Decent spotting scope

I'll just add - my bro in law has the vortex diamondback 20-60x65 i think (its the smaller of the two objectives) and it is pretty dang impressive for the money. In low light you notice the difference between my viper hd and the diamondback, but we were looking at some bucks at 1200 yards switching back and forth between the two mid morning with good light and they were impressive. The diamondbacks are also pretty light.

Thanks for the great offer bravo. Not often you run into people will to do that.
I do t want to be responsible for something like that. As I'll end up buying it from cabelas so if it's not up to par I can return it.
Fig this is exactly what I was looking for the differences between the two and were they were different. That's why it's hard for me to spend the tall dollars on this as it's only really gonna be used at the range mid day and for culling animals.
Maybe one day when I have more time to spend hunting at really ping range I'll consider a Leica to go with my others but right now I'm stuck in Michigan and only get to use it on the two trips a year I get to take. So I prefer to close the distance and make sure I take my game then sending it from far out. I do send them any chance I get at pigs long range so would be cool to have a spotter.

Forgot I looked threw a Kowa just before our deer hunting here at our range and it was Very nice , just my 2 cents , thks

Forget vortex even the razor line is average at best. Western hunting you will not use a spotter for glassing. Use 10 or 15 x bino's. If you are trophy hunting and need to field judge an animal don't buy a scope in the lower end or mid tier. They just won't show enough detail to be worth anything. Meopta would be a good starting point or Kowa . I think the 1000 dollar mark metioned ealier is about correct for them to be useful for hunting purposes. Good luck

MudRunner2005 said:

I have a Vortex Diamondback 20-60x80 spotting scope, and it's a really nice scope for the money.

https://ads.midwayusa.com/product/6...MI8v_Hm_zF4AIVA47ICh3P3wh5EAQYBSABEgIgOPD_BwE

I you have more to spend, the Viper HD would be a good option.

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1...r-hd-spotting-scope-20-60x-85mm-armored-green

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I also have a vortex diamondback 20-60x80. I picked it up lightly used for $300 I think. It's no Swarovski but it didnt cost me several mortgage payments either. For my purposes which is glassing elk, antelope and deer out to a couple miles it works fine. It's not as nice as $2000+ glass but it got used a bunch this year and no one had any complaints. Just my .02.

Huntnaz said:

Forget vortex even the razor line is average at best. Western hunting you will not use a spotter for glassing. Use 10 or 15 x bino's. If you are trophy hunting and need to field judge an animal don't buy a scope in the lower end or mid tier. They just won't show enough detail to be worth anything. Meopta would be a good starting point or Kowa . I think the 1000 dollar mark metioned ealier is about correct for them to be useful for hunting purposes. Good luck

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Have you used the new 2018 viper hd line, or are you just writing them off for fun?

FIGJAM said:

Have you used the new 2018 viper hd line, or are you just writing them off for fun?

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I would venture to guess he's never used anything Vortex offers...Or is just a glass snob. You come across those every now and then. I've known a few. If I was rich, I would be, too. But I wouldn't look down on other brands just because they're not as expensive as my March or NF scopes.

Elkeater said:

I also have a vortex diamondback 20-60x80. I picked it up lightly used for $300 I think. It's no Swarovski but it didnt cost me several mortgage payments either. For my purposes which is glassing elk, antelope and deer out to a couple miles it works fine. It's not as nice as $2000+ glass but it got used a bunch this year and no one had any complaints. Just my .02.

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The difference between good and great glass is really only material at low light. Like I said earlier - my bro in laws diamondbacks were impressive for the price...

The larger objective will compensate a little for lower quality glass at low light.

For the money, I still like the Leupold Mark 4 (or Golden Ring) 12-40x60mm spotter. They are relatively light, compact, tough, and have very acceptable optional performance.

MudRunner2005 said:

I would venture to guess he's never used anything Vortex offers...Or is just a glass snob. You come across those every now and then. I've known a few. If I was rich, I would be, too. But I wouldn't look down on other brands just because they're not as expensive as my March or NF scopes.

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Vortex has upped their game is the glass department on both their binos and spotters. I think there used to be a large gap between euro glass and then everything else - japanese glass was close second, but Philippines and chinese glass makers have closed the gap so significantly its tough to tell a lot of times. I was never a leupy fan, bought my first scope last year, a VX5HD and was blown away by the glass. I had some viper hd binos and just sold them for leupolds bx-4 hd offering.

I went the opposite direction... I used to like Leupold, their customer service and warranty are excellent, but once I realized that what they called "innovation" for their products was overpriced old tech being sold with a few fancy new package, I stopped buying their stuff. You can put lipstick on a pig, but in the end, it's still a pig.

Personal opinion.

MudRunner2005 said:

I went the opposite direction... I used to like Leupold, their customer service and warranty are excellent, but once I realized that what they called "innovation" for their products was overpriced old tech being sold with a few fancy new package, I stopped buying their stuff. You can put lipstick on a pig, but in the end, it's still a pig.

Personal opinion.

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I get that - i went vortex and nikon, never got into the leupold stuff. Supposedly they are listening, a lot of people were chapped with their old stuff. I heard enough good stuff about the VX5HD and VX6HD that I took the jump. I will always have vortex, but in order to get hd glass in a scope you have to buy their razor line.

So the razor line sounds like it could be the way to go. I've always went Nikon over vortex. That being said I donate a very nice firearm every year to the local safari club. They take 100 percent of the money raised from the raffle and were able to send a Purple Heart recipient to legends ranch for a full week of deer hunting.
I reached out to several companies to try and make the shooting system better and vortex came back instantly and sent out scope and some other little things. That goes a long way in my book. This is the 6th year I've done this and they have helped out 3 years. So I purchased a set of lower end bios, a 2-10 scope and now hoping they have a spotter up to the task. Just such a gap in price I have no idea where to start

I would probably pick up a Leupold Gold Ring 15-30x50. You can find them on flea bay for under $500. Very light weight or any of the fixed power Gold Rings. Some of them are around $250. Just keep checking there and craigslist. Sometimes you can find some great deals out there if you use patience.