Best Spotting Scopes

Although they do the very same thing, rifle scopes and spotting scopes are used for entirely different reasons. Spotting scopes do what their name clearly states - Spot! You could use a spotting scope for all kinds of viewing, but they are designed, for example, to spot your target before you move on to your rifle which would have a rifle scope attached.

Spotting scopes sit between Binoculars and Telescopes in the power department. They are excellent for daytime surveillance, hunting and viewing objects at a great distance. But this greater magnification has it's limitations. You will find that weather conditions will greatly affect just how far you can see. Humidity, glare, heat currents, dust and wind can all dilute your viewing experience. Unless you are high up in a dry location and it's a clear and quiet day, you won't enjoy much more than a 60x magnification.

Other limitations in viewing through a spotting scope will be determined by the quality of the scope's lens. There is a visible difference between the premium models and your low budget models - especially if you want the same clear images at maximum magnification that you get in the lower ranges.

Typically, however, you will be working in the 30 to 40 times magnification range, so crystal clear images at high magnification shouldn't be the deciding factor. There are many low priced spotting scopes that will do just fine.

Spotting scopes mostly use porro prisms as the optics of choice basically because they are less costly to manufacture. Look for Bak-4 glass in a porro prism - it is a higher quality than the BK7 glass.

Spotting scopes can also be used with a camera and at night as well. Be aware that any spotting scope should have a tripod for mounting. The high magnification is just to difficult to manage when hand-holding a scope.