New member - scope advice - Opticron MM4 77VHD SDL V4 18-54 vs alpha second hand (3 Viewers)

[Jim Lloyd]

Hello - new member here, first post.

I'm looking for views on purchasing a spotting scope. Budget around £1000. Uses viewing roosting /nesting birds of prey and waders - long distances 500 m or more, sometimes poor light. Idealy fairly lightweight to carry for a few miles.

I haven't used scopes much. I have a RSPB Avocet 80 mm 20x60 scope, but find the image very poor at higher magnifications and so hardly ever use it. I recently upgraded my binoculares to (second hand) Swarovski EL 10x42 (from RSPB 8x42 HD) and noticed a huge leap in quality (although I still use both).

Now thinking of spotting scope upgrade. I like what I have read about the Opticron MM4 77 VHD with SDL 18-54. I think I would be happy with this, but wonder about going for something similar from a top brand second hand (e.g I see Swarovski 80 HD with 25-50 eyepeice on eBay for £1,295) . What do you think?

Many thanks in advance.

Jim

 

[canonman]

hi
I got the opticron MM4 77 VHD with the sdl4 eyepiece last week and am absolutely blown away by it.Before I had the 50mm mm3 ed and loved it but wanted something bigger with more light gathering and greater magnification.I took it to Willow tree nature reserves to view the Cranes and had absolutely stunning pin sharp views with it along with Roe deer and Hares at quite a distance at times and have no regrets about my purchase at all and can't wait to go out for another play with it.

 

[Jim Lloyd]

hi
I got the opticron MM4 77 VHD with the sdl4 eyepiece last week and am absolutely blown away by it.Before I had the 50mm mm3 ed and loved it but wanted something bigger with more light gathering and greater magnification.I took it to Willow tree nature reserves to view the Cranes and had absolutely stunning pin sharp views with it along with Roe deer and Hares at quite a distance at times and have no regrets about my purchase at all and can't wait to go out for another play with it.

Thank you - that's great to hear - I am getting very tempted to go ahead and order.