Looking for a spotting scope

Hello all.

Im looking for a spotting scope as a gift for my other half.

It will likely mainly be used for spotting sealife from the scottish coastline after a successfull holiday spotting whales and dolphins in skye.

I would say nothing over £400 and suitable to use looking from the back of our car, not standing.

  • Hi-

    BUYING YOUR FIRST SPOTTING SCOPE



    as a general rule for a first scope a 60mm dia objective lens is the basic start.

    A second hand one of the following models is worth looking at- Price £200- £400

    Kowa 613

    Opticron IS 60

    Opticron GS 815

    Opticron ES80

    Kowa TSN 1

    Kowa TS611

    The best starter fixed lens is probably a 30x. Personally I use that on a small non-HD 60mm scope. Zoom lenses are better esp. if you have a HD/ED/ fluorite lens or a larger ( 65mm- 77mm ) objective :)

    S
  • If you're going to use it from the car, you may want to consider straight scopes rather than the more common angled ones (angled are better for standing up). You can use an angled scope on its side, but it doesn't feel as natural as the normal use. If you do use an angled scope like that, you'll need to make sure the scope mount can rotate.
    It isn't practical to hold the scope for any length of time, so you'll need to think about support. A tripod and head are the go-to method, but if you're in the car all the time, you may want to get inventive with something to hook on the car window perhaps. Not sure if anything is commercially available, but a tripod head mounted to a padded, upside down U shape knocked up from wood or MDF would do the job, hooked over the car door (window open obviously).
    It's always a good idea to try out optics, you'll find some suit your eyes better than others. Places like In Focus or Cley Spy are traditionally good to checkout new and used offerings (not sure how their shops are getting on in the current pandemic though, disinfecting a scope someone's tried out can't be good for the optics!)
  • Hi

    car window telescope brackets are available- try Cley Spy or ebay

    S
  • Thanks for the help guys.
    Cley spy isnt too far from us and they are still doing the on sight trailing of scopes.