RE: Spotting scope?
There is always going to be a debate on the quality of optics. The funny thing is that most are always compared to Zeiss, Swarovski andLeica.Do you ever wonder why that is?
It's hard to make a decent comparison in a store, I have had the chance to try several different spotters in the real outdoors and beleive me there is a difference between looking at the elk mount on the opposite wall in a store and looking across a valley into dark pine timber and picking up a elk at 1/2 mile.
I chose the Swarovski ATS 80 HD over the others. It's fits my needs well. I do like the angled head over the straight one, to me it's a bit more versatile. A good tripod and quick 360 degree head are also things to look at.
I know in the end the cost is going to be the biggest factor. Get the best you can afford. just my $.02