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.

 

[MadMuley72]

Appreciate all the input here, this is helpful.

Sounds like there’s pretty strong alignment around that ~$800–$1,500 range being the real “jump” from my crossfire, and anything above that is more incremental unless you’re really picky or glassing a ton. That’s kind of what I was trying to sanity check. Of course would love to be able to look through a bunch of options but unfortunately don't really know anyone with anything other than vortex.

The bino point is interesting too. I haven’t spent much time behind 15x glass, but the idea of actually finding more animals vs just judging them better makes a lot of sense. I definitely notice switching back and forth a ton between my binos and scope. There are certainly many areas where any scope is overkill and the binos would be the better play.

Do you guys backpack hunt and then does that make a difference? One thing I liked about the vortex was the weight. One thing I hate is carrying in Binos, Spotter, and tripod when packing back 5 miles

 

[cole96]

I think with a spotter you can tell a bigger return on your top end being such high zoom ratios. To me the cheap spotters aren’t worth getting and the top end (swaro,kowa) or phenomenal. I know there are lots of good options between. I feel you get a better return going from mid grade to top end with a spotter vs Bino IMO