Nikon fieldscope 50mm ED

[rezavoirdog]

Sportsmans Warehouse online store sells it

[HUNT4U]

How about the Nikon 20-60x60 ED fieldscope. They retail around $1200, so kind of middle of the road. Anybody have experience with them and how do they compare to the upper end scopes.

[Livesilly]

We have put our Nikon ED 50s to good use over the past couple of years. I think this is definitely the best compact spotter on the market right now. I have quite carrying my big spotters on my backpack hunts and switched over to the ED 50 on those hunts all together. Sometimes I miss the clarity and light gathering ability of the bigger spotter but I certainly don't miss the weight. I will say, that for elk this scope is the ticket but for some mule deer hunts you might still want to bring the bigger, heavier glass with you. I hope this helps to clarify.

Angled or straight?

[4th_point]

I have an ED50 with the straight eyepiece, 16x digiscope eyepiece, and the 13-30x zoom (the one that's used the most). What I have found is that with most all the spotting scopes I have owned/tested, a 2mm exit pupil is about as low as I want to go. This means 25x max with the 50mm Nikon. I also have a general rule about magnification... 1x for every hundred yards (i.e. you should be able to spot and get a "decent" view of a buck at 100 yards with your naked eye... at 200 yards, you need 2x... at 1000 yards you need 10x... etc.). Of course, this is just a ballpark estimate. More magnification would be even better if the image quality remains good.

So the ED50 gives me a good image up to 25x. I think 25x is good to 2500 yards. Again, this is my ballpark way of thinking about scopes and their application. This seems to work fairly well in the field too. Based on this, I feel that the ED50 is a great scope to "carry", but if you want to spot bedded bucks at 2 miles, this is not the right scope. At 2 miles, 25x is not good enough. 2 miles might seem far to some, but it depends on where you hunt. Atmospheric conditions will come into play at these distances too. And, if its dawn or dusk, a 2mm exit pupil is too small.

Whether the ED50 is good for you depends on how you plan to use it. I would suggest thinking about how far you want to be able to use the scope, and think about the exit pupil, objective size, and magnification like I described to figure out what size scope you will need. And then, think about whether you want to carry that scope!

[gsjackson]

Dear skybuster and all,

From the advice of Mr. Eastman, I got this scope and like it a great deal but I have yet to use it in the field. I, too, had a very difficult time finding it but when I got a hold of the guys at Nikon, they recommended I go to B&H Photo's Web site (www.bhphotovideo.com) and order from them. I got great service, help and price. And even the guys at B&H Photo said it was a good scope - especially for the price.

Greg S. Jackson

[Livesilly]

How do you guys think the Leupold gold ring 15x30x50 complact spotting scope stacks up to the ED50?

[4th_point]

How do you guys think the Leupold gold ring 15x30x50 complact spotting scope stacks up to the ED50?

I haven't been able to try that one, but my buddy had the 40mm. If the 50mm uses the same type/quality lenses as the 40mm, I wouldn't waste my time or money with it. I thought the 40mm was dim with poor resolution at 200 and 300 yards. The cheap 42mm riflescope I had at the time provided a better image than the little Leupold spotter. Actually, ALOT better.

Ilya Koshkin has tested several compact spotters, but I don't think he has published his finding yet other than to say, that the ED50 is the best. I think he mentioned that the 50mm Leupold was a decent budget scope. He reviews/tests optics as a hobby, so he's busy with his real job. I've been looking forwared to his spotter test for awhile. If you do a GOOGLE search, you'll find his website.

I think there is a reason why Guy, and most every spotting scope review by hunters and birders has ranked the ED50 the best by quite a margin. Its simply a superior product, and I think with the little spotters quality lenses are very important when you want to observe and evaluate animals at hundreds and thousands of yards. I've notice that the inexpensive spotters that are 80mm can look REALLY good at lower magnifications due to the huge objective lenses, but I don't see this effect with riflescopes and spotters with 40mm and 50mm objectives. Only the really good optics display excellent images. I'm not an optics engineer so I can't say why, but maybe its the amount of light and the ability to produce inexpensive glass that is pretty good optically in the center of the lense. I guess my point is that there is probably a good reason why we rarely see or hear about the compact spotters from Leupold being discussed. There's simply a better mousetrap available.

[hoytnut]

Love my ED50. Tough and a flawless performer, except for last year in CO 8 miles in when I realized that I left my adapter plate for my tripod on my 65mm scope. I can laugh now, but I was cussing then.

[Skybuster1329]

Finally got this scope could Not be happier!! Seems to very clear. Haven't got to field test it yet. But was just using in the backyard and compared to my big scope its seems clearer and the focus seems to have more range.

I bought it form eagle optics. I even rolled the dice and purchased a refurb for 489 and it looks brand new.