I can’t speak to the gen I, but my buddy and I just did a side by side comparison of the 27-60x85mm and the 22-48x65 Razor HD gen II’s. We were looking at a street sign in low light (around 9:45 PM), distance ~600 yds (I can update when I have an actual range). The 85mm let in a ton of light and we could actually read the street name on the sign. The 65mm felt like there was something missing- the clarity was just bad and you had to know where the street sign was to even pick it out of the image.
Not to bash on 65mm spotters, I’ve had a few! But if you can afford a larger objective, do it. I would rather have been looking through my 10x42 binos than the 65mm.
Final thoughts: if you’re interested in a 65mm spotter purely for weight saving purposes, a high end pair of binoculars will do the job in my opinion. I’d rather be able to use both eyes on a smaller object, that one eye on a big blurry object.
If you’re looking for crisp, high power magnification at a long distance then I’d definitely recommend a larger objective spotter (even something like a 77mm spottter from Kowa makes a remarkable difference).
Again, all opinion- but I hope this helps. If you’re ever interested in comparing multiple spotters side by side, you can rent them from Rent Outdoor Gear. They’re based in Boise and offer shipping and reasonable rental fees on a number if high quality optics. Hope this saves you the time and hassle of buying and selling multiple spotters over the years!
