38x114x70 spotting scope

mrtikle

New member
Has anyone had any experience shooting with a scope of this magification, i have been offered one.
I currently use a meade 20x60x60 and while its fine at 100yds if you shoot alone, in a tournament i cant pick my own arrows out.



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KidCurry

Well-known member
AIUK Saviour
Has anyone had any experience shooting with a scope of this magnification, i have been offered one.
I currently use a meade 20x60x60 and while its fine at 100yds if you shoot alone, in a tournament i cant pick my own arrows out.
Hello Mrtikle
The zoom magnification is not really the issue with scopes. Well in a way it is. The problem is the quality of glass both in the zoom eyepiece and in the body, but in cheaper scopes it's normally the zoom eyepiece that lets them down. Just because the zoom is 38-114 doesn't mean you can resolve any more detail at 114x than you did at 38x. In fact at 20x you may find your Meade out performs it. The only way to check is to do a side by side comparison.
The only scope I know of with this zoom range is the Maksutov Cassegrain style scope, possibly a TS Voyager2. If it is this type of scope it will struggle at or over 70m as the image will be too fuzzy, just as I assume the Meade is.

I do a lot of wildlife work and am fortunate to own a Leica APO77 for the last 15 years. It is a 30x fixed 77mm objective scope. At 90m I can resolve my nocks and fletchings in a fully loaded boss very clearly, as clearly as if you were standing next to the boss. However, to get this performance today you will need to part with ?1800+ and a zoom outfit ?2000+.
There is a mass of scopes at the sub ?300 and I am not aware of any that will deliver what you are after. I have not looked through any that will resolve arrows at 90m. It is the case in optics that you really do get what you pay for. And fixed eyepieces are better than zooms.

There is an exception to this rule that I have found. As the Leica is really too heavy to carry on my shoulder all day I bought a lighter scope. It is the Pentax PF-65ED. Body only can be found for about ?420 maybe a bit less. It takes a 1.25" eyepieces which is rare for scopes as manufacturers like to lock you into their brand. A fixed ED 12mm 'StarGuider' eyepiece for ?50 and the optical performance is about 96% that of my Leica. The StarGuider eyepiece is not waterproof but the scope is. There is nothing in the Opticron or any other manufacturer's range of optics to touch it for under ?800.
The holy grail of scopes for archers gives clear resolution of arrows at 90m and cost less than ?150. It just does not exist.

I hope this has been of some help.
 

mrtikle

New member
Cheers mate, i wont bother with that one then, it sounded too good to be true anyway

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Ar-Pe-Lo

Member
agree with KidCurry....it's quality glass what you want, not biggest magnification.....

have a look at ebay as I picked up Nikon ED60 fieldscope+24x fixed eyepiece for ?350 (about ?1200 new) which is more than you ever need for archery.

If you want reasonable quality, cheap and very light scope have a look at Kowa 501.
 
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