swarovski or leica please help

cabinfever

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I've got about $2000 to spend on a spotting scope. I previously owned two Alaskan guide spotting scopes. The first one had problems with the objective cap not unscrewing, and so I sent it back and got another one, and after a year and a half, it fell apart, and so I sent it back and got a cabelas gift certificate. I will buy either a Swarovski or a Lecia spotting scope. I'm kind of leaning towards the new 20-60x80mm High Definition scope as I would like to do some digiscoping. How do these companies compare as far as warranties go. Is the new Swarovski HD glass worth the extra $400. Any help would be appreciated.

cabinfever
 
Through a lot of research when camparing the two I came to the conclusion that the Leica were at least as good, if not better, optically and the construction appeared more sturdy. The Leica was also a few onces lighter. The Televid is awesome. The warranty is lifetime for the Leica for the original owner. Even if you run it over. The Leica was also a bit cheaper. I think this is because you don't see Leica plastered over every hunting magazine and TV show.
 
LAST EDITED ON Dec-15-04 AT 11:30AM (MST)[p]I have Lieca Binoculars, and they are great. I have heard great things about Swarovski's though I have not had personal experience. Why don't you consider the Zeiss Spotting scope? That is what I have and I love it. Used it for two seasons, and this past season I spotted both the bucks we took this year using that Zeiss. The buck I took, was spotted well over a mile away, all by himself on a rocky mountainside. I guess the scope has paid for itself in that regards.

Overall I would say that you are safe with either scope. Just remember that if you plan on digiscoping, you will want a fixed power as opposed to a variable objective lens, otherwise you will have to deal with "vignetting". Here's the bucks we spotted using my Ziess this year.

P.S. if there is one gripe I have with the variable is the amount of light you lose when you crank up the power to the max, which is 45x on my Zeiss. Zeiss also offers a 20x60 lens as well. What you might want to do is test out both at dusk and see which is brighter with and without utilizing the zoom. One of the advantages of a fixed power is that they are traditionally sharper than variable lens, but I believe that todays technology has close that gap to almost nothing. The advange with a variable power is that you can use the lower power to fist pick up game, then zoom in for judging. One thing I do notice is that once I found game with my binos and switched to the spotting scope, I AWAYS had to zoom all the way out to find the game again. From about 30x >, the field of view was too small to quickly pick up game ( 1000 yards and less). Of course, the farther away you are glassing, the less this will affect you.
Copy_of_DSC01292.JPG
 
I have not done very much. I did try it once with my Zeiss 15-45x on the moon one night. I did not have an adaptor but just centered the camera on the lens. Odd thing is that when viewed thru the camera, I could see the entire moon, but when I took the picture, the image was much, much more zoomed in, like looking thru a telescope. The picture showed about a 1/3 of the moon, and the detail was incredible. One the horizon, I could actually see the variation of the surface such as mountains, slopes etc. I'll try and find that picture and post it.
 
Cabinfever, I just bought a bunch of optics this last year. Worked a whole summer of overtime to pay for everything. I did a lot of research and went to several dealerships looking through scopes in all kinds of conditions. I'll have to say that swarovski, leica and zeiss are all equally good. Sometimes I could give one an edge over another just to give the edge to one of the others the next time. But you have asked one of the most important questions. Warranty. They all have great warranties.(Get the american warranty.) But do they all honor it? Swarovski has a GREAT reputation. I have never heard one bad thing about them honoring thier warranty. I have heard many good things about Leica honoring thier warranty but I have heard a couple of bad instances about them also. Mostly on this site. I have never heard anything about zeiss. In my opinion there should be no room for question about the company honoring thier warranty. This is why I went with SWAROVSKI. But I can honestly say that all three are great glass.
Overkill, nice monster muleys.
Goodluck cabin, fatrooster.
 
Both are great optics. I only go with Leica myself just like my truck will always be GMC. I do not think you will go wrong with either pair.

