MuleyFever
WKR
- Joined
- Nov 7, 2012
- Location
- S. UTAH
Yet Another "which 50-65mm scope" Thread
- Thread starter CoffeeGoat
- Start date
CG- that’s a lot of work on sheet.
You say “find” the animal? Do you use the spotter for glassing or do you use binos to glass and the spotter to size up the deer/goat?
That’s a lot of spotters to go through and few have probably compared them side by side.
Unless you need a spotter to see if the elk is a 5 or 5x6 or to judge overall length... I would say a 65 would be much more beneficial for open country deer/goat.
I personally have ed50, ED60, razor 65. The ED60 and vortex are very close and I give the edge to vortex more so for the fine focus. Having not compared them all to many others you can pick up the gen1 razor very cheap and still be able to get tripod and head. Look up Grifiti nootle for a head and tripod. Cheap and very good, IMO. Been using them for 5 years and are a great set up.
You say “find” the animal? Do you use the spotter for glassing or do you use binos to glass and the spotter to size up the deer/goat?
That’s a lot of spotters to go through and few have probably compared them side by side.
Unless you need a spotter to see if the elk is a 5 or 5x6 or to judge overall length... I would say a 65 would be much more beneficial for open country deer/goat.
I personally have ed50, ED60, razor 65. The ED60 and vortex are very close and I give the edge to vortex more so for the fine focus. Having not compared them all to many others you can pick up the gen1 razor very cheap and still be able to get tripod and head. Look up Grifiti nootle for a head and tripod. Cheap and very good, IMO. Been using them for 5 years and are a great set up.
I have had the Hawke ED60 scope for a couple of weeks now, and have been playing with it at different times of the day and in different light conditions, and am still happy. There are two antelope bucks that roam the area, and I was able to tell them apart and distinguish horn length at just shy of two miles a couple of evenings ago. I did upgrade the ProMaster tripod by replacing the ball head with their Specialist Series SPCH20 Cine Head. I plan to take the scope and tripod to the mountains this weekend for goat scouting.
jt4
WKR
- Joined
- Dec 11, 2018
Hawke Endurance ED 15-45x60 on a Sirui T024SK w/ VA5 head. It just came in, so only a few tings to note so far. Take my info with a grain of salt, bc my experience with a spotter has been limited to looking through 2-3 others at the range that were all absolute garbage and I swore I'd never own one.
1) I ordered this Wednesday from Cameraland, it shipped out same day and it got here today (Friday) before 10AM. Granted, I'm way closer to NY than most people on here, but I'm very happy with that.
2) This thing is small and that's not meant in a negative way. I knew it was going to be based on the description but couldn't really picture it.
3) I'm 6'2 - 6'3" and can stand behind this leaning over just the slightest bit with the legs on the tripod close together. Don't think it's going to be tall enough for me to stand behind with binos, but I knew that when purchasing it and if it was windy the legs would be further apart for stabilization so this wouldn't work.
Specs: (on a kitchen scale)
Tripod w/ VA-5 head minus the plate 2 lbs 13 oz
Spotter w/ plate from VA-5 head and case on 2 lbs 7.9 oz
Spotter w/ plate no case 2 lbs 2.6 oz
Spotter w/ case, tripod & head 5 lbs 4.8 oz
MuleyFever
WKR
- Joined
- Nov 7, 2012
- Location
- S. UTAH
Well I ordered the Hawke 60mm. For the price it’s worth a shot. I really wanted to get a Kowa 553 but I just don’t use a spotter enough to justify the cost.
Greetings from New Zealand. I've been eyeing the Hawke Nature Trek 9-27 and wonder what you think of the quality of the optics or if I should go for the non-ED 12-36 Endurance (still available locally, the 9-27 has to come from your side of the planet). Would that work too for the 9-27? ( I normally ship through New Zealand Post's freight forwarder in Portland, Oregon). Thanks, John.
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I ordered the Hawke Nature-Trek 9-27x56 only to be informed (after payment) that they had run out of stock..
Phoned cameralandny ( it was by that stage 3 AM here in New Zealand ) and ended up ordering the Hawke Endurance ED 15-45x60.
The assistance by the staff at cameralandny.com was the best I've experienced from any shop in the last 20 odd years.
Very pleased with the purchase ( in spite of spending more money than budgeted for ) and I am now looking forward for it to arrive in New Zealand.
I've been browsing many articles and postings here on the forum which helped tremendously, many thanks to all.
John
Phoned cameralandny ( it was by that stage 3 AM here in New Zealand ) and ended up ordering the Hawke Endurance ED 15-45x60.
The assistance by the staff at cameralandny.com was the best I've experienced from any shop in the last 20 odd years.
Very pleased with the purchase ( in spite of spending more money than budgeted for ) and I am now looking forward for it to arrive in New Zealand.
I've been browsing many articles and postings here on the forum which helped tremendously, many thanks to all.
John
Today the Hawke Endurance ED 15-45 finally arrived in New Zealand.
I put it on an old MeFoto Roadtrip tripod (which has its lower 12mm sections removed) with a Neewer panhead.
In my younger years I made telescopes and put this one through its paces - one thing I like to use is the old analog TV test picture which will give a good idea of resolution, contrast and colors and straightness of lines. It was great to see how much refractor optics have improved over the past 40 years, I'm impressed.
Things to be aware of are a couple:
- The cover with the velcro closings, well it's <fill in the blank with your favourite derogatory expression>
- The lens cap comes off with the slightest nudge
- Eye relief - I wear progressive spectacles and take them off when looking through a scope. I'm finding it's touchy at higher magnifications, you've got to be at exact the right distance and looking straight at the right point. Eye relief varies when changing magnification (same as focus). A bit off centre or from the corner of your eye and the picture turns to less than satisfactory. There is a reason Leopold, Kowa etc. use a ratio of 1:2 for their zoom pieces., I'm finding that there is not a great deal to be gained when going above 30x.
It's a dainty little scope, am impressed with the optical performance within its price class. Very much doubt there is much better to be had at the same price. It has its limitations but as long as you're aware of these then you cannot go wrong. Well done Hawke and thank you cameralandny for your advise.
John
I put it on an old MeFoto Roadtrip tripod (which has its lower 12mm sections removed) with a Neewer panhead.
In my younger years I made telescopes and put this one through its paces - one thing I like to use is the old analog TV test picture which will give a good idea of resolution, contrast and colors and straightness of lines. It was great to see how much refractor optics have improved over the past 40 years, I'm impressed.
Things to be aware of are a couple:
- The cover with the velcro closings, well it's <fill in the blank with your favourite derogatory expression>
- The lens cap comes off with the slightest nudge
- Eye relief - I wear progressive spectacles and take them off when looking through a scope. I'm finding it's touchy at higher magnifications, you've got to be at exact the right distance and looking straight at the right point. Eye relief varies when changing magnification (same as focus). A bit off centre or from the corner of your eye and the picture turns to less than satisfactory. There is a reason Leopold, Kowa etc. use a ratio of 1:2 for their zoom pieces., I'm finding that there is not a great deal to be gained when going above 30x.
It's a dainty little scope, am impressed with the optical performance within its price class. Very much doubt there is much better to be had at the same price. It has its limitations but as long as you're aware of these then you cannot go wrong. Well done Hawke and thank you cameralandny for your advise.
John
Fire power
Lil-Rokslider
- Joined
- Sep 23, 2020
- Location
- MO
Leupold GR Compact ane be done with it.
Thanks but no thanks: Above my budget - here in NZ it works out at four times what I've paid (and that is including shipping and taxes).
dirtshooter
WKR
- Joined
- Jan 1, 2022
- Location
- AB
Did you end up taking this spotter to the mountains? If so how did it perform?
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