Re: Need a New Spotting Scope
Lots of good options, and honestly every couple years the "top" scope changes, coatings change, lenses change a bit a new version comes out that pushes the old top guy out. For a long time it was the swarovski HD scopes, then zeiss came out with a newer version that edged them out a bit. Kowa has always had a good rep but at least around here we never run into any of them to compare and it's too much $ to dump on something you can't check out first.
Also at the top end many times brightness of the optic while also tied to objective size and coatings is also a factor of what kind of coatings they use. Some companies use a higher contrast coating which makes the image look brighter at the loss of subtle detail, others go for a more neutral coating. Swarovski is one that has been known to go for a more neutral coating, probably because of their huge following with birders.
On the magnification note, while it's always nice to have more power, also keep in mind what you have on the low end. I have a swarovski ats80 HD with the 20-60 zoom and when hunting here in the desert on a bad mirage day even 20x is almost too much. 20x is the max lowest power I want in a spotting scope and I'd prefer 12-15x. I'd gladly give up the 45-60x range because in most conditions it's useless between the mirage and if there is any wind you can't steady the unit enough to use the top powers even with a heavy tripod. I'd sell my 20-60 eyepiece in a heartbeat to get a 15-45x. That and the fixed eyepieces give better image, a strait 30x eyepiece is not as flexible but the imagine is impressive when compared to the zoom even on top brands.
Bottom line is any of the mentioned scopes are top notch and picking between them is splitting very thin hairs.
