Posted: 1/24/2017 11:47:55 AM EDT
| Any recommendations for a cheap spotting scope? It would just be used at the range out to 300yds. I'm not sure I'd even use one regularly so I don't want to spend much to test the waters. |
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I have a cheap, shitty one that I got off of Midway for under $100 because I didn't want my good one always banging around in my truck, or being dropped by idiots at 3-Gun matches.
It works fine for adjusting optics out to 200 yards and registering hits/misses on steel to at least 600. The quality is obviously lacking, but it works fine and if it gets ruined I'm not going to cry about it. |
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IMO, cheap ones are only good for 100-200 yards. .22 holes get difficult to see quickly at the lowish fixed power that most cheap ones offer. We won't even get into clarity.
I use an old Simmons, but as an East Coaster, it's enough for my normal 100 yard play. If it takes a tumble, and it has, I don't cry. |
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$59 Simmons from Walmarts Web site is a great scope FOR THE MONEY. Go buy a camera tripod with a pistol grip and throw away the tripod that comes with the spotting scope. You'll love it if you keep in mind the price. Just NEVER look through someone else's $1500 spotting scope. You'll be ruined for ever.
I made that mistake..... now I have a $59 spotting scope and a $1500 spotting scope. 
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I've purchased a cheap one from Cabela's a while back. Wish I had checked it in store. It was fine at low resolution, but I could not get it to focus when using the highest power setting.
My advise-look for higher quality used scope. When buying new, you get what you pay for. |
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Konus 20X60X80 ($189) is a very good scope for the money.
You'll need a good tripod--check Craigslist for a video tripod. The scope will resolve .223 in the black at 200, but at 300 you'll need a Shoot-N-See. |
| Got the Barska 25-125x as a gift. It is worth about what I paid for. Not bad at 25-50x but terrible above. But again, I am spoiled as I use a Nightforce 5.5-22x NXS on my MWS. I generally just use it instead of the Barska. I imagine one of the Vortex lower end models would be decent. |
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There are cheap spotting scopes and there are good spotting scopes but not good-cheap spotting scopes. The Konus resolves .223 and .30 cal holes at 200 yards. Mine has ridden around in the trunk for the last 7 years (with all the abuse that implies), and at one point it was found floating in my brother-in-laws flooded basment. I paid $179 for it. How is that not a "good" cheap spotting scope? |
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Get a 90 mm Maksutov-Cassegrain telescope and a couple of eyepieces. You'll get a great spotting scope that you can also use to look at planets and stuff. If being waterproof is not a requirement, that will get you excellent bang for your buck in terms of optical quality.
Something like this from Orion: http://www.telescope.com/Telescopes/TableTop-Telescopes/Orion-StarMax-90mm-TableTop-Maksutov-Cassegrain-Telescope/pc/-1/c/1/sc/416/p/102016.uts?refinementValueIds=4599 |
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Konus for a budget scope. Yep, this was going to be my response. I have a Konus too, after canning a cheap 3rd tier brand. Its better than the cheap ones but its certainly not a KOWA by any stretch. I would say its a very price competitive mid range quality scope.Good out to about 200, maybe 300 yards, as long as you have a good stable mount or tripod. |
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Quoted:
Konus 20X60X80 ($189) is a very good scope for the money. You'll need a good tripod--check Craigslist for a video tripod. The scope will resolve .223 in the black at 200, but at 300 you'll need a Shoot-N-See. Try this.. I love my Konus.. But as others have said.. 22 cal holes at a couple hundred yards get HARD to see. |
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I owned a Barska and took my Athlon cronus out for a side by side, both 20-60. Almost no difference until it starts getting dark, or when the thermals kick up. Takes a ton of money to get a little return.
The barska I owned came from amamzon for less than $100 with table top tripod. Check bird watcher forums for folks who have access to high end optics and what they have to say about certain models. |
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Quoted:
Get a 90 mm Maksutov-Cassegrain telescope and a couple of eyepieces. You'll get a great spotting scope that you can also use to look at planets and stuff. If being waterproof is not a requirement, that will get you excellent bang for your buck in terms of optical quality. Something like this from Orion: http://www.telescope.com/Telescopes/TableTop-Telescopes/Orion-StarMax-90mm-TableTop-Maksutov-Cassegrain-Telescope/pc/-1/c/1/sc/416/p/102016.uts?refinementValueIds=4599 I got one from "Celestron', a 35 - 100x, with an 8x aiming scope on top, for $120 on sale. It came with a cheap tripod, but I already had a good tripod out of our TV Studio. That scope kicks some serious ass, easily seeing 17 HMR holes at 200 yds |
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i bought one of the simmons 20-60 scopes at cabelas at christmas last year....on sale for $50, included the box (obviously) and the tripod.... i use hi-vis targets and haven't had an issue at ~200 yds, and it's great at the actual range for 100 yds and closer. |
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Don't telescopes often flip the image? Good question. If you view straight through a Mak-Cas without a prism (i.e. just an eyepiece) you will see an inverted image. The 90 degree prism that comes with the low-end packages will make it upright but mirror-reversed, which could be confusing if you are trying to dial in your shots. A different type of prism will make the image "correct." A low-end one is not very expensive. Orion's is easily good enough for spotting, and the 45 degree angle is excellent for that purpose. http://www.telescope.com/Orion-125-45-degree-Correct-Image-Prism-Telescope-Diagonal/p/7216.uts?keyword=correcting%20prism |
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These days, wouldn't it be cheaper and alot better quality to set up a cheap camera down-range to transmit a live feed back to a computer? That is one approach. Another is to use an adapter to convert your precious $12,000 camera lens into a telescope without the camera body. http://www.bobatkins.com/photography/technical/Lens-scope-adapter.html |
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IMO, cheap ones are only good for 100-200 yards. .22 holes get difficult to see quickly at the lowish fixed power that most cheap ones offer. We won't even get into clarity. I use an old Simmons, but as an East Coaster, it's enough for my normal 100 yard play. If it takes a tumble, and it has, I don't cry. This. You won't see bullet holes at 300 pretty much with even some of the better scopes. Certainly not with a cheap one. Past 100, without at least a decent scope, you're walking to see your hits. 
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That is one approach. Another is to use an adapter to convert your precious $12,000 camera lens into a telescope without the camera body. http://www.bobatkins.com/photography/technical/Lens-scope-adapter.html Huh, too bad I sold my big tele 
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Quoted:
$59 Simmons from Walmarts Web site is a great scope FOR THE MONEY. Go buy a camera tripod with a pistol grip and throw away the tripod that comes with the spotting scope. You'll love it if you keep in mind the price. Just NEVER look through someone else's $1500 spotting scope. You'll be ruined for ever. I made that mistake..... now I have a $59 spotting scope and a $1500 spotting scope. Yeah, I took a Simmons to my first few highpower matches, got a Kowa for Christmas that year. Seeing individual blades of grass at 600 yards is nice :-) Haven't shot highpower in a few years, but still take the Kowa out when shooting rifles. |