Spotting scope

I wound up getting a $280 spotting scope. It has good reviews and my intended use is target shooting. I want it for seeing wind flags, reading the mirage, and seeing the impact disks at 600 yards. The scope I bought will do that. If I were mountain goat hunting and needed to see a goat at 1 mile from a different ridge, or it was for 1000 yard shooting I would get a different one.

Also, if I get to a point where my wind and mirage reading ability would be better with a better scope, I'll get one. But I sure appreciate the feedback.

I do also know the difference between high end optics and budget optics. I have a Swarovski scope and a leupold Mk 4....i also have some budget scopes. For some applications, a budget scope is fine provided it holds zero and has clear glass out to the desired range.

However if you are operating in more extreme environments, or need a higher degree of precision, and you what it to last, go high end.
 
I have an inexpensive Celestron 80mm 60X scope. I frequently shoot High Power type structure out to 600 yds. My Celestron serves me perfect. What sets apart the situation of "seeing vs. not seeing" is not the quality of the optic but the quality of the TRIPOD. Any optic will work perfect in the dead calm weather conditions. When it gets windy , (especially in the early spring or late fall where the wind is cold and dense) it doesn't matter weather you have a $250 scope or a $1500 scope you won't be able to see clearly out of either. The tripod that came with my Celestron is pretty crappy and has a lot of joints that create wobble in wind. I ended up using an old quality 60's camera tripod that my dad owned and modified the tripod to accept a 9# small chunk of lead that I hang from the underside to create additional stability. Works much better in the wind. Here's the optic kit I bought :

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Celestron-U...764214?hash=item4891343976:g:-r0AAOSwDuJWy1Rx
 
As others have noted, a good scope deserves a good scope stand. There are many well-made stands to choose from but, after looking at almost all of them (you can see a lot of different ones at venues like Camp Perry and I questioned more than a few shooters as to their opinions about the stands they were using), I chose the First Strike stand (anna@first-strike-products.com; First Strike Products, 855 McFarland Road, Alpharetta, Ga, 30004; 770-663-0009). I have been very pleased with the construction, workmanship, features and stability of this stand and recommend it highly.
 
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