Swarovski Spotting Scope - question?

[ejones338]

I did however forget to add that a swaro scope was not present.

 

[RockyMtnMT]

In the sports optic world Nikon glass is very under rated. In the photography world Nikon glass is second to none. Nikon scopes and glasses in my opinion are tough to beat. That is the upper end models of course.

Steve

 

[enigma]

I never got a real good look throw a swarovski spotting scope.But Ive had the high end nikon binos and EL swaros binos you cant beat.The colors you can see like animal fur compaired to the woods are unbeleaveable the animal fur is so much brighter with a shine to it .

 

[chriso]

A good scope CANNOT fix mirage or haze, only magnify it. The conundrum is that your added resolution from a premium scope affects everything including haze and mirage and you are using premium optics to bring out these issues even more.

Michael, you make some points well worth considering and in doing so, I wonder if you share a bit more of your thoughts about spotters as I too have a Swaro that I'm not all that pleased with. Anyone else with ideas or recommendations I'd appreciate your advice too.

My dissappointment doesnt stem from my Swaro doing less in comparison to another scope, but is due to exactly what you state a good scope CANNOT handle. I have the STS 65 which I bought because (just like B23, I loved my EL's!) and because it was sort of a step up but not all the way to a big scope, and I might want to pack it up the hill after some sheep or goats someday. Anyway, I have the 20 to 60 variable eyepiece on it, and I generally cant see squat with it past 30 power or so. In the bright of day its hazy, in the late afternoon, early evening it is too. I thought I understood the world of optics from studying rifle scopes and binoculars, but is there something I'm missing here? Is it truly impossible to magnify that much and not distort. Maybe I should buy a 75 or 80mm scope with a 45x zoom for more clarity? Anyway, I'm rambling so I guess I'll get right to the heart of the matter before I confuse my question even more.... what combination of scope size and power would you say will best magnify to the max, yet give clarity? Will the newer coatings give better haze conquering capabilities? How come my binos let me see better in the haze? At what point of magnification does the haze become insurmountable for modern optics?

I apologize for hijacking like this, but I guess it sort of ties in to this topic because I too am unhappy with mine, I just wonder if I went for the wrong combination to get the performance I wanted out of my scope in the first place.

THanks, Chris

 

[223dude]

Chris, I bought the swaro ats 80 with the 20-60 eyepiece last year
and did not like it at all,

The fild of view was realy small and was down wright nasty at 60x.
So I sold it.

Then I went shopping for the best spotter money could buy.

I looked though all the top brands and found that the KOWA 883
Was the best glass out there.

I was going to buy one but then I got to look through a freinds
swaro ats 65HD with the 30X WIDE angle eyepeice. and WOW!!!

huge FOV, the clarity was WAY WAY beter the then my ats 80
with the 20-60 eyepiece.

So I bought the new ats 80mm HD with the 30x wide angle eyepeice
This is the best scope eyepeice set up I'v seen!!

The clarity is nuts, monster FOV, Great in low light.
The 30x eyepiece is the ONLY way to fly!!

The KOWA I looked through had the 20-60 eyepiece on it and was the best
spotter with the 20=60eyepiece out thare.

the swaro ats 80mm HD & 30x eyepiece was better, but just.


all the spotting scopes I looked through using more then 30x the clarity starts to drop of fast as the heat waves ruin the clarity.

Just my 2cents.
223dude

Michael, you make some points well worth considering and in doing so, I wonder if you share a bit more of your thoughts about spotters as I too have a Swaro that I'm not all that pleased with. Anyone else with ideas or recommendations I'd appreciate your advice too.

My dissappointment doesnt stem from my Swaro doing less in comparison to another scope, but is due to exactly what you state a good scope CANNOT handle. I have the STS 65 which I bought because (just like B23, I loved my EL's!) and because it was sort of a step up but not all the way to a big scope, and I might want to pack it up the hill after some sheep or goats someday. Anyway, I have the 20 to 60 variable eyepiece on it, and I generally cant see squat with it past 30 power or so. In the bright of day its hazy, in the late afternoon, early evening it is too. I thought I understood the world of optics from studying rifle scopes and binoculars, but is there something I'm missing here? Is it truly impossible to magnify that much and not distort. Maybe I should buy a 75 or 80mm scope with a 45x zoom for more clarity? Anyway, I'm rambling so I guess I'll get right to the heart of the matter before I confuse my question even more.... what combination of scope size and power would you say will best magnify to the max, yet give clarity? Will the newer coatings give better haze conquering capabilities? How come my binos let me see better in the haze? At what point of magnification does the haze become insurmountable for modern optics?

I apologize for hijacking like this, but I guess it sort of ties in to this topic because I too am unhappy with mine, I just wonder if I went for the wrong combination to get the performance I wanted out of my scope in the first place.

THanks, Chris

 

[esshup]

223 dude:

I wonder how the 80 with the 30 wide would compare to an 80 with a 20-60 set on 30?

