Ian McKerchar wrote:

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Beg, steal or borrow (well perhaps not steal!). Sell a kidney, get a loan from a guy who'll break you legs if you miss a repayment or sit outside a cash machine on a Saturday night with a dirty face and a mangy old dog asking "spare some change for a Swarovski sir". But whatever you do, if you're serious about your birding, get yourself some top end optics. Yes, two and a half grand for a scope is ridiculous but the view through them cannot be underestimated. They genuinley give new, exciting dimension to birding and are truly breathtaking, anything else is selling yourself short! You only have one set of eyes and one life, give yourself the best

-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Saturday 21st of May 2011 06:37:51 PM

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You know what though Ian, I looked through some blokes Opticron HR something or other at Martin Mere last year. It was a £200 scope plus £100 for the eyepiece and although not as good as my own scope, it wasnt half bad. Personally I think the price of optics has gone slightly bonkers. I was tempted to buy a new pair of Bins after xmas, but really couldnt justify spending £1600 on a pair that just weren't £1600 better than my current ones. It wouldnt be too bad if you got a decent amount in part ex but all your'e talking is £400 for a pair of Leica BA's in damn good nick!

You only have one set of eyes and one life, give yourself the best

Ian, I will try that line on my wife next time I want to upgrade my equipment, and will direct her comments to you. It won't be my fault then.

Mine came with the 60S-W22X eyepiece which gives quite a wide field of view.

(I should say mine is the 60mm ED MKII Piccolo which is now long discontinued)

However for sea-watching and more distant specks at say Martin Mere - I bought the 30xW which gives you more range.

I would strongly recommend getting a 62mm skylight filter (from Jessops or other photo shops) to protect the objective lens - I've gone through about 3 of these now over the years, through bashing the end or dropping the scope.

-- Edited by Tony Coatsworth on Saturday 21st of May 2011 10:51:03 AM

Ollie - maybe a bit late for you this. First although the gap between quality (optical and build) of scopes has decreased, its still pretty wide so the more you spend the more you get. Buying cheap is often false economy, so whilst you might not go for that Leica at £2500 straight off, an investment of £200 will repay itself over time. Second - there are some really decent scopes out there around the £200 quid mark. Most of the big retailers will have something, either new or second hand. Just remember some of them sell the body and the eyepiece seperate, so what starts off looking like a bargain can rack up to being quite expensive when you have to add on an eyepiece that costs £100+.

I'd also say Opticron stuff is pretty good having used one myself for a number of years. personally I'd avoid the mighty midget types (OK for a backup or travel scope) and go for a full size 60mm Objecive lens type (or 50mm Nikon spotting scope if you can find one). Have you checked the classifieds on here? there were a couple of scopes for sale if I remember right. One was a Bushnell Spacemaster which are cracking scopes.

-- Edited by Craig Higson on Friday 20th of May 2011 05:02:26 PM

-- Edited by Craig Higson on Friday 20th of May 2011 05:03:21 PM

I've an ancient Opticron Piccolo which is optically brilliant with ED glass so it's pretty bright, and very light to carry around.

I'd reccomend an opticron mighty midget- its a bit more than 60 quid, but its a good enough quality to see the far end of the spit, and even digiscope with! The other big bonus is its dead light, so its easy to carry about.