Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review
(6 customer reviews) 21 of 21 people found the following review helpful
Excellent optics at a (relatively) affordable price,
February 26, 2007 Jon F (Glendale, CA United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Pentax PF-80ED-A 80mm ED Waterproof Angled Spotting Scope w/Case (requires eyepiece) (Electronics)
I've owned this Pentax PF80ED for four years now and I've found it to be a relative bargain in the world of high end spotting scopes.
It's a matter of personal preference, but I have always preferred fixed power eyepieces over zooms. Fixed eyepieces are almost always better optically than zooms (though zooms are continually improving), though of course you are stuck with only one magnification unless you choose to swap lenses in the field.
I was using the fixed XW14 eyepiece for several years which offers 37x with the angled version of this scope. Eventually I decided I'd like the option of a brighter image and wider field and I recently started using the XW20 eyepiece which offers 26x. I've found that for most birding applications, 26x is more than adequate. It is an excellent eyepiece- wide, very sharp and bright- and will show you all the detail you need 90% of the time. Atmospheric distortion and vibration are also minimized at this magnification...Read more
18 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Brilliant Quality ED spotting scope,
June 5, 2008 Amanda Bartels (Eltham, Victoria Australia) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Pentax PF-80ED-A 80mm ED Waterproof Angled Spotting Scope w/Case (requires eyepiece) (Electronics)
I bought this Pentax after extensive research online, to find a scope which would show me 6mm holes in a 500 yard target. There are very few out there which do this, and I could not afford several $thousands for the Swarovski/Leica models. So the Pentax was the only option for me, affordable and MIGHT do the job. I took a punt.
Well, happy to say it does the job brilliantly. At 500 yards the image is crystal clear, no chroma, bright and sharp. I can see not only 6mm bullet holes, but the tiny blowback marks around each hole plus scratches on the plate. It's simply magnificent.
At the target range, I had it sitting on a small Velbon tripod next to my rifle. The Pentax has the ability to roll the body through left to right on the tripod, so it was easy to position with a sideways tilt to enable me to look through the nicely-angled eyepiece at the target, then transfer my eye to the riflescope and shoot, and then back to the Pentax to see how I did, all without...Read more
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Outstanding value!,
September 29, 2010 Craig Broeking (Carmel, Ind) - See all my reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Pentax PF-80ED-A 80mm ED Waterproof Angled Spotting Scope w/Case (requires eyepiece) (Electronics)
I was upgrading from my Alpen 80mm scope and did a considerable amount of research since it seems rather difficult to compare/touch/view spotting scopes (not many people carry a diverse/quality selection). The review on Better View Desired allowed me to take the leap and make this purchase without ever seeing this piece of equipment (PF-80ED-A). Their point that why don't manufacturers/designers make a scope around a quality eyepiece as opposed to the objective lense. I have read numerous articles on the quality of the Pentax eyepieces (I now own the SMC zoom,XW7,XW10 and XW14 eyepieces)and those reviews convinced me this was the right decision. I now own my "scope for life" and can't imagine EVER wanting/needing to purchase another spotting scope AND I have looked through a fair number of other brands that cost considerably more and are from most of the big European names. On a recent birding group outing (estimated 25-30 attendees), I had my scope set up and one of the more...Read more
