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BEST Compact spotter

RussW1911

Gunny Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
Oct 30, 2005
1,273
74
46
Tooele, Utah
Hey gents. Looking for input/opinions for the best compact spotting scope out there. I have a Spotter 60 and love it, but its damn heavy and not something I will carry into the high country. I actually never carry a spotter, but things have changed and I need one. I've sold my Leica Geovids and selling my Swaro EL Ranges and going to a separate spotter and LRF combo for both tactical matches and hunting.

A couple that caught my eye are the Vortex Razor HD 11-33 and the leupold Gold ring 10-20

Simple requirements:

Compact
low enough power that it can be used as a monocular without tripod
Extremely good glass
I don't care about cost, I just want the best glass.

Thanks guys.

Russ @ DTM
 
Nikon ED-50. I had the 13-30 eyepiece....loved it. Tripped it in favor of a Swaro, but I'd love to have another someday. They weigh less or about the same as many 10x42 or 12x50 binos and are incredibly short. Lots of guys adore the 27x eyepiece.

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That being said, the 11-33 Vortex looks to be built on the same body and supposedly beats the ED-50. Something to consider, for sure.

Lots of good options out there....
 
ED50 with a 20x or 27x is great , I have a GA52 with both 18x & 24x which is also a good option and more robust than the Nikon . If you can find a s/hand Leica APO 62mm with a 16x , 20x or 26x it will blow you away and isn't that much bigger IMHO .
 
ED50 with a 20x or 27x is great , I have a GA52 with both 18x & 24x which is also a good option and more robust than the Nikon . If you can find a s/hand Leica APO 62mm with a 16x , 20x or 26x it will blow you away and isn't that much bigger IMHO .

Those sound good. I need a lower low end as these will be serving as more of a monocular role than a spotter.


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Then what you are looking for is the Pentax PF65 ED II. This spotter accepts normal 1.25" astronomical eyepieces. You can get 11x out of it by getting the 32mm Televue plossl eyepiece. The image quality of that combo will give you the "pop" of a Hendsoldt or S&B but the greater resolution of a spotter. Fixed magnification eyepieces give better FOV and image quality than the zooms, especially at low power.