Spotting scope dilemma

[Comprido]

Not sure if this is the place or whether I should ask in the Optics forum. I'll try here.

I'm looking to upgrade from my Vortex Nomad spotter. It was probably one of those purchases where I should have spent a little more money so I wouldn't feel the need to upgrade.


There are currently good deals on Vanguard Endeavor 15-45x-65mm (around $300 - normally $350) and 20-60x-82mm (around $380 now - normally $450). Also, you get rather nice $170 bipod with it to sweeten the deal.

Both spotters get decent reviews. No one says they are alpha-killers, but reviewers thought they were a good value even at $400 and $500. With the discount and free tripod (which I need) I think they are a great buy.

Neither of them are lightweight, tipping the scales at 51 ounces and 63 ounces. That's a bit heavier by a few ounce than most mid-tier scopes with 65mm or 82mm objective lens. And quite a bit heavier than some scopes that use light weight as a selling point.


I have two options:


Buy the 65mm and try to lug it on an eventual backpack DIY hunt for mulies or elk (this is a couple of years away).

Or

Go big and get the 85mm, with more oomph and better resolution, knowing that it won't be on the backpack hunt. I'll have fun with the 85mm on the range and for general wildlife viewing. In the grand scheme of things, spending another $250 for a Minox subcompact scope when the DIY backpack hunt comes together won't break me.


I guess here's the question -


Would anyone try to take a heavyish 65mm spotter on a backpack hunt?


Or do I get the more powerful spotter which will handy in a lot of ways, and get something smaller for the backpack hunt? For OTC deer and elk, I'm probably not going to have the luxury of judging tines too harshly before deciding he's worth stalking. (Meaning a Minox 16-30x50mm might get the job done since I just need to spot them, not decide if he's going to make the record books.)


I have a Steiner 10x26, Vanguard 10x42 and a little Bushnell 8x to choose from for binoc.


There are also lighter 15-45x65mm scopes (the Athlon Ares at 43 ounces comes to mind.) I don't see any smoking deals on them, though, unfortunately. Otherwise I might try to use it as a do-it-all scope.

My budget can go higher than the current price of the two Vanguards. I just like getting good value and am a sucker for a good deal. I can go higher for the right scope. So if there's something else out there I should consider, let me know.

Thanks for your help.

 

[huntsman22]

you 'felt the need' with the nomad. Go ahead and feel it some more with anything else under alphas.........buy once, cry once.

 

[Comprido]

you 'felt the need' with the nomad. Go ahead and feel it some more with anything else under alphas.........buy once, cry once.

good point. The Vanguards might not be much of a step up.

However, I just can't justify purchasing an alpha (both because I don't want to have that conversation with my wife and because I do feel that you reach diminishing returns well before Alpha territory ie there are scopes that do 95% of a Swaro at 50% of the price.)

Maybe it has been done and I don't know about, but if not, I think the time is right for a double blind test of scopes and bins to see just how good the alphas are - kind of like how Precision Rifle Blog did with high end scopes a few years ago. The humble $1,100 Bushnell Elite beat scopes costing 6 times as much (including scopes from S&B, Zeiss, Nightforce, March). We'll never know if a Bushnell would have scored as high if its make and model were known to the testers. I'm guessing it would not have.

Anyway, that's neither here nor there. Feel free to point me to a 2nd tier value option though.

Thanks.

 

[huntsman22]

meopta.

 

[huntsman22]

Vortex Razor clearouts.

 

[105Coues]

I upgraded to a Vortex Razor HD about a year ago for about $1050. It is the 85 and is a heavy some pooch but i packed it in this last deer season and was glad i did. It performed well minimizing my time assessing bucks. I have used it on a half dozen hunts so far and it is big and bulky but worth it. So far i like it alot although the fine adjust still seems a little coarse. I was using a Nikon XL Spotter prior to this which i think i paid about 450 for a ling time ago.

 

[Cmrem700]

I use both the 80mm Swarovski and the 12x40x60mm. I find myself using the leupold more because it is lighter. IMO I would rather buy better glass used instead of new glass that is not as good for the same price. I have seen the 12x40x60mm in great shape for around $500.00 - $700.00

 

[Dr. Vette]

However, I just can't justify purchasing an alpha (both because I don't want to have that conversation with my wife and because I do feel that you reach diminishing returns well before Alpha territory ie there are scopes that do 95% of a Swaro at 50% of the price.)

I'll disagree with this one.

When it comes to optics, quality seems to increase linearly with price, not exponentially. I have noticed this with rifle scopes and more recently with spotting scopes.

In mid-October we were on our way back from WY and stopped at a Cabelas along the way. They were having an "employee discount" sale, and my Dad is in need of a new spotting scope. We tried virtually every one that they had from $500 on up, and every time the price went up so did the quality. There were details and items that you couldn't see with the Vortex Razor HD or Cabela's Euro HD, for example, that were obvious with the Swarovskis. Once we worked our way up to the Swaros, we didn't look at any of the others and say that they were "good enough" and take one of them home. We left determined to save more Cabela's points and wait for the right sale in the spring.

I would highly recommend going to a nearby Cabelas or similar store and trying the same test. The one we visited had objects up to 2 miles away that we could view, but the differences were even obvious at the 600-800 yard range.