming.

I used both in the field for the last 2 months, and the ED-50 for much longer. The Gold Ring pretty handily smacks the ED-50 around as far as field of view, clarity, brightness, and eye relief go.

Tanner

Hey Tanner,

I have another idea that might work well for you; it has been working for me.

Looking through a MONOcular spotter for long periods of time really is uncomfortable for me and hard on the one eye. I've found that a great set of BINOculars mounted on a tripod or window mount works damn good and makes glassing a pleasure.

I have some Leica 15X56 Geovids that I use like I describe. With the steadiness of the mount, you can easily spot game at over 3 miles. Judging is different for sure, but you can always throw the spotter on the mount after you spot something.

Ranging feature is a plus
The fact that you can carry them on a Bino Buddy is a plus

Friend had a non-hd gold ring 12-40 and I had my pentax PCF-65a with XL-10.5 eyepiece (fixed 37x, 65�apparent FOV). We were caribou hunting. It wasn't even a contest - pentax by a mile. But, that killer view isn't nearly as killer with the pentax zoom eyepieces.

Thanks Tanner!

No problem Casey.

I went ahead and ordered the Gold Ring HD. I'm thinking it'll be perfect for the hunting I do...

Tanner

There's a "like New" pair of 15X56 Geovids in the classifieds for 2K. You could probably get them for less with some dealing.

Just sayin'....

Mr. Churner- may I have first dibs?

Hey Tanner,

What eye-piece on that ED50? I thought you sold the ED50 and were using a Swaro?

Jason

No comparison, the 62mm APO televid is still one of the finest optics out there.
All things considered they were way ahead of their time for weight, price, durability and VIEW.
The Swarovski 65mm hd compares (equally to my eyes) and the nikon 65mm edg is also equal but slightly heavier for true lightweight purists.
The Zeiss diascope 65mm is outclassed.

The leupy is a decent scope, but is in the minor leagues optically and comparatively.

The only knock against the Leica is their fickle warranty crew should that be needed.

+1

Especially the rubber armored version. Very light weight. ER is good on their variable eye piece, and excellent on the fixed. Pity the new Leica Televids do not offer any fixed eye pieces nor able to utilize the previous generation eye pieces.