Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!rutgers!mit-eddie!bu-cs!purdue!decwrl!sun!pitstop!sundc!seismo!uunet!edsews!edsdrd!gss From: gss@edsdrd.eds.com (Gary Schiltz) Newsgroups: rec.birds Subject: Re: telescopes Message-ID: <113@arcturus.edsdrd.eds.com> Date: 29 Nov 88 17:06:37 GMT References: <7823@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU> Distribution: all Organization: EDS Research and Development, Auburn Hills, MI 48057 Lines: 72 In article <7823@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU>, e299-ao@sim.uucp (Brenda Baker) writes: > My Mother is trying to decide on a telescope to buy for bird watching. > We've looked at the Discoverer by Bausch and Lomb and were not very > impressed. She has also looked at the Renaissance by Televue. Does > any one have any comments on it or any other brands? > My wife Karen and I were also in the market for a spotting scope a couple of years ago, and eventually bought a Bushnell Spacemaster II (the old standby). It has a 60 mm objective lens that is very bright. We got it with a 20X wide-angle eyepiece. It has a bright, sharp image, and had a reasonable price at the time (under $250 locally). The only reservation I have about it is that it doesn't focus as close as I'd like. Just after we bought the scope, Bushnell discontinued it in favor of a new "improved" (and even less expensive) Spacemaster II. The new scope featurs a square body, a 70 mm objective lens with "insta-focus", the rocker arm focusing bar. This scope is much heavier than the old Spacemaster II, so I wouldn't want to lug it around a marsh all day. Also, with a 22X wide-angle lens, is much LESS bright than the old model. Since the bigger objective lens should make the image brighter (even with the 2 extra power eyepiece), and since the scope is cheaper, I have to assume it is made with cheaper optics (probably inferior lens coatings). I don't like the insta-focus, but Karen does. Overall, I wouldn't reccommend the new model. And, just lately, I've heard that Bushnell has discontinued the "new improved" model in favor of the "old improved" model. Anyway, I'd stay away from the 70 mm models that may remain out there. I haven't seen the new version of the old model, so I can't comment on it, other than to say that if it is as good as the one I bought, at a comparable price, it would still be a good buy. We also looked at the Bausch & Lomb Discoverer, and were similarly unimpressed. We also looked at some other brands (I don't remember model numbers): Celestron (60 mm) - Not the stargazing type, but one that looked almost exactly like the Spacemaster II. It seemed to have pretty good optics, but not as clear as the Spacemaster II. It was about $50 cheaper than the Spacemaster II, though. Nikon (60 mm) - This was a very nice scope. It focused very closely, and had even clearer optics than the Spacemaster II. It was, however, much more expensive (the cheapest price I could find at the New York camera mail-order stores was almost $300). Since I wanted to buy it locally, I decided on the less expensive Spacemaster II. Kowa (60 mm) - This was another nice scope for about the same price (or a little cheaper) as the Spacemaster II. It focused closer than ours, but the optics seemed just a little less sharp. If the "old improved" Spacemaster II has degraded in quality since reintroduction, the Kowa may be the better buy. Swift (60 mm) - This is an interesting scope. The rear of the scope twists so that one of two attached eyepieces (20X and 45X, I think) can be used without changing lenses. This offers a much crisper image than a zoom eyepiece. The price was a little higher than the Spacemaster II and Kowa, and it was also quite a bit heavier (although still much lighter than the "hunk of mud" 70 mm Spacemaster II. Anyway, I've rambled long enough. Hope this helps, and good luck in your search. I'm posting this instead of emailing it, since traffic on rec.birds has been light lately, and this might be of general interest. BTW, did my posting on differeitiation between Common and Forster's Terns ever make it out? I've never received any responses. --- /\ What cheer, /\ | Gary Schiltz, EDS R&D, 3551 Hamlin Road | / o< cheer,