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Help me find a scope for my dad

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Stringer View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Stringer Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March/18/2010 at 19:22
Wow! I am very grateful for all of these informed responses. Excellent The mounting is an especially good point. What quality window mounts and tripods would you guys recommend?

I will check out the Vortex, for sure. I've heard glowing opinions of their riflescopes, although I haven't used one before. I'm heading to Bass Pro this weekend; hopefully they'll have a sample to peek through.

The Pentax looks like a contender as well, and my dad would be very happy on the brand name aspect since he's a Pentax fan. It's a shame Bass Pro doesn't carry them. (not that I'd actually BUY from Bass Pro--there's a much better place for optics and we all know it's SWFA.) Big Grin

You guys make some very compelling arguments about the benefits and drawbacks of angled and straight eyepieces. From your info, I gather that the virtues of one over the other depend mostly on vantage point and mounting setup. I was initially leaning towards angled, but given my dad's stature and the places where he'd mount the scope, it looks like straight might be better for his situation. (That is unless I go with Vortex and have no choice but angled)

I was hoping for a bit more feedback on Swaro and Meopta as well if anyone has comments Smile
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Scott_at_Vortex Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March/19/2010 at 06:00
Originally posted by RifleDude RifleDude wrote:

I fixed it for you, Scott.

Good comparison pics!
Thanks Ted!!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote JGRaider Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March/19/2010 at 08:19
Scott at Vortex........why no straight, and when is one expected?  Thanks. 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Scott_at_Vortex Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March/19/2010 at 10:16
Originally posted by JGRaider JGRaider wrote:

Scott at Vortex........why no straight, and when is one expected?  Thanks. 
We are hoping to have them available late this year, maybe by the holidays?  I can't promise anything, we are working on them though.
 
 
 
 
 
Scott
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Huck BB62 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March/19/2010 at 12:14
I can honestly say, I LOVE my Swarovski. But, and this is a huge but, I'd take the Vortex in a split second and have money left over for a top of the line tripod AND camera adapters to complete the package. 

One thing more that people aren't talking about here, and it is a HUGE one thing more, is Vortex's warranty. Go to the websites and look at the difference. I've never seen anyone with a better warranty than Vortex, period. I've never, and I mean never, read anything but glowing reports about people's experience with Vortex customer support and warranty claims. 

If someone stole my Swarovski, I'd have a new Vortex Razor, tomorrow.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote RifleDude Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March/19/2010 at 14:39
Originally posted by Stringer Stringer wrote:

What quality window mounts and tripods would you guys recommend?

I was hoping for a bit more feedback on Swaro and Meopta as well if anyone has comments


I don't know about window mounts, but I can recommend most any tripod from Gitzo and Manfrotto.  I use the Manfrotto 055X PRO B, and I've been very happy with it.  It's very solid and has a good adjustment range, though it is a bit heavy.  You can spend tons of money and get carbon fiber tripods to save weight.  There are other good ones out there, but I am most familiar with those two brands.

I haven't used the Meopta spotter, and don't know enough about it to comment.  I can tell you the Swarovski HD spotters are absolutely top shelf, consistently ranked among the top 3 spotters you can buy in terms of image quality.  I personally don't like the center body helical focus on Swaro as well as the dual ratio (coarse and fine) small knob focusers on scopes like Kowa, Zeiss, Leica, and Vortex Razor HD.  I believe you can get much finer focus control at high magnification without moving the scope during focusing with the dual ratio knobs.  Regardless, the Swaro image takes a back seat to nothing currently available besides maybe the Kowa Prominar 880 series. 

That superb image quality comes at a steep price, though, and there are a few spotters that closely approach Swaro performance for a lot less money.  For instance, I don't think Swaro is 2X better than Vortex Razor HD, as its price would indicate.  Looking at the comparison images through both scopes that Scott posted on the previous page, I can't see much difference.  The feather subject has enough contrast and fine detail to be a good subject for comparison.  It appears to me that the Swaro image has just a touch better contrast, but that's it.  I can see just as much detail in the Razor HD image as I can with the Swaro image.  To my eyes, there's not enough difference between the two images worth worrying about, and unless they are compared side by side, I would challenge anyone to say conclusively that one is superior to the other.  There certainly isn't $1500 worth of difference there, in my opinion!  Does anyone here disagree with that?


