I am looking at spotting scopes and would like to know the various manufacturers quality level. I know Leupold and Swarovski are high end, but specifically (and don't limit yourself to just this company) where would Barska be classified. Also, generally, are they worth the money spent or do they have recurrent problems associated with them?
I bought a Rugged Exposure for $99. Its magnification is 12-60x78mm. It works fine for looking at distances for a fixed object such as a landmark or house or tree, but even at 100 yards it's sometimes hard for me to see hits on the targets. It does the job, but I once tried to read a posted eviction notice on a rental across my street and I couldn't read it. Maybe the print was too small. The notice was a standard 8 1/2 by 11 sheet of paper.
The nice thing about the high end one is that they can come with a Mildot or similar reticle in them, so the shooter and spotter will be on the exact same page, as they are looking at the same thing, through the same cross hairs.
This is from a Leupold Mark 4 spotter those are 4" pigeons at 620 yards. Cheap glass may work good out to 100 yards-- but beyond that you'll want better glass and better coating. Also check out Nikon-- they make great glass and their warranty is second to none. I have a Fieldscope III that fell off the back of a truck and was ran over by a ATV-- Nikon replaced it no questions asked--- it didn't cost me a penny. The only problem is they don't make it with mils.
