[blockquote]Has anyone tried the leupold hd 15 -45 ? Anyone tried the nikon fieldscope line or the sky and earth? Any other recomendations for big game spotting........besides swaro and ziess. willing to spend 1000 to get something good...........any suggestions?[/blockquote]

I have the Nikon Fieldscope III straight body with HD glass (60mm). It's a great optic and was quite a bit less than the Swaro or Zeiss. It has the 20-45X eypiece but others are also available. It can also be set-up for digiscoping with some add-ons. It comes with a soft case also. The ED retails for around $900 (+ or -). I've heard (but not seen) that the Sky and Earth Nikon's were pretty good also. They are more like $300. Good luck with your selection. I looked at the Leupolds and they were o.k. but not as good for my aging eyes. I'm sure they would work in the field o.k. tho.

If you are looking to spend up to $1000 then I would eliminate the Earth and Sky series from your choice. They are a fine scope for the price (now discontinued) but are not in the same performance class as the mid-high ED style scopes available from Nikon, Pentax, Swaro, etc...

Best performance versus price scopes, in my opinion, are the Nikon Fieldscope ED, Pentax ED and Meopta S1-75. All offer ED/FL style glass which is essential at reducing the color fringing that is most noticeable at higher magnifications. I do not know if you are looking for a big 75-85 mm model or something more compact between 60-70 mm. If it is the latter then I think the Pentax ED is the best bargain around. You can get the scope body for around $430 at some internet retailers. You then have the choice of using any standard astronomical 1.25 inch eyepiece with it. There are literally thousands in both fixed magnifications and zoom models ranging in price from $20 all the way up to $400-$500. If you go that route then let me know and I can offer some very good and inexpensive suggestions.

Again considering price versus performance my second suggestion would be the Meopta S1-75. It also uses high end glass but does utilize only their own zoom and fixed eyepieces. Superb performance for a price of around $770. The company isn't as well known as some of the others mentioned but they are the largest optics manufacturer in Europe. Once they become more established in the US I am sure the prices will go up.

The Nikon Fieldscope ED series is also optically superb but my third recommendation out of the three mentioned because they are the most expensive. Still, they are signficantly less expensive than their Zeiss, Swaro and Leica counterparts without sacrificing anything to them optically.

Good luck with your search.

Check out this guy on e-Bay...

http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQfgtpZ1QQfrppZ25QQsassZelkhunter777

Sorry, a little boo-boo. My Nikon has ED glass not HD. Guess I've been watching too much t.v.

The terms are used interchangeably often times. Both of them simply refer to extra low dispersion glass capable of focusing all of the colors of the visible spectrum to the same point of focus.

Ok, I will get off the soap box now....