Spotting Scope upgrade?

[MadMuley72]

I have a vortex crossfire I have been running for years and has done me well. I am looking to upgrade to something nice. Of course this scope is a budget option, but it is pretty light weight for its size and works well. The problem is at long distances its tough to focus or get a crystal clear image, especially in low light.

I am looking to upgrade - don't even necessarily need specific options but brands or price ranges - seems like many brand have tiers from 500-1k, 1k-1500, 1500-2k, 2k+ etc etc. Where do you start getting diminishing returns? What is actually worth it? Of course I can read reviews online but would be great to hear from some folks who may have gone through something similar or have some experience

 

[Kow]

Most of the real jump from a Crossfire happens in the $800 to $1,500 lane. That is where focus feel, low-light performance, and edge sharpness start to get a lot better, while the stuff above that is mostly smaller improvements unless you are picky about mechanics and long glassing sessions. If this is mainly for hunting and truck use, I would start with a good 65mm and only go bigger if you know you sit behind a spotter a lot. Are you mostly glassing static animals, or is this more of a spotter-for-everything setup?

 

[StupidLightweight]

This may not apply to you, but I largely stopped using full-size spotting scopes when I entered the 15x56 bino world. They won't give you the zoom at distance to judge antlers like a massive spotter, but they are far superior at spotting game.

I had this epiphany on a DIY hunt in New Zealand. I brought SIG 15Xs and my buddy had his 60mm Swaro spotter. After the first day, we never touched the spotter. Having both eyes open is a huge advantage. Today, I still carry a compact spotter at times (Nikon ED50 with fixed 27X wide-angle eyepiece), but I only use full-size spotters at the range.

Like most optics, you get what you pay for with spotters. However, I was once part of a spotting scope test, and of the dozen or so options, my favorite was a 60mm Meopta MeoStar with the wide-angle lens. Cost wise, it was in the middle of the pack yet it competed with or surpassed the elite-level brands. The takeaway for me was the eyepiece is as important or more so than the scope body.

 

[Badger 5]

If I could afford Swaro I would buy them.

I can’t, so I picked up used Maven B2 10x42 from the classified and love them. If I was doing it again I’d go with used Maven B series, Meopta Meostars, or Zeiss Conquest.

Try to look through them all and see what your eyes prefer. For glassing off a tripod for long periods of time I would vastly prefer this tier of glass to cheaper stuff, which gives me headaches during long glassing sessions.

 

[Dverbeek8]

Started with vortex. Then went to leupold and that was a big upgrade. I went with the sx4. I just bought a Kowa 66 so I’m excited to compare but the leupold is a nice budget scope.

 

[Dverbeek8]

My vortex was a diamondback.

 

[mainbeam pursuit2]

My son is using a 85mm Razor, it is very serviceable. I agree about the 15x56, use my SLCs the most. Have a Meopta S2 and a 554 Kowa in the bag for when I feel I need to really size something up.