Ted


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote SD Dog Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March/19/2010 at 15:07
For $1500 I can't say there is much of a difference based on the pictures posted.  Similar to the eye doctor, which is better, 1 or 2.  Can't discern much of a difference.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Huck BB62 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March/19/2010 at 16:42
Well, I don't have a lot of confidence in pictures as they can be manipulated easily.  It's extremely easy to eliminate chromatic aberration and to sharpen a picture. No one should buy a scope based on images. BUT, that said and done, I have looked through both now. I believe the Vortex to be awesome, despite the cost difference. 

On the straight vs. angled, for me, it has to be straight. Too many times in the field, when it's dusky, raining, and brushy, I need the scope looking directly in line with my shooting lane. It's just too much of an extra element to mess with to have an angled scope.  But, there are many times when I'm out back looking at the stars that  wished I had the angled!


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote JGRaider Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March/19/2010 at 21:54

I can't disagree.  I can also say that I've taken some unbelievable pics through my Nikon 82ED, and It can compete with anything out there optically.  I can for sure tell you there was no difference between it and my neighbor's Zeisss 85 T FL.  He agreed.  Put a 30x wide angle fixed eypeice on it and it will compete with anything in the world, bar none.   

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote RifleDude Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March/20/2010 at 00:43
Originally posted by Huck BB62 Huck BB62 wrote:

Well, I don't have a lot of confidence in pictures as they can be manipulated easily.  It's extremely easy to eliminate chromatic aberration and to sharpen a picture.



If those are the same comparison pics Sam was telling me about at SHOT, he said they were digiscoped images directly from each scope with no digital manipulation, other than being cropped.  I trust that what he said is truthful.
Ted


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Huck BB62 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March/21/2010 at 00:42
Good enough. By the way, the new magnesium Swarovskis price increase is kind of insane.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Stringer Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March/21/2010 at 08:59
^^ One reason I was interested in the ATS/STS series. Swaro is one company I can get a C&R discount on, but the new STM/ATM is too expensive.

Though I do not get a discount on Vortex, I am leaning that way right now.


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Scott_at_Vortex Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March/22/2010 at 07:08
Originally posted by RifleDude RifleDude wrote:

Originally posted by Huck BB62 Huck BB62 wrote:

Well, I don't have a lot of confidence in pictures as they can be manipulated easily.  It's extremely easy to eliminate chromatic aberration and to sharpen a picture.



If those are the same comparison pics Sam was telling me about at SHOT, he said they were digiscoped images directly from each scope with no digital manipulation, other than being cropped.  I trust that what he said is truthful.
They most likely are the same images that Sam spoke to you about.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote joanna Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May/19/2010 at 04:35

(Removed spam advertising link.  Suspended user account for spam and violation of forum rules.)



Edited by RifleDude - May/19/2010 at 07:18
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Scott_at_Vortex Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May/19/2010 at 08:43
Originally posted by Huck BB62 Huck BB62 wrote:

Well, I don't have a lot of confidence in pictures as they can be manipulated easily.  It's extremely easy to eliminate chromatic aberration and to sharpen a picture. No one should buy a scope based on images. BUT, that said and done, I have looked through both now. I believe the Vortex to be awesome, despite the cost difference. 

On the straight vs. angled, for me, it has to be straight. Too many times in the field, when it's dusky, raining, and brushy, I need the scope looking directly in line with my shooting lane. It's just too much of an extra element to mess with to have an angled scope.  But, there are many times when I'm out back looking at the stars that  wished I had the angled!




I am the same way when it comes to trusting pics, especially on the net, but these were actually taken by a Swaro pro staff friend of mine and I can assure you that if he did anything to them it would have been to make the Swaro pic look betterSmile.

That being said I really strive to be as honest as possible as does Vortex as a whole, but I would imagine that I am a little bias at timesBig Grin.

Thats great that you think the scope is awesome. We worked really hard on it and believe that we ended up with a great scope at a great price.



Sincerely
Scott
 
 
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