What are the best options for eyeglass friendly spotting scopes

[MJY65]

I've reached the age where eyeglasses are a necessity, both for distant and near vision. That makes taking them on and off when switching from shooting to spotting to writing in the data book pretty cumbersome. What I'm looking for is a quality spotting scope with enough eye relief to see a nice, full picture without vignetting. My 20 year old Leupold 12-40 has plenty of eye relief (30mm), but probably falls short in optical quality compared to today's best. I've looked at the Swarovski and Vortex, but both of those have eye relief in the 18-20mm range. This obviously leaves me with a bad case of tunnel vision and really doesn't seem to make sense on a $2000 purchase.

Any other options I should consider that might fit my goals?

Thanks

 

[dogge1976]

I've been using the Meopta Meostar S2 30-60x82 HD for the 2nd year now with my prescribed lenses. I get a really nice full-frame FOV picture from 30 to 60 when wearing my glasses. No vignetting. I suggest on seeing for yourself at the nearest Cabelas if you can.

 

[MJY65]

I've been using the Meopta Meostar S2 30-60x82 HD for the 2nd year now with my prescribed lenses. I get a really nice full-frame FOV picture from 30 to 60 when wearing my glasses. No vignetting. I suggest on seeing for yourself at the nearest Cabelas if you can.

That's interesting. The specs show an eye relief of only 18mm. I've never been able to get a full frame with that small ER. Is there some optical effect in play beyond what I've been thinking?

 

[dogge1976]

Measurements with the twist-cup extended to the rear glass on my Meopta is roughly 10mm. Without my prescription glasses and using just the twist-cup, its a full frame from 30x to 60x. I don't know the measurement is from the rear glass to my prescription glasses is when the twist-cup is lowered. With the twist-cups lowered and with prescription glasses on, I'm getting a full frame from 30x to 60x.

I hope this helps

 

[pinzmann]

I use both the Vortex Razor and Kowa 774 and eye relief is great with my glasses on. And my vision is pretty bad with an astigmatism. Had to sell my Pentax and Nikon for poor eye relief. And the Vortex with the 30x ranging reticle has even better relief.

 

[fireEMT5]

+1 on the Vortex Razor spotter. I wear glasses all the time and am able to get a full picture out the Razor. This is with the eye cup in the down position and putting my glasses to the eye piece........ works well, but it also pays to have a glasses cleaning rag handy for the smudge you may get on your glasses from time to time. As mentioned, head on over to a Cabelas if there is one close and take a look for yourself. The last time I was in the Owatonna Cabelas, they had the Razor in the show case. Where in MN are you located? If your are in the SE, drop me a PM and you can look through mine.

 

[MJY65]

+1 on the Vortex Razor spotter. I wear glasses all the time and am able to get a full picture out the Razor.

Maybe it is the style of eyeglasses we wear. I've actually borrowed a friend's Vortex and another friend's Swarovski. No way I can get a full picture with either unless I've got the scope pressed up against my glasses tight enough to physically push the lens closer to my eye.

 

[smoothy8500]

I have a Kowa TSN-663 with the 25X LER (long eye relief) eyepiece. I wear safety glasses and can easily see thru the lense. It seems the 25X in side by side comparisins with other scopes with a zoo(Konus 20x60x80 and another Kowa) it matches around 40X.

 

[neiltus]

kowa TSN-82 with the LER eyepiece mentioned by smoothy. Very worth the money….