Spotting Scope Shopping Tips

• Stay away from cheap scopes. Low-cost scopes are designed for amateurs and those that don’t know better. Manufacturers tend to take short-cuts, or use low quality materials on the low-cost scopes. All you’ll get for your money is poor field performance and possibly a headache. Ouch! Spend a few hundred dollars and get a quality spotting scope that will give you good results. Spend a thousand dollars or more and you’ll own a high quality scope that should last you many, many years. Don’t cheat your experience by trying to save a few dollars on your scope. A quality spotting scope will keep you excited and wanting to see more.

• A bright image is always preferable. That being stated, look for the objective lens (that’s the lens farthest from your eye) to be a minimum of 60mm in diameter to provide you with a bright image. The most popular sizes tend to fall in the range of 78mm to 100mm.

• Simply stated, zoom lenses are great. Most birders scan for birds with their lens set at 20x and then crank it up to the max (usually 60x) when they spot something interesting. Other types of lenses have their uses but are not as functional for most birders. Eyeglass wearers and digiscopers often find a 27x eyepiece with long eye relief to be very useful. Due to the effects of heat distortion and loss of light, shy away from fixed focal length eyepieces larger than 45x unless you can afford high-quality optics. As always, you get what you pay for with optics. Spend the extra money and buy the highest quality scope possible.

• For many birders, size matters. Buy a scope that is the right size for the types of birding you most enjoy. If you are hiking up to your favorite lookout or trudging through some mudflats then you may want a smaller, lighter scope. If you bird from your car or some other location that does not require long periods of attachment to your scope then size and weight may not be as important.

• The question of Angled vs. Straight always is raised at some point. This is largely a matter of preference, but if you routinely share your scope with people who are taller or shorter than you, or if you prefer to view birds in trees then the angled models provide the most versatility. On the other hand, if you are the primary user of your scope, or if you are an inexperienced birder then you may find it easier to find birds quickly with the straight design.