straight or angle lense for your backcountry spotter?

[addicted2hunting]

Something I suggest for you to do, and this was what I did when I was trying to decide on a spotter was to buy them, use them for a day and return them.  I bought almost every high end glass that Cabelas and Cameraland carried and ran them through a full day of glassing.  Low light, heat of the day, all of it.  You can't tell the quality of an optic by looking around the store.  Cabelas has a no questions asked return policy so your not out anything.  Finally landed on the big razor for several reasons.  One was warranty.  Literally cant top it.  The swaro was def a better optic but not 1500 bucks better.  Long story short, edge to edge clarity was great, I used it all day and never got a headache or achy eyeballs and it was second best I looked through.  I suggest picking up a straight and an angled spotter and run them through some glassing and decide from there.  They don't even have to be expensive ones.  Figure out the straight/angle thing and then decide which brand/model you want.

That's a damn fine idea! I will give that a go.

[Bean Counter]

One thing to remember, Swaro's warranty is not transferable, so used glass is not covered.  If you buy new, the glass is covered for life but mechanical stuff like eye cups, focus wheel, etc are only covered for ten years.

  The value of my HD Nikon just went way up in my book. Far better warranty than Swaro and still plenty of low light, crystal clear performance.

[Benny]

One thing to remember, Swaro's warranty is not transferable, so used glass is not covered.  If you buy new, the glass is covered for life but mechanical stuff like eye cups, focus wheel, etc are only covered for ten years.

That isn't correct

[MtnMuley]

Swaro is lifetime regardless of the owner.

[huntnphool]

Swaro is lifetime regardless of the owner.

+1, that's what they told me.

[Bob33]

"SWAROVSKI OPTIK offers a lifetime warranty on the optical system of our products for products purchased by US
residents from an authorized SWAROVSKI OPTIK North American dealer. Once examined, if it is determined that the optical system is defective we will repair or replace the instrument or defective part. SWAROVSKI OPTIK warrants all other parts of the instrument for ten years from date of purchase against defects in materials or workmanship, subject to normal use. All electronic components are warranted for two years against defects in materials and workmanship, subject to normal use, from date of purchase. All non-optical products (i.e. accessories, tripods etc.) are warranted for one year from date of purchase. This warranty is void if damage results from unauthorized repairs, accident, alteration, misuse, abuse, neglect, fire, flood or other acts of God."

[Karl Blanchard]

One thing to remember, Swaro's warranty is not transferable, so used glass is not covered.  If you buy new, the glass is covered for life but mechanical stuff like eye cups, focus wheel, etc are only covered for ten years.

That isn't correct

. I'm just going off their warranty literature on their website.  Original owner, purchased from an authorized dealer.    never had to deal with them so maybe they will fix used stuff regardless.

[WAcoueshunter]

Funny, basically two years ago to the date we had the same thread.

http://hunting-washington.com/smf/index.php/topic,112618.0.html