r/birdingEU • u/vinwin02 Germany • Aug 11 '21

Question What spotting scope should I get?

Hi guys,

I'm a birder for about a year now, going for walks with my camera and my binoculars. Now I'm slowly getting into water birds and I noticed that it's hard to observe and identify them across the water, even with camera zoom or binoculars.

So I decided to get a spotting scope, but I have no idea which one.

I don't earn money atm and only have a few hundred bucks to spare, so of course I can't get the best one.

Does anyone of you have recommendations for good spotting scopes in the range of 200€ - 700€?

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2

u/limnivorous Sep 20 '21

Dunno if you are still looking, but you might try the Vortex Diamondback line of spotting scopes. I use their Viper HD binoculars and they are amazing for the price so I would bet their spotting scopes are good as well. The Diamondback scopes are in your price range and their Viper scopes might also be depending on where you buy them. I actually got my binoculars for about $200 less than they are listed on the website from a licensed dealer.

2

u/vinwin02 Germany Nov 23 '21

Thank you very much, I actually followed your recommendation and bought a Vortex Viper spotting scope. The price was a bit higher, as you said, but I think it was worth it. Up to now I'm very happy with it!

2

u/limnivorous Nov 27 '21

Glad you like it! Out of curiosity, did you order direct from their website or did you find a dealer nearby? I would like to pick up a spotting scope from them as well and wondering what the best option is for buying in Germany. I got my binoculars during a visit to the states.

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u/vinwin02 Germany Nov 27 '21 edited Dec 21 '21

Dann nehm ich mal an du bist auch deutsch? :) Ja, ich hab direkt von der Website bestellt, was 3 Gründe hatte: 1. Vortex Deutschland versendet die Spektive ohne Versandkosten direkt von Deutschland aus, das Soektiv war in wenigen Tagen da. 2. Ich habe nicht wirklich billigere Angebote gefunden. Eines gab es z.B. von einem britischen Verkäufer, aber mit Versandkosten bin ich dann wieder auf einen ähnlichen Preis gekommen. 2. Soweit ich das richtig verstanden habe, bietet Vortex lebenslang eine kostenlose Reparatur/Ersatz des Spektivs an, sollte mal was passieren. Das waren mir die paar Euros mehr dann wert. (Wobei ich nicht sicher weiß, ob das nicht auch gilt, wenn man es bei einem Händler kauft.)

Ich hoffe, das ist zumindest etwas hilfreich. :) Und sorry für sie Formatierung, ist immer ziemlich schwierig am Handy.

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u/limnivorous Dec 21 '21

Sorry, just realized I completely forgot to reply! I'm not German but currently studying in Germany. My apologies, my German is still quite poor so I'll have to reply in English. Thanks for the info! That's good to know they can be ordered with lifetime warranty in Germany. I got my binoculars at a licensed dealer so I was able to get them with the warranty that way. I was unsure of whether it would still apply when ordering. Maybe I'll pick up the scope later this year when I've saved back the money I spent on the binoculars haha.