Spotting Scope with Long Eye Relief for people with glasses

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aliascraig
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Spotting Scope with Long Eye Relief for people with glasses

Post by aliascraig »

Spotting Scope with Long Eye Relief for people with glasses sort

Fellow MS members. I wanted to ask people out there if they have any recommendation on spotting scopes that are affordable, under US$1000 that have a sufficient long eye relief that one can look through both at a quick look and for extended periods of time without removing my glasses.

I recently purchased a KOWA spotting scope and purchased the LER 25x eyepiece and which the optics are fantastic on but the eye relief is appalling. The only way I can see through them is to force my glasses up against the rubber, smudging my glasses and not getting much field of view. The eye relief is claimed as being 32mm (1.3 inches) but is no where near this. The exit pupil diameter is 2.6mm (0.1 inch).

Surely other people have had similar problems and found some brands which suit us people who are optically challenged?

Thanks Craig
lone ringer
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Re: Spotting Scope with Long Eye Relief for people with glas

Post by lone ringer »

Craig, check to see if your scope's eye piece has a rubber cup that may be folded back to let you get closer to it so you can get more field of view. A lot of binoculars have that option as well.
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Re: Spotting Scope with Long Eye Relief for people with glas

Post by Finprof »

I had the same question. even if you are not optically challenged, almost every range requires eye and ear protection for shooters and spotters. Even if they don't, it is stupid to shoot or spot without eye and ear protection, so everybody should be wearing some type of glasses.
aliascraig
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Re: Spotting Scope with Long Eye Relief for people with glas

Post by aliascraig »

Thanks yes there is a rubber boot on the eye piece which is too thick to fold over and yes it is quite long. I am contemplating cutting this off piece by piece to see how it works but the eye piece alone was $215 plus shipping and I am not sure if this can be replaced if this doesn’t work. I may need to look into this further if I can’t find another suitable spotting scope or eye piece, I just hate cutting up new equipment.

Thanks,

Craig.
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Re: Spotting Scope with Long Eye Relief for people with glas

Post by lone ringer »

aliascraig wrote:Thanks yes there is a rubber boot on the eye piece which is too thick to fold over and yes it is quite long. I am contemplating cutting this off piece by piece to see how it works but the eye piece alone was $215 plus shipping and I am not sure if this can be replaced if this doesn’t work. I may need to look into this further if I can’t find another suitable spotting scope or eye piece, I just hate cutting up new equipment.

Thanks,

Craig.
Could be that the rubber boot is there to protect the eye piece but you could remove it to use it and put it back on when not using it or looking through it.
I have been using a Kowa with the 25X LER for many years with out any problems or complaints, without a doubt one of the best ones out there.
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Re: Spotting Scope with Long