NBJB
 
Swarovski HD! If your going to be taking pictures through it that's the only way to go in my opinion. Last week I took the brand new Zeiss 80mm my buddy just bought and put it right next to my Sworovski HD 65mm. His Ziess has some special lense too but I can't remember what it was called. It's the new one and costs about $1800 apperantely. Anyway, I took 8 pictures of a buck that as about 1000yds away. 4 pictures through his Zeiss and then 4 through my Swarovski HD. To be right honest with you I thought the Zeiss almost looked more clear with my own eye. I figured the pictures would be the same way. When I got home and loaded them on my computer I was very suprised to see that the pictures I took through the Swarovski were noticeably sharper, clearer and even brighter which really suprised me since the Ziess is an 80mm and the Swarovski was only a 65mm. Like has been said above I think all 3 are great but I will never own anything but Swarovski myself. Awesome company, good as it gets warranty and great product! You just can't beat it!

Good luck,

NvrEnuf
 
Swarovski or Zeiss are the only scopes worth your money!! Zeiss are more duralble though. I have a Swarovski(65mm) and my dad has a Zeiss(85mm) and we use them for the same purposes equally. They both have hard carrying cases too. My Swarovski after only 8 months has some parts that are wearing significantly more than the Zeiss!!
 
>Nice bucks. Have you did much
>with digiscoping. If so what
>scope do you reccomend


Here is the picture of the moon I took. It has been resized, so the quality may not be as good as the orginal..
moonX.JPG


Note that I merely stuck the camera infront of the spotting scope and did not use any adapter. I would like to get an adapter ahd hopefully this will negate the vignetting.
 
You might want to add Nikon 82 ED to your list. They have a bunch of new eyepieces with adpators for digiscoping, and the view is super. If your ordering for eagle optics or one of the other good places, they don't have any problem with you buying a couple and returning one after comparison.
 
NvrEnuf

Do you think there would be a lot of difference in quality and clarity between the 80mm and the 65mm swaro HDs'. Money is not an option but weight is. The 80mm only weighs approx 6 ounces more than the 65mm and is only an 1 1/2 inces longer. I will be photographing through it as well as using it to spot game, so if the quality is noticable better, it's worth the extra weight.

cabinfever
 
Here is a website that will explain vignetting in greater detail than I can..
http://www.vanwalree.com/optics/vignetting.html


>>Nice bucks. Have you did much
>>with digiscoping. If so what
>>scope do you reccomend
>
>
>Here is the picture of the
>moon I took. It has
>been resized, so the quality
>may not be as good
>as the orginal..
>
moonX.JPG

>
>Note that I merely stuck the
>camera infront of the spotting
>scope and did not use
>any adapter. I would like
>to get an adapter ahd
>hopefully this will negate the
>vignetting.
 
I purchased the swarovski this year. I did not shell out the extra $ money for the HD. Before choosing the swarovski, I spent several hours comparing it the leica and the Zeis. I was hoping to save some money by choosing the leica or Zeis, but the more I compared them, the more impressed I became with the Swarovski. I did consider the 60 v. the 80, not because of weight, but because of the more compact size. In the end, I picked the 80 as I already use a compact leupold when packing a scope in my day pack. Ususally, the swarovski stays attached to a bogen tripod in the truck. If I had to do it all over again, I'd probably spend the extra $ and get the swarovski HD. I've heard nothing but good things about both leica and swarovski's customer serive (as long as you have the USA warranty). A friend of mine spent quite a bit of time comparing the 60 with the old style 80. He assumed that a newer scope with new coatings would make up for a well used 80mm objective. It didn't. While very clear, in low light the 60 did not have the same clarity or brightness the 80 did.
 
I'm also half tempted to buy a Zeiss or a Leica. Especially right now, as they offer a $300 tripod with the purchase of either scope. My problem is, the new Swarovski HD 80mm
sounds and looks to be the scope to have. I've already been through two scopes and so I don't want to have to buy another scope. Decsions Decsions. Does anyone know what Zeiss warranty is like.Ten yrs down the road if my (swaro, lecia, zeiss)scope needs some recoditioning, can I send the scope in for a minimal fee and have it done. Do these scopes scratch very easy? Has anyone of you had any problems at all with anyone of these three scopes? Any additional info before I make the plunge would be appreciated. I will probably buy through cabelas as they have the money back guarentee.

thanks again for all the suggestions
cabinfever
 
I just purchased some Leicas and they are easily the equiv of Swarovskis. You get what you pay for
 

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