25x50xWW or 20x60 eyepiece?

[PointsHunter]

Looking at Swarovski spotting scopes and leaning heavily to the HD-ATS 80... Over the top end of my budget but what the hell.... Buy it for life, right?

Can't decide on a 25x50 or 20x60 eyepiece. The extra 10x is great... But light/thermal conditions have to be pretty good to take full advantage. Anyone have thoughts on if the larger field of view on the 25x50 is more advantageous than the 20x60 power? For the price of those things I'm only buying one. Use is exclusively hunting (UT, CO, WY, ID).

Appreciate any input.

 

[woodtick]

I run the 20x60 and my buddy has the wide angle. I'd get the 25x50 hands down. I rarely use 60x due to thermals even in the dead of winter I have that problem. The wide angle is pretty nice for field of view.

 

[Bitterroot Bulls]

I like 60x with a 80-85mm spotter, although as woodtick mentions, WA is nice to have also. I use my 85mm on 60x quite often, especially pre-sunrise in the high country when the air is stable.

The 25-50 WA also has more distortion than the 20-60, which may or may not be important to you.

Both are excellent eyepieces.

 

[mcseal2]

I just unboxed my new HD-ATS 20-60x80 and looked through it for the first time. The heat waves were terrible right now, I will check it again later. I'll let you know how it works after checking it out in different light conditions over the weekend. I don't think you will be disappointed with either, I haven't personally seen the 25-50 though.

 

[mcseal2]

After using the scope over the weekend glassing some deer and other things I really like having the 60x. We got a rain shower that cooled the air and dampened the ground reducing the dust in the air, and it really made viewing nice. The Swaro is definitely good enough to make use of the 60x glassing longer distances. We were reading freeze brands on some of the neighbor's cattle nearly 2 miles away and the detail was amazing. I haven't seen the 25-50x as I said but I really like the 20-60 after using it.

 

[Ridgeline]

BB,
Does your opinion change if it were a 65MM?

 

[Bitterroot Bulls]

BB,
Does your opinion change if it were a 65MM?

Either eyepiece would still work for me, but I suppose I would rather have the WA for the 65mm body.

While it is useable under many conditions, the exit pupil often just gets too small for my comfort at 60x on the 65mm body. Due to this, I would rather have the wider FOV.

I really like the ATX/STX having both wide angle AND 25x-60x on the 65mm and 85mm objectives (30x-70x with the 95mm!). Plus there is almost no distortion. It is a very impressive system.