Glass setup for backpack hunting

[Weberado]

I was just going to ask if anyone has ran a "compact" spotter. Just looked at the Kowa and it's probably out of my price range. I know with glass you get what you pay for, but unfortunately I'm constrained by $$. I've heard of the Nikon 50mm Fieldscope, Minox 50mm, Leupold Goldring 50mm, Vortex Razor 11-33 50mm....has anyone had any experience with these and are they worth it? I'm surprised by how good of reviews the Minox has for being as cheap as it is....the price makes me a leery.

I was in the same boat until I found this article:

http://www.backcountrychronicles.com/nikon-prostaff-16-48x65-spotting-scope-review/

At 31.7 oz its the best bang for the weight and I got one for $150 on ebay about a month ago. Im running this with Leupold BX4 10-42's I also got brand new off Ebay for $380 with an Outdoor Vision bino harness. Couldnt be happier with all of these.

 

[JLS]

I have an old school Leupold Gold Ring 20x50 spotter on a Slik Sprint Mini II tripod. I don’t always take it elk hunting, kind of depends on where I’m at. It’s a necessity for deer hunting IMO. I pair it with a diss Classic 10x40 binos.

 

[BrentD]

I own a Nikon 50mm Fieldscope with ED lens. It is amazingly good and amazingly compact and light. It it lighter than my 10x42 Leica binos. I can't say that I've found the perfect tripod for it, but I haven't really done my homework on that.

In bright light, the little Nikon is as good as my Ziess 80 mm scope, but it is, of course, in low light where little scopes suffer and that certainly happens. But as 50 mm scopes go, I don't think it is easily matched, much less beaten.

 

[Deleted member 16014]

I own a Nikon 50mm Fieldscope with ED lens. It is amazingly good and amazingly compact and light. It it lighter than my 10x42 Leica binos. I can't say that I've found the perfect tripod for it, but I haven't really done my homework on that.

In bright light, the little Nikon is as good as my Ziess 80 mm scope, but it is, of course, in low light where little scopes suffer and that certainly happens. But as 50 mm scopes go, I don't think it is easily matched, much less beaten.

This is a great spotter for the weight, and can often be found used or re-furbished for $350-$450.

 

[BrentD]

This is a great spotter for the weight, and can often be found used or re-furbished for $350-$450.

I think I bought mine on ebay as a used (but near mint) scope. I have a fixed power eye piece on it hoping for better resolution at low light than I might get with the zoom. I have put a zoom on it, but went back to the fixed eye piece in the end. It is a tough tradeoff.

 

[BrentD]

I should add, mine has the angled eyepiece because I bought it originally for competitive shooting and using from the prone position. As a hunting scope, I prefer the straight body.

If anyone wants to trade one of these scopes with a straight body for the angled body, let me know. We might work a deal.