spotting scope recommendations?

hey everybody, i've got some preference points out west and i am planning on hunting mule deer and elk within the next 3 years. i don't currently own a spotting scope, but would love to have one. i was hoping someone on here could give me some reviews (good or bad) and also some pros and cons of different styles and brands. i know that i don't want to go the cheapest route and get one with low quality lenses. i'd prefer to do it right the first time and be happy with the money i've spent. any information or suggestions is appreciated! thanks

just my opinion.

You can get away with inferior glass when your looking through 8 power binos from a deer stand. Your eyes arent in the glass that much. But on a western hunt you may sit for hours at a time doing nothing but looking through your glass. This is where you seperate the players in optics. When you go to your local sporting goods store and ask to look through a pair of binos or a spotting scope, you pick up a set that has a 3 or 4 hundred dollar price tag and then a pair that has a 1000 or more dollar price tag, what do you see? Not much of a difference. I hear that comment made more times than not. " My 300 dollar set was just as clear" , " your paying for a name," bla bla bla. B.S.
Looking through a set of lens inside a store with flouresent lighting gives you the very best of conditions. You have no sun glare, no UV rays to deal with, no natural vegitation or landscape to look at to compare contrast. But I promise you, you take the same two sets out in the feild, espesially during that twilight time in the morning or at dusk, or even in the middle of the day with the suns glare beating down on everything and you put your face in those lenses for a while, that is when you see what your paying for.
over the years I have spent hundreds, probably thousands of dollars on glass. I use to buy a new set of Binos every few years, each time I spent a little more money. If I had realized that just going ahead and bighting the bullet way back then and buy the best I would have been ahead of the game in the long run. But its the truth. I have had the same set of 10x42 binos for 10 years now and have not one time thought I needed anything else. Yes they cost alot. But I havent bought another set since that purchase and I probably never will.
I say get the best you can afford. Do some research on the different glass out there. When you hear people say, this brand or that brand is just as good as those german optics, ask yourself if that is the case then why do all the less expensive players also offer a more expensive scope or bino? There is a difference in glass, the lenses themself. There is a difference in how that glass is put together. There is a difference in the coatings they all use. Do the research. Good glass that is taken care of is a one time purchase.

Swarovski, Kowa, Ziess are all great glass. Leopold Gold ring series is another.
Just my own opinion guys.

When it comes to a spotting scope, I have to agree with Willy. I have a Bushnell ( 18-36 I think ) and it works nice. I mainly have mine for shooting our guns, so the most I look at 99% of the time is 200 yards or less. Now if I'm out looking at deer for the last hour of daylight, not so good. I will almost always end up with a headache trying to look thru them, especially that last 15 minutes .
Now for bino's, sorry Willy but you know what I like already ! The Bushnell Perma Focus 10x50's are the ones my eyes chose ! Now way are they costly, 60/70 dollars but everybody I have told them about also loves looking thru them. I have looked thru many brands, including the high end ones and my eyes still tell me go Bushnell. They are the only ones I can look thru all day and not have a headache at the end of the day. But yes, for a spotting scope, being used out west on a hunt, spend the extra cash on some good ones. Like Willy also said, looking thru them in a store means squat, ask to take them outside and look around !! If the store wants to sell them bad enough, you should get a "No problem" from the store !!

I've currently got a Bausch & Lomb 15-60x spotting scope that I inherited. It's alright for what I use it for - glassing fields in the evenings. In low light, I'd call it "average" and in good light its pretty good. One thing I've noticed is that once you adjust the power up to 25x or so, the image isn't real sharp around the outer edge of your field of view- drives me nuts. That being said, overall its not a bad spotting scope but I'd like to upgrade.

If I was going to buy a spotting scope I'd go with a Leupold Golden Ring 12-40 x 60 HD. A friends dad has one and all I can say is "wow" and that sometime in the near future I will own one.
http://leupold.com/observation/products/spotting-scopes/golden-ring-spotting-scopes/golden-ring-12-40x60mm-hd/ Leupold also offers a "kit" for this spotting scope that comes w/ a hard case, soft case, a couple tripods, camera adapter etc...

wihunter24 wrote:I've currently got a Bausch & Lomb 15-60x spotting scope that I inherited. It's alright for what I use it for - glassing fields in the evenings. In low light, I'd call it "average" and in good light its pretty good. One thing I've noticed is that once you adjust the power up to 25x or so, the image isn't real sharp around the outer edge of your field of view- drives me nuts. That being said, overall its not a bad spotting scope but I'd like to upgrade.

If I was going to buy a spotting scope I'd go with a Leupold Golden Ring 12-40 x 60 HD. A friends dad has one and all I can say is "wow" and that sometime in the near future I will own one.
http://leupold.com/observation/products/spotting-scopes/golden-ring-spotting-scopes/golden-ring-12-40x60mm-hd/ Leupold also offers a "kit" for this spotting scope that comes w/ a hard case, soft case, a couple tripods, camera adapter etc...

That is a super piece of glass.

thanks for the information guys! Willy, though we've never met, i feel like the information you provide on peoples posts is as good as gold everytime i read it. that's one reason i love this site so much. i can come on here and get great advice and reviews to make an informed purchase instead of taking a gamble and spending money on a POS item. WIhunter, that leupold you recommended is the one i think i will be saving up for.

another question............anything i need to know about filming through a spotting scope? i would assume a scope like this with quality glass would be a good one to get some video footage through.

I was going to say the Leupold spotting scope as well, but Zack has already said it. I have one, and all I can say is "wow" every time I look through it. I love it. My dad has the same spotting scope as well.

sportsman guides economical spotting scope and premium binos are great! just as good as the bushnells, you can buy both and still have left over change, jmo!