Spotting Scope Under $1,000

[FourT6and2]

I need a spotting scope to better see hits/misses at ranges greater than 1,000 yards. My 5-25 scope does fine up until 1000. But anything past that and it gets difficult to spot my own hits.

I used someone's Sightron at a match once and it seemed nice. I think it was the 20-60x85 model. Some of the other ones I'm looking at (all are 20-60)

Sightron SIIBL x85: $650
Styrka S7: $750
Bushnell Elite: $848
Pentax PF80: $1,099
Hawk Frontier x85: $700
Celestron Regal M2:$580
Celestron Regal 100x: $760
Vanguard Endeavor HD: $550
Kowa TSN-82SV: $958

Does anybody have any experience with any of these?

Things I need: eye relief over 14mm. Over 18mm preferred. The longer, the better, so I can wear glasses. Optical quality is paramount. And a wide sight picture is preferred. I've used some spotting scopes where the image was really tiny. I remember the Sightron having a nice, wide image in the ocular. And as little chromatic aberration as possible.

Is it worth going with a larger objective? I know, all else being equal, larger is better. But most of these are 80mm, some are 85, and one is 100 (Celestron).

Thanks!

[Garand1911]

Kowa are very popular in the shooting community.
The angled eye piece makes it easier to see your targets and maintain your shooting position.

[FourT6and2]

Kowa are very popular in the shooting community.
The angled eye piece makes it easier to see your targets and maintain your shooting position.

They all have angled eyepieces...

[Mute]

I'd take a look at the Vortex Viper HD. Very good quality optics.

[ocabj]

I'd personally go Kowa 82SV. But if you want long eye relief, get the 25x long eye relief eyepiece instead of the 20-60x zoom eyepiece.

[FourT6and2]

I'd personally go Kowa 82SV. But if you want long eye relief, get the 25x long eye relief eyepiece instead of the 20-60x zoom eyepiece.

25x is pretty useless for spotting past 1,000 yards, though. My rifle scope is 25x. I don't need a spotting scope to begin with if I'm gonna get one that's only 25x. I've heard good things about the Kowa, but I need 60x or higher.

[ocabj]

25x is pretty useless for spotting past 1,000 yards, though. My rifle scope is 25x. I don't need a spotting scope to begin with if I'm gonna get one that's only 25x. I've heard good things about the Kowa, but I need 60x or higher.

I guess you shoot differently than I do. I have 27x on my scope, but I use the 27x LER on 821 to read mirage.

But based on the $1K limit, you may as well just go Kowa 82SV with the 60x max eyepiece. The Vortex 27-60x might get an extra 0.5mm better eyerelief on max power, though.

[FourT6and2]

Yeah I don't need to read mirage with a spotter. I need my buddy to spot hits/misses for me (and me for him) at longer ranges when our rifle scopes can't do it.

I can probably up my budget to $1600, which opens the door a bit. But there just isn't a lot of first hand info about a lot of the scopes out there. Like the Minox 80 RZ has a mil reticle in it. That seems like a great feature to have for making calls. But literally nobody has bought one haha.

[BigBamBoo]

I would give eurooptics a call. Talk with Jason. Say your a Sniperhide member (you will get a discount) and buy a Leupold Mark 4.

http://www.eurooptic.com/leupold-mark-4-12-40x60mm-black-tmr-60040.aspx

For around $1000 and free shipping, they are pretty hard to beat. Plus they have a mil based reticle so if your shooting with a buddy, he can call out corrections.


.

[FourT6and2]

Ok... I found a killer deal on the Meopta Meostar S2 with the eyepiece. Seems to be one of the best spotters out there outside of the top-of-the-line $3k-4k ones. Normally it's like $2500, but I couldn't pass up the deal I found on it. So my search is over haha. It uses HD Schott glass with flourite objective lenses like the Kowa 883

Here's the image quality




This one's at 800 yards

[Yerman]

I wont buy another spotting scope without a reticle. If you need your buddy to spot for you at 1k, I would highly recommend you get one as well.

"A couple feet to the right" is useless at those ranges. I want my spotter to give me Mil readings.

If you up'd your budget to $1600, there are options for you.

[FourT6and2]

I wont buy another spotting scope without a reticle. If you need your buddy to spot for you at 1k, I would highly recommend you get one as well.

"A couple feet to the right" is useless at those ranges. I want my spotter to give me Mil readings.

If you up'd your budget to $1600, there are options for you.

Like, what...?

The only one I'm aware of is the new Minox. It's not available yet. It would be awesome to have a reticle. But the options for that are few and far between.

[Yerman]

Like, what...?

The only one I'm aware of is the new Minox. It's not available yet. It would be awesome to have a reticle. But the options for that are few and far between.

https://swfa.com/optics/browse/spotting-scopes/mil.html

http://www.snipercentral.com/leupold-mark-4-spotting-scope-12-40x60mm/

[hmhoshino]

If you are Veteran you can get a great discount or a Leo. You can get a Vortex Razor HD spotting scope angled or straight with Eye piece with reticle for less that the retail price with free shipping.