I have the STS 80HD 20-60. I know that the field of view shrinks and imperfections (i.e. mirage, haze, etc.) will be magnified at higher powers. Most of the time I'm using it at 20x-30x, and only if the conditions allow, AND what I'm looking at allows a higher magnification do I turn it up. Personally, I like the flexability of the variable eyepiece. But, that's the nice thing about the Swaro's. You can buy different eyepieces and use the same body. During the past Antelope hunt, I cannot tell you how many miles of walking that spotter saved us.

Chris:

I'll bet the spotter will do just as well in haze as the binoculars IF the power of the two were the same. There's a reason why they don't sell many binoculars over 15x.

 

[B23]

I'll know more about the HD 80 w/25-50 eye piece next week. I sent my non HD sts 80 w/20-60 eye piece back and should have the HD version with the vari wide angle eye piece next week some time. Will report back then.

 

[chriso]

I'll be anxiuosly awaiting your results with the variable eyepiece. I've been having the thought that I might buy an 80mm scope due to the limited exit pupil on my 65mm scope potentially making for my dissatisfaction... if that was the case, at least I could just find me an 80mm HD and still use my eyepiece correct?

 

[223dude]

Hi esshup,

The ats with the 20-60 eyepiece set at the lowest 20x
still has a smaller FOV the the 30x wide.

So the 20-60 set at 30x is about 25-30% smaller FOV then the 30x wide.

Plus the 30x wide seen to be WAY more clear glass then the 20-60
and is a lot brighter in low light.

I keep hearing realy good thangs about the 25-50 wide eyepiece.
But at $730-----damm.

I may have so sell some blood soon

Keep your len's clean,
223dude

223 dude:

I wonder how the 80 with the 30 wide would compare to an 80 with a 20-60 set on 30?

I have the STS 80HD 20-60. I know that the field of view shrinks and imperfections (i.e. mirage, haze, etc.) will be magnified at higher powers. Most of the time I'm using it at 20x-30x, and only if the conditions allow, AND what I'm looking at allows a higher magnification do I turn it up. Personally, I like the flexability of the variable eyepiece. But, that's the nice thing about the Swaro's. You can buy different eyepieces and use the same body. During the past Antelope hunt, I cannot tell you how many miles of walking that spotter saved us.

Chris:

I'll bet the spotter will do just as well in haze as the binoculars IF the power of the two were the same. There's a reason why they don't sell many binoculars over 15x.

 

[NJS]

That's why they call the 30x Wide Angle a wide angle.... it FOV is wider than a standard 30x... <wink> NJS

 

[Michael Eichele]

It is very common to have a fixed eye peice yield MUCH more clarity than a variable. This is due to a much less complicated component with much less lenses and other complications. Variable lenses while convienient and versitle are not the best for optimum viewing capability. In short a 30x fixed will be noticeabley better than a variable set to 30x and so on......

 

[B23]

I've had a few days, in a variety of different light conditions, to use my new HD 80 Swaro spotter w/25-50 wide angle eye piece now.

As I've stated before I have a Nikon non ED Fieldscope 20-45 65mm to compare with and make side by side comparisons.

The Swaro is minimally better and I mean minimally. Clearity is almost on par with my Nikon. Under low light conditions the Swaro is better but it isn't alot better by any means but it is better. I would certainly hope that a HD 80mm $3000+ spotter would be better in low light than a $800 65mm non HD would be though.

From the beginning of this purchase I wasn't expecting a HUGE difference from my Nikon but I did expect to see some noticable difference.

I let the salesman talk me into a variable eye piece when I upgraded to the HD. I'm going to talk to them Monday about returning this eye piece and go with a straight power. Probably the 30x as I rarely if ever use more than that anyway.

 

[wyo7]

B23 I'm glad I've come across your post. I am shopping around for a spotting scope too. I had decided the sts 65HD swarovski with the 25-50 eyepiece was going to be a 'no brainer'. But now I've developed cold feet. I don't have the luxury of going to the local store and comparing scopes. I've purchased a Zeiss 20-60x 85mm spotter and used it for one month. I spent many hours behind that scope as well as my dad's Leupold 12-40x 60mm. The Zeiss was just slightly better than the Leupold. But not $1,300 better so I returned it and started shopping around. It's too bad that Nikons upper line EDG is so expensive. I don't even know if I can find a shop within a few hrs of driving to get a chance to look through the Nikon. It doesn't look as if Cabelas and Sportsmans have this scope in SLC, UT. Thats about 2.5hrs away and the max I'd drive to go look through scopes.

Keep us posted on what you end up being satisfied with.

 

[chriso]

I'm pretty sure I'll hang on to my 65 STS, but will likely wind up going with an 80 and the 20-50 new eyepiece for times when I'm not "minimalist" packing after sheep.

Still anxious to here reports on the eyepiece!