Hi There; About two years ago, I too was in the market for a spotting scope.  My ancient B&L 20-60 was ok at 20X, but the resolution really fell off above 45X.  Also, as the scope had a rather small objective lens, light transmission was not great.

I ruled ou the top scopes as being totally unsuitable to my budget, and loked at scopes priced under $500.00.  My wife and I looked at and through quite a few scopes at gun shows, and sporting goods stores. 

Nikon and Winchester were leaders of what we saw, but I saw an ad for a Barska 20x-60x with an 80mm objective lens.  It was less than $150.00 from a midwestern mail order firm.  We figured if it was not the right one, we would return it.

The piece we got surpassed all the scopes we looked at to the price limit I had set.   

I learned a long time ago ( in photography) that optical companies such as Nikon , Pentax, Zeiss typically produce a narrow range of quality products, say from very good to excellent.  Non-premeir firms would have a much wider range of quality control and it may range from poor to superb.  I have found inexpensive optics that actually outperformed their costlier counterparts. You may have to look harder, but I feel it is worth the effort.

I recommended the Barska I got to a friend who then purchased same, and he too is very happy with this China made product.

We use the scope for birding and shooting, and keep it in the car trunk.

edbu

I bought a Celestron spotting scope with 100 MM objective, angled eye piece, 20-60 power all for $385 at a gun show from their rep. It compares vary favorably to a Kowa that sells for more than twice that amount. Been using it now for over a year for long range shooting with no complaints. I have a 15-45 power Burris with straight eye piece--it's ok but not in the same class.

Vall;

My Barska does not, but they do have them.  I just checked the website where I got mine.  Can we mention sellers here, or do we have to be cagey?  Place is owned by a guy named Larry, I believe.

Ed

I have been doing business there (Champion Shooters Supply) for many years with perfect satisfaction.

Dale53

Thanks for all the info everyone, the job now is to check out suppliers and get prices. Getting set up for this shootin' game is going to be fun!! I will be ssking more questions, I know I will get the right answers here.  Regards.....Cj  in Aus.

EdBu wrote on Feb 14^th, 2009 at 9:59pm:


I don't see a reason not to mention a supplier, as long as it's a positive comment. But you can email me if you want to!

When I bought my Nikon, I went to a place called Eagle Optics in Middleton WI and brought a schuetzen target that had .22 cal holes in it. I set it up in a snowbank as far from the store as I could get, then set up a bunch of scopes and tested each one. After about four hours of testing, only one met my criteria of being able to see a .22 cal hole at 200 yds AND being able to fit it into my range box and be at or under %500 in cost, and that was the Nikon 80MM model 80A with angled eyepiece. I am very happy with it, even though there are times, depending on light conditions, when its difficult to see a .22 cal hole at 200 yds. 
However, two of my friends have the Burris Landmark with 80 mm lens, which sells for under $250, and that scope is every bit as good as mine. The only drawback is that the Burris Landmark is a lot longer and will not fit in my range box. 

I would go to a store that has a good selection, bring a target with bullet holes, set up two tripods (bring your own just in case they wont let you use yours, )  set a target up  outdoors, and start testing. Its the only way to judge what you are getting. I hope this helps, Joe S