I'm looking into buying my dad a spotting scope for Christmas. We're wanting to view deer at 5-600 yards in dusky conditions and would like to stay under 500 dollars. I am looking for feedback from you guys on what you have or what you would like to have. I've looked in several places and found lots of technical info, but can't find any plain ole pratical knowledge anywhere or a comparison between scopes.
Thanks for your input

Try contacting www.eagleoptics.com they have a 800 number and are extremely knowledgeable and run an honest operation. I personally use a Bausch and Lomb 15-45 x spotting scope and weightwise and power and clarity it was a heck of a good buy. A comparable scope would be the Nikon Owl spotter but it does not have phase corrected optics like the B&L does. I purchased it from Eagle Optics and it cost 345 w/o a tripod.