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This
article is from the March, 2003, issue of Bird Watcher's Digest.
It also includes some extra material, with reviews of scopes covered
in more detail in our July, 2000, "Scopes Roundup" in
Bird Watcher's Digest
Our
general impressions of the compact scopes.
Some
of our biggest surprises were in this division. The best of the
new compact scopes approach the top full-sized scopes in resolution
and performance.
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The
new Swarovski scopes took the honors for elegance of design.
And although the full-size Zeiss beat out the full-size Swarovski
on resolution, when it came to the smaller scopes, Swarovski
did better. That's because the 65mm Swarovski has a 20-80x
zoom lens, while on the small Zeiss the zoom gives only 15-45x.
As a result, at maximum magnification, we could resolve smaller
details with the small Swarovski than with the small Zeiss.
MORE DETAILS
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Kowa
Prominar TSN663-ED (Waterproof)
The
62mm Kowa is waterproof and has excellent optical qualities.
However, the eye relief left something to be desired, at least
for viewers who wear glasses. MORE
DETAILS
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Zeiss
Diascope 65T FL (Waterproof)
Among
the small scopes, at 20x, the 65mm Zeiss tied for first place
in resolution with the Leica 62 APO Telvid. The same zoom
eyepiece is used for this scope as on the full-sized Diascope
85, but here it produces only 15-45x. MORE
DETAILS
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Leica
APO-Televid 62 (Waterproof)
The
brightness is striking. The resolution is superb, sharp from
edge to edge. It's noticeably longer and a bit heavier than
the Zeiss Diascope and the Swarovski ATS80.
MORE DETAILS
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Nikon
Fieldscope III (Waterproof)
A
sweet, waterproof little scope, with 60mm aperture. It was
one of the judges' favorites in the 2000 trials for Bird Watcher's
Digest.
MORE DETAILS
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MORE REVIEWS COMING
HERE VERY SOON. We're working on these pages. Thank you for
your impatience! |
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