I’ll work backwards on this one first…
If you have an option of 60mm or 80+mm, the 60mm lenses are best for spotters you are packing or carrying into the field. If you’re working from a fixed firing position or bench, or running it on a tripod spotting for others, you owe it to yourself to invest in an 80mm or larger objective lens. The increase in optical quality over the 60-65mm range of lenses is substantial. The most glaring benefit is the light transmission increase, which means a brighter image that you can focus/resolve better. Larger lenses can make up for challenged glass quality, which means that less expensive scopes become more viable for long-term use before you will feel the urge to upgrade and spend a lot more money. The only time you’re going to see acceptable performance from a 60mm lens is going to be when you’re pushing above $1k in price due to the optical quality that comes with that price tag.
The better the optical quality, the better your shooting experience. You will be able to see more of the targets and better resolve bullet holes. You will also want as good of optical quality as you can possibly afford because of eye strain/fatigue. I’ve spent well over a hundred hours behind spotting scopes and I can tell you that price and name matter when it comes to scopes. I spent my early years looking through cheap glass and learned pretty quickly that cheap glass causes your eyes to strain and fatigue quickly. After a couple hours behind marginal or low quality glass, you will get tired, sore eyes and a headache. I’ve spent 6+ hours behind a cheap shit ChiComm scope and came out feeling like someone threw pulverized glass in my eyes and hit me in the back of the head with a shovel. I run Swarovski now and you can sit behind a Swaro spotter for a week and not have any issues. The same goes with other top brands like Zeiss Harpia, Hensoldt, NightForce or high end Kowas. There are higher quality spotters that won’t kill your bank account like the Vortex Razor as well. I realize that not everyone has the funds or the desire to buy the high end stuff, but it’s important to buy the best that you can afford. If it hurts a little now, you’ll be happy later on that you made the sacrifice to buy better.
The key here is that when you’re paying for a spotter, don’t get caught up in nomenclature of the optic. The “HD” moniker is heavily abused in the optics world and the quality of the glass for that optic isn’t going to be anywhere near equal to a $1k+ or even a $3k spotter. With regard to the SX-2, you should ignore the fact that it’s marked as an HD scope and pay attention to the $400 price tag. It’s going to be much better than $400 optics from 10 years ago, but you’re still on a lower tier of optical quality. The SX-2 is a contract optic and it’s being produced in an OEM facility that is making essentially the same scope for other companies. If that’s the best you can afford, then it should work and I would strongly encourage you to get the 80mm model. It’s going to be limited in what it will do, and longer distance will have reduced resolution and increased optical flaws like distortion affecting the image.
If you can, step up to the SX-4 line, or over to the Vortex Viper HD line. Getting into the $700-$1000 range of spotters will dramatically increase the optical quality that you will get. That will pay dividends on the range. The Vortex Viper HD line with 85mm lens is probably one of the best scopes for the money before you go over the $1k mark. I always recommend that people do what they can to buy at least one step up from them spotter they’re looking at, if they can.