Selecting a Spotting Scope

[Nuclearcricket]

Over the past while I have read a lot of Q and A posted on various sites about spotting scopes. Almost without exception each and every individual has a different requirement that they want met. There is no single scope or optical device out there that will be everything to everyone. If all you want to be able to do is spot the hits and misses for your partner at a silly wet match, there are many scopes that will do that, if you want to be able to spot .22 bullet holes in the black on an overcast day at 200 yards, not a lot of scopes will do that.
All of that being said, some of the things to keep in mind to look for are a sharp image from the center to the edge of what ever your looking through. Something with a long eye relief will be a plus as many of us wear glasses any more and if your on the shooting line, you should have some eye protection on anyway.
For me, for general shooting, and for across the coarse High Power shooting I have a 22X60, x45deg. that I picked up from Champions Choice a number of years ago. Its a nice scope, I can easily see .22 holes at 100 when shooting off of the bench, and will work ok for silly wets. The angled eye piece is and can be nice,but it really depends on what your are going to use your scope for. The down side is that it can be a real bitch to get it set up and find your target at times. For shooting across the coarse it is really nice when shooting prone, easy to just turn your head and see the target and marker.
For spotting at a silhouette match I have used regular scopes as well as my 45 deg scope and for the most part they all worked. One thing I did use and owned for a while was a pair of 20X80 center focus Binoculars. Mine were Celestron. They had good eye relief, were very sharp and very bright. I did find that on a bright sunny day you really needed to wear sun glasses when using them.
One of the best things you can do before you make your purchase is get out and look through as many scopes as you can. If you can get to a match that has a practice day the day before, talk to shooters and take a look through their scopes. That gives you the opportunity to compare different scopes under identical conditions. From there, take notes and come home and comparison shop for prices and options. What Joe Snuffy had that you looked through on Saturday may not quite be what is available when you go shopping on Monday, but odds are you will find something close or a little better.
Something else to think about and perhaps consider is waterproof and weather proof. There is a difference, what it is exactly I can't say for sure, but I would definitely want something designed to keep moisture out. The absolutely best scope in the world is pretty much worthless if it has moisture inside fogging up the lens.
The last thing to consider is what your going to mount your scope on, and how far above the ground it is going to have to set. Tripods come in all price ranges from cheap to very expensive. You will want one that is good and sturdy but yet not so heavy that it takes 2 men and a boy to move it around. By the same token you don't want something that is going to fall over at the slightest breeze or bump. Anytime any optical device in motion meets an unmovable object, its never a good thing.
Just some more food for thought.
Sam