Spotting Scope Recommendations

[Forkyfinder]

Dunno if OP already pulled the trigger, but this thing is great for the money. Would’ve loved a light, compact Kowa, but that thing is a considerable bump in price.

Maven sells through Amazon and these scopes are like $650 on the Prime Day promotions they have.

Backwoods Pursuit has pretty detailed reviews of a ton of scopes. The Maven was #2 behind the Athlon Ares in sub $1000 spotters. The Ares a like 9oz heavier, but also looks nice.

I use mine with a Black Ovis Treeline sitting tripod that retails for $159 and weights ~30 oz. That puts my scope/tripod setup at about 70oz for just an hair over $800. Neither is the best at anything, but all in all it’s a good balance of portability, quality, and price.

I really want to have a HT field day with glass and have a bunch of spotters, scopes, and bins to compare.

It's hard to really get a feel for how good the glass is compared to others without comparing the same pair in the same place with varied light conditions.

 

[rjthehunter]

Dunno if OP already pulled the trigger, but this thing is great for the money. Would’ve loved a light, compact Kowa, but that thing is a considerable bump in price.

Maven sells through Amazon and these scopes are like $650 on the Prime Day promotions they have.

Backwoods Pursuit has pretty detailed reviews of a ton of scopes. The Maven was #2 behind the Athlon Ares in sub $1000 spotters. The Ares a like 9oz heavier, but also looks nice.

I use mine with a Black Ovis Treeline sitting tripod that retails for $159 and weights ~30 oz. That puts my scope/tripod setup at about 70oz for just an hair over $800. Neither is the best at anything, but all in all it’s a good balance of portability, quality, and price.

The maven is a pretty good quality. About all I would really ask of a light packable spotter. There's clearer scopes, but I don't know if you can find a better bang for your buck!

Compared to my buddies Vortex Razor, same time and place, and the Maven was definitely clearer. The Vortex was a 27-60x85, and my Maven is a 15-45x65.

 

[Beignet]

I really want to have a HT field day with glass and have a bunch of spotters, scopes, and bins to compare.

It's hard to really get a feel for how good the glass is compared to others without comparing the same pair in the same place with varied light conditions.

I’d really like to use it side by side with alpha glass (Swaro, Kowa) in the same magnification range. See if the alpha advantages are truly worth the vast price difference to me.