Cheers for mentioning that Mike

I can send the spec on the Acuters Rick if you like, if you do just drop me a PM, don't want to send info unsolicited!!

I bought an Acuter DS 65 from Focalpoint a few months ago for £179 I think and I am very pleased with it.

Hi All,

I'm considering buying a Nikon Prostaff 5 82mm Scope and was just wondering what people think of it who've had chance to try one out. Or if there is a similar or better one on the market for about the same price? It's £199 including a 25x eyepiece.

Any advice would be gratefully accepted.

Cheers
Rick

For info - There's Kowa 612 with SOC and zoom on Bird forum for £250.

Mark Evans wrote:

---

im also after a big but cheaper scope. only tried the hawke frontier 20-60x85 so far. seems ok apart from the colour fringing. i fancy the opticron gs 815 because its one of the cheapest "decent" makes. has anyone tried the new avian multiview, rspb ag80, meade kesrel or nikon ra 111 82 wp scopes? any info would be greatly appreciated

---

Hi Mark, cant comment on any of the scopes mentioned specifically but, if I'm right the Hawke scopes dont have interchangeable eyepieces. This may or may not bother you but I've certainly found the option of swapping eyepieces advantageous before now. Although I must admit i only have one fixed mag eyepiece for my current scope.

jimmy,aldi did this scope last year, its fine for the dosh involved or if you havn,t got a scope or want one for travelling.

cheers geoff

just to let everybody know aldi are selling as special buys this sunday 10thfeb
spotting scopes at £24.99 dont know about the make


-- Edited by j meadows at 22:03, 2008-02-04

the Girlfriend bought me a RSPB AG80 for xmas, upto now i can not say a bad word about it for the money, I have also just bought a fitting to put my 350D camera on it, only tried it out the window because of weather, but results are good, cant wait to try it when the sun comes back. But using it for spotting down at Moore NR the other week I am impressed with the brightness and shapness it gives. I'll give it a real test in Mull this May. I am hoping to go back to Moore NR this sunday morning for a few hours, if your not far, feel free to contact me and come down to try it.

Steve

im also after a big but cheaper scope. only tried the hawke frontier 20-60x85 so far. seems ok apart from the colour fringing. i fancy the opticron gs 815 because its one of the cheapest "decent" makes. has anyone tried the new avian multiview, rspb ag80, meade kesrel or nikon ra 111 82 wp scopes? any info would be greatly appreciated

2nd hand stuff(or pre owned as the yanks have it) I been watching e bay for a while results so far

opticron hr80 ga £360
kowa ts612 £102
kowa prominar 82 £565 these are final prices with good 'feedback'

but thats e bay (buyer beware)

cheers geoff

It often pays to buy secondhand. My other half, Sue, bought a top of the range Leica from someone selling their scope on BirdForum. This forum often has scopes, bins and cameras etc for sale. Sue saved £700 by buying secondhand.

Bought an Opticron ES80GAED with the HDF zoom lens from In Focus at Martin Mere. Very pleased with the scope and really pleased with the service and help from the staff in the shop, who are both keen birders.
It may be possible to save a few pounds on line, but shops like this are few and far between and deserve our support.

simon,your not on your own i,ve been looking since december and have around the same budjet in mind ,at the momment i,m having an opticron GS815/45 and eyepiece no.s 40966 and 40932g
direct from opticron 406 quid i,ve not commited just yet so if anyone has this set up or similar your comments would be really usefull

cheers geoff

Simon, it 's been said on here so many times before with binoculars - you need to go and try a few.

The choice with scopes is even more mind blowing than it is with Bins. Angled/straight, 60/62/65/77/80mm objective, eyepiece magnification, ed/non-ed glass (From what I've been told before you are better off with a 60-66mm ED model than an 80mm nonED model).

Minox do an ED 65mm (i think) scope for about £400 and its about £100 for an eyepiece. I've been impressed with all the Minox kit I've looked through, and I think that includes a stay on case. Dont know how available they are except from a well known internet retailer.

I used to have an Opticron 66mm scope and for what I paid it was OK, nothing brill but OK. Build quality was good though. Opticron probably have the biggest range of scopes in your price category. Personally I've never got on with Kowa scopes they seem to have a bit of a cast to them.

If you wanted a bigger 80mm scope -Ace Cameras are advertizing an Optolyth TBS/G 80mm with a 30x eyepiece for £539. A bit old fashioned, and large scope but last time I looked through one it seemed like a really good bit of kit.

Also 'Focalpoint' near Northwich have a selection of second-hand scopes.

http://www.bid4optics.com/shop/

Hi Simon
Try going to the In focus shop at Martinmere. It has a good choice of scopes which you can try out by looking at the birds on the mere. They also have good quality secondhand scopes for sale.

Can anyone recoment any decent scopes for around £500. Mine is on its last legs but as im poor need to get a new one on a budget but havent got a clue whats any good! Help please?