Alpha spotters, help me understand..

[KCviper]

I'm in the market so following this!

 

[Ram94]

So if you had a choice between a Leica APO televid 25-50 asperical eyepiece new in box complete with unfilled warranty card or a used in excelllent shape Swarovski ATS 65 HD with a 20-60 eyepice for the same money which one would be "the one".

Prefacing by saying, I haven’t looked through either of these scopes, but from what I read on the interwebs, I would personally take the ATS.

 

[HUNT JR]

I have had an STS 65 HD for years - after really getting the chance to look through the 65 STX it was a pretty clear difference to me and would be worth the money to upgrade. I just sold my STS to upgrade to the STX.

 

[Vek]

Have you looked thru your PF-65 with a decent eyepiece? That's a whole different animal with a XW-14 at 28x magnification or XL-10.5 at 38x (two I've tried). FOV is huge compared to the zooms.

 

[Grassymike]

I have an XF 12 (I think) I know it gets me to 32x and also both zooms , the xf 6.5- 19.5 and the bigger (soup can) higher quality Pentax basically made for the 80 and 100 mil scopes. The big zoom gives me 16x-48x on the PF 65. It has been awhile since I have played with everything. I have used this scope Sheep hunting for the last three years and it has worked really well. I need to just get off the Internet and compare this directly with a Swarovski to really tell how much different they might be with my eyes. I have used the XF smaller zoom on my sheep hunts. Overall I feel the Pentax spotters have been missed/extremely under rated overall. Especially for the price they can be bought for.

 

[JO.]

So if you had a choice between a Leica APO televid 25-50 asperical eyepiece new in box complete with unfilled warranty card or a used in excelllent shape Swarovski ATS 65 HD with a 20-60 eyepice for the same money which one would be "the one".

I would try and see if you could check out both locally and look through them. I know at this price point they are both great but will have a slightly different look. My opinion is see if your eye prefers one over the other regardless of the brand. I know most people when spending top money want to default to Swaro. I have two pairs of Swaro binos and just grabbed a pair of Leica RF binos from a member here. The Leicas have better color in my opion but the clarity and sharpness is right up there with the swaros. As far as the 80 to 65 argument, I just went to the full-size for better light when digiscoping and decided if I was going to lug around a big spotter might as well have all I could.