How to buy SCOPES

A spotting scope can transform your birding, but take the time to consider a few things before you buy…

No matter how good your binoculars are, there’ll come a time when you wish you had just a bit more optical reach. Trying to separate waders on the far side of an estuary? Trying to tell Golden Eagle from ‘Tourist Eagle’ down a Scottish glen? Or trying to pick out a distant flying seabird as it skims across the waves? You need a scope.

These days, there are scopes for most needs, so bear a few of these factors in mind when you’re buying.

Size is everything:

The biggest scopes – and these days that means we’re talking about those with objective lenses of 90mm and more – do offer an incredible viewing experience. All that light-gathering glass means that you get a very bright and natural image, and magnification can be as much as 70x. Smaller scopes, however good they are, won’t do the same, although they might still be more than enough for your needs.

No, it really is:

All that glass also weighs a lot, so even more so than when buying binoculars, you need to consider what you’re prepared to carry around all day. There’s no point having a huge, and superb, scope, if its size and weight means you leave it at home more often than not.

Consider fixed eyepieces:

While zoom eyepieces have become the standard these days, in practice many birders rarely use them at more than 35x or so. So, don’t write off fixed magnification eyepieces – they generally offer something like 30x magnification, and a wider angle than with zooms. For most birding, that’s perfect.

Buy a stay-on case:

It’ll protect your scope from all manner of bumps and scratches, keep out the rain, and basically pay for itself in no time. If you’ve lashed out hundreds or even thousands on a scope, this is a vital investment. A carrying harness is worth considering too.

Don’t stint on tripods:

Any scope is only as good as the tripod that carries it, so make sure you have something that can handle the weight of your scope, and give you a steady viewing experience.

On the next page, we’ve recapped our scope reviews from this last year, but you can find many more at www.birdwatching.co.uk