Has anyone experimented with add on filters to enhance a scpoes performance?
Polarizer?
Contrast enhancing?
Other?
Bummer. In that case... could you elaborate on vapor trail a bit? How much $$ is needed to purchase a spotting scope that will reliably see vapor trail? And how important is seeing vapor trail to a spotter's job?
Thanks!
Wow, that's really good info! Thanks for helping! Once the money becomes available, I'll be looking to get a good spotting scope from you!
You hit the nail on the head here. Choice of equipment varies greatly by intended use. I wouldn't use a grenade to kill a coyote in my barn. I put my Diamondback on the wife's manfrotto to test it. It's solid, I liked it. It is good enough for my use. Couldn't go prone with it, so a solitary long range shooter wouldn't want it. I appreciate that you keep coming back with your views on tripods. Maybe you should do a comparison thread for them! Awesomeness.
We'll have to try to push it out to 200 next time.
You seeing the chromatic aberration with black-on-white targets? I wish it wasn't there but my wallet says "Deal with it, pal!".
Vapor trail is actually bullet trace, everyone calls it vapor trail, so its easier to just go with it. As a bullet moves through the air it causes a disturbance. That disturbance cause light to refract.
In my experience you need true HD glass to reliably see vapor trail. Every company calls a different level of glass quality HD (HD has become the "tactical" of the optics world). In the Vortex line your looking at 650 bucks to see it every single time you have the spotter set right.
How important is seeing it? Its the most important thing a spotter can do from a target shooter's standpoint. There are 2 ways of determining POI at long range. Splash (seeing the bullet hit the ground) and trail. Splash can easily lie to you if the shooter comes close, and the bullet lands behind the target depending on the angle you are viewing the target vs the bullets path. A 1 MIL right, could easily read as 1 MIL left with splash.
Trail never lies, you actually watch the trail go past the target, so you know exactly where it landed. You can actually call hit, mis, low, high, etc long before the bullet reachs the target because you see the arch, and know what the bullet is doing.
If I could have a spotting scope do only one thing, it would be read vapor trail.
In the Vortex line your looking at 650 bucks to see it every single time you have the spotter set right.
I read this spotting scope review from time to time.....finally getting ready to sink the money into seeing better at distance....sucks getting old!!!! Sbu, did such an awesome review, I hate to see this get buried deeper. So, once again, sbu, thanks for the review!!!