Antarctica
WKR
Thanks to being baited by Roksidle, I've been in the market for a spotter since shortly after joining this forum. My requirements were good, and cheap. I quickly narrowed in on an older Nikon ED82 (straight), and have been watching for one for quite some time. I didn't want to be in this thing for more than about $700. I've missed a few nice examples, but one finally popped up on the 'bay the other day and I jumped.
It arrived quickly (next day in fact - as it was fairly close to me), and I pulled it out of the box and put it on the tripod. This one was as far as I could tell, new - absolutely mint. Came with the zoom eyepiece (up to 75x).
On the tripod in my office, I pointed it out the window to the swamp that bordered my house/property, and peeked through. I was - confused. Things seems busy. I had trouble picking out definition in limbs, etc. I re-situated things, covered my other eye, etc. branches seems to lack crisp clarity, etc.
I've never had any 'good' glass. I've got good photo lenses, and some fair binos, but this scope seemed worse than those - and from everything I've read, it should have been better. Had I bought a dud? Had it been dropped and knocked out of optical alignment (it looked like it had never been touched). Were my expectations too high given this was higher power than I was used to?
I grabbed the scope and tripod and went to a different window and focused on a pvc pipe sticking up out of the swamp at about 40 yards. I focused on it and there was a definite aberration - a ghost of the image above the actual image. I was worried! This thing sucked!!
I decided to focus on something at significant distance. I grabbed the whole thing again and took it out on the deck and focused on some boats out on the bay. It looked good!! WTF? I checked some branches and they were crisp! This thing is awesome!!
What was it? The window!! I am astounded that two double panes of glass virtually destroyed the image of the scope, but they did.
Needless to say, I am relieved. I took it out on the deck this morning and watched a large fly harass a turkey buzzard at 220 yards. Cool!
It arrived quickly (next day in fact - as it was fairly close to me), and I pulled it out of the box and put it on the tripod. This one was as far as I could tell, new - absolutely mint. Came with the zoom eyepiece (up to 75x).
On the tripod in my office, I pointed it out the window to the swamp that bordered my house/property, and peeked through. I was - confused. Things seems busy. I had trouble picking out definition in limbs, etc. I re-situated things, covered my other eye, etc. branches seems to lack crisp clarity, etc.
I've never had any 'good' glass. I've got good photo lenses, and some fair binos, but this scope seemed worse than those - and from everything I've read, it should have been better. Had I bought a dud? Had it been dropped and knocked out of optical alignment (it looked like it had never been touched). Were my expectations too high given this was higher power than I was used to?
I grabbed the scope and tripod and went to a different window and focused on a pvc pipe sticking up out of the swamp at about 40 yards. I focused on it and there was a definite aberration - a ghost of the image above the actual image. I was worried! This thing sucked!!
I decided to focus on something at significant distance. I grabbed the whole thing again and took it out on the deck and focused on some boats out on the bay. It looked good!! WTF? I checked some branches and they were crisp! This thing is awesome!!
What was it? The window!! I am astounded that two double panes of glass virtually destroyed the image of the scope, but they did.
Needless to say, I am relieved. I took it out on the deck this morning and watched a large fly harass a turkey buzzard at 220 yards. Cool!
