Spotting scope with angled eyepiece

Any opinions on a good spotting scope with angled eye piece to use for 50’-50 yards for bullseye. Had a celesteon 10-30x50 that worked fine until it came up broken inside.

https://www.opticsplanet.com/hawke-sport-optics-nature-trek-9-27x56-spotting-scope.html


Very Compact, nice glass, easy to adjust. Good sized OBJ lens for the overall length. Free returns, etc.

Celestron’s have a lifetime warranty….call them and ship it back to them, they will ship you a new one.

Warranty might not cover being stomped on following a 7 first shot.  Clean footprint off before returning.

I have a Kowa 501. Great scope, nice small size, but if you wear glasses (and who doesn't), your eye needs to be pretty close to the eyepiece to see well.

Anyone have a solution for that, I am all ears.

Celestron does not cover impact fractures of the refractor. My 80mm Celestron got knocked over and shattered the mirror, was hoping to use their warranty but it sucks. Buy a Vortex, they will literally cover about anything and require no registration and will even warranty future owners.

It's worth a shot under warranty, they have replaced two spotting scopes for me, and on both occasions, internal optic elements either broke or came loose rendering them useless. My experience with Celestron has been very positive. What does the OP have to lose in trying?
Vortex is a great company...$$$$$....but it's only money!!!

Vortex is not that expensive for quality stuff. If you want to see expensive go look at Euro optics then the Vortex Razor line will look like a bargain. Kind of funny how many people balk at a $700 spotting scope while driving around with $10-15k in pistols in their trunk for a match.

I wondered about Champions Choice 20x 60mm variable. 10 mm bigger objective should help. anyone have one?

About $200

zanemoseley wrote:Vortex is not that expensive for quality stuff. If you want to see expensive go look at Euro optics then the Vortex Razor line will look like a bargain. Kind of funny how many people balk at a $700 spotting scope while driving around with $10-15k in pistols in their trunk for a match.

For something that maybe gets used for a total of 15-20min of actual use at most, to me $700 seems kind of expensive, especially if the main use case is pistol. Absolutely agree that a good quality product is almost always a good purchase, but it has to fit the use case right.

I will throw in my 2 cents here.  After experiencing a severe fogging problem while at Perry this year I went straight to Champion's Choice and checked out their spotting scopes.  I ended up buying a Champion's Choice 12X36X60.  So far I am very pleased.  It has a fixed angled head and the body rotates on a ring with a set screw to position the head at your desired angle.  It picks up 22 holes clearly without any problems even without going past 18X.  I have used it at 2 matches (both outdoors) since Perry and still can't find any faults with it.  I have not tried it in an indoor setting yet, so I can't speak about it's ability in a lower than natural light setting.

This one works fine for me and the GF.
Can see 22 holes in the black even in overcast weather.
Looks like only a used one in stock right now though.

Is is as clear as the 299 Nikon straight one I used previously.

Gosky 13-40X50 Angled 13-40X50 Spotting Scope- Waterproof Scope for Outdoor Bird Watching Animal Watching Target Shooting Hunting with Tripod and Digiscoping Adapter-Get The World into Screen https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07W6TVYW6/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_QKEYHJG2GAWH4T9EAAZ3?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

Check out Minox spotting scopes, I have a straight barreled one and it is very nice.  They do make an angled one as well.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/524108-USA/Minox_62225_MD_50_W_2_0_50mm.html

Shop around.  I got mine on sale a while back for a few hundred dollars as a close out.

I second the Kowa. Excellent, clear scope and fits nicely in my gun box.

Had a Kowa 501, it's a great scope for the $$

thegreat wrote:Had a Kowa 501, it's a great scope for the $$

This is what I bought a Perry this year. Works well. Not much for eye relief, have to flip up the blinder to see the whole target. But, if you keep them all in the center, not a problem!!! 

Best, 
Arthur

I bought the 501 to replace my old Bushnell competitor. light weight, adjustable eye relief, 20 to 40 magnification, I can even see the occasional hole that shows up in the black areas.
     I am still getting used to looking through it from the side though.
I don't regret the purchase. It suits my needs, but I'm not a purest.

Has anyone tried hooking their phone camera up to a scope? Does it work? Recommend? Depend on the scope? Seems like a great idea especially with glasses I could just keep it on the scope all match and just glance at it rather than pushing up glasses and getting in close to eye piece. If you know of a product that’s cheap and works let me know!

There are these.  They work.  The WiFi is a bit weak… 

https://www.shootingmadeeasy.com/spot-shot-cameras/

I’ll let you know

I have thought about the phone camera on the spotting scope and have purchased a phone holder that attaches to the spotter and gave it a try.  

It is not easy or intuitive to set up and takes a bit of time to get it to correctly display a useable image.  

Even tried to get it set up on my spotter on my pistol box but quite frankly, it was a pain to get it set up and it was easily disturbed, which required more fiddling to get it correct.  

Since most of my matches insist that pistol boxes remain closed until all targets are posted and then give a measured three minutes of prep time, I do not think that there is enough time to set up the spotting scope/phone holder/cell phone, get your ear protection, eye protection, red dot, pistol rest, load magazines, and do a couple of dry fires before they ask if everybody is ready.  

I spose you could continue to set it up during the first ten minute slow fire match but it is too much fussin for me to bother with. 

Regards, 
Crankster

CrankyThunder wrote:I have thought about the phone camera on the spotting scope

I agree, maybe someone makes one that is easy and repeatable to set up, but the cheap one I got is useless. Getting the cameral aligned with the image correctly is difficult with a lot of trial an error. Any bump and it's no use.

On top of that, the resolution, even with a high MP camera is noticeable and makes shots harder to see.

Wobbley wrote:There are these.  They work.  The WiFi is a bit weak… 

https://www.shootingmadeeasy.com/spot-shot-cameras/

I got the cheapest SME scope cameras to try. It isn't worth it if you ask me. The situation is only a little better than using a smart phone adapters (see my comments above).

The camera head is a bit too heavy for the clamps that attach it to the eyepiece. It is a 3-jaw chuck, but all plastic and won't stay in place when bumped. The jaws won't close down enough to use with the small NG eyepiece.

Aligning the camera with the eyepiece image is easier than with a smart phone adapter. It pretty much works, but can slip to the side a little.

The resolution of the camera is borderline good enough, and the image is significantly degraded, like the scope is fogged. You will not be able to spot all 22 holes.

Here's a pricier alternative.  It's a "Longshot HAWK Smart Scope - Spotting Scope Camera."  Here a link to the website: https://www.longshotcameras.com/products/hawk  Optics Planet sells it for $200 with free shipping.  Everywhere else appears to get $249.  I Just ordered one last night.  Optics Planet has them in stock - shipped this morning.  The reviews are good.  I hope it's worth it.  

Note that this camera has a higher resolution - 1920 x 1080.  It weighs 1#.  I haven't seen complaints about having difficulty keeping it attached to the scope.  I have an angled eyepiece on mine, which should help.  I use a tripod my scope, so getting it setup before a match shouldn't be an issue.

Gary

Thanks for all the info. I kind of figured if there was a better mousetrap I would have seen it on the line. But tech is always getting better. Gary: let us know how it works.

Todd