Budget friendly spotting scope

i am heading out on a hunting trip and I don't have a spotting scope. I feel like I will need one. With that said I didn't have a spotting scope in the budget.
What is a good budget friendly scope? I was looking for one around $300 but they may all be junk.

I have been pretty happy with my redfield 20-60x80. Glass is decent but can be kinda hard to focus up on 60 power. Might also look at the vortex diamondback. I have herd decent things about them and they are a little smaller then the redfield.

I have looked through a Diamond Back and it is not what you want. It is a very disappionting piece of equiptment. If you want to be happy save your money and buy a top end spotter. Look on the classifieds here you may find one for a decent price. Even a 20 year old top end spotter will be better then the new lower cost ones. I have a 20 plus year old Lieca that is still as clear as the day I bought it and blows my friends Vortek Diamond Back so far out of the water even my Lieca couldn't find it.

I see quality vintage ones on Craigslist for well under $1000 all the time and if I was limited on budget that's where I'd look. I would rather not own one than own a cheap one.

Troutslayer is right you do not want a cheap spotter. His idea of finding a quality used one is a good idea as they are around. You never know you may find one for really cheap. In my opinion you need to start looking in the 900 dollar and up range for a decent spotter.

Or better yet what are your binos? If you dont have extremely high quality binos then I would sell my current binos and buy alpha glass and use them on a tripod and dont worry about a spotter.

In a perfect world if you could borrow one from a friend for this trip and save up for a spotter that you will be happy with long term . Good luck

Pulpwood makes a good point on trying some friends spotters. If you had time get a bunch of guys together and test a bunch of them out. Make sure you have a good mix in quality so you can see the difference between cheap and quality glass though. Then if you could borrow the best one and see how it performs in the field. You might be able to look through some at a local range too.

For 200 yards, that spotting scope is probably ok, but it is tough to find a spotting scope in that price range that doesn't move around a lot. I will tell you that the tripod it comes with is probably useless. My advice is don't throw away the original packaging until you are sure you are not going to return it.

For budget scopes, Konus has a pretty good reputation, but the tripod is critical. If intended use is really just looking downrange to check a target, you might be better of with something hand held. If you plan on working with a spotter who will call out your shots, you need a spotting scope.

I would also advise you check out optics planet.

What size scope are you looking for ? 50mm, 65mm, 80mm ??
What weight range ?
As someone else asked, what binos do you have so we can get an idea of your baseline for glass quality.

Tend to agree with others. Just got back from a cow hunt where I took some excellent 10x42 binos and a cheap spotter. When I pulled out the spotter, it almost wasn't worth it. Couldn't get that sharp definition I needed. My 10x42s ended up outperforming my spotter. Left it behind on the second day. It works just fine for zeroing my scopes at the range, but I am now on the prowl for a higher quality spotter that won't break the bank too bad.

I'm definitely going to check out the 2018 Vortex Viper HD spotters that come in under $1000.

Cabelas Krotos

Depending on what you want for magnification. I have a vortex razor 11-33x50 I really like. I'm actually selling it, but just because I upgraded to the 65 and 85mm options. The little one I used for packing because it's so light.
I've heard good things about athlon but haven't had any first hand experience.