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ZR Ridgefield Angled Spotter

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ahiaring View Drop Down
Optics Apprentice
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Joined: January/21/2011
Location: Boise Idaho
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    Posted: June/19/2011 at 22:01
I have ED2 binos and love them to death so I know of the quality, but due to funds dont have the money for the ED spotter so I am wanting to buy the Ridgefield Angled unit. I can get one for about 200.00 and just curious as to the level of spotter this unit is. Is there anything else in this price that competes? I am guess this has got to be at least equal to spotters2-3 times the price.
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Klamath View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Klamath Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: June/19/2011 at 23:08
I had both a straight and angled Ridgefield for somewhat over a month.  I was actually pretty surprised at how good it is.  I would compare it optically to the ZRS binoculars in the Zen Ray lineup.  Another that is likely a good choice is the Theron Saker, which has ED glass.  The Ridgefield really did not seem to suffer from any tendencies to show color fringing, which is usually the primary benefit to ED glass.  ED will also show more image brightness at higher magnification than non ED glass, but I thought the Ridgefield was plenty bright.  The included zoom eyepiece of the Ridgefoeld shows a pretty marked decline in the width of fov after you hit 30x, or maybe a bit less.  I didn't find that to be a problem as your scanning is usually done at lower magnification and the power is cranked up for a closer look.  With this scenario, having your target located at lower magnification sort of cancels out the loss of fov.   I was pretty impressed with the Ridgefield and I would say that it is an instrument I would own and use myself.  I have the ZEN ED 2 82 mm spotter and that fills my spotter needsa for now.
Steve
"Everything that can be counted does not necessarily count; everything that counts cannot necessarily be counted". William Bruce Cameron

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FrankD View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote FrankD Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: June/20/2011 at 15:27
You can pretty much "copy and paste" Klamath's comments in my post here. I tried both the Ridgefield and the Saker. The Ridgefield wins on field of view and overall design. The Saker wins in terms of CA control at all magnification and, subsequently, apparent sharpness. I have not looked through a spotter anywhere near this price range that beats it in terms of these two characteristics.
Frank
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ahiaring View Drop Down
Optics Apprentice
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Joined: January/21/2011
Location: Boise Idaho
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote ahiaring Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: June/24/2011 at 14:24
arrived today and very impressed to say the least.To my mind equivilant to just about most sub 600.00 spotters I have looked through and a better image than a friends vortex skyline...This could be the ultimate pack spotter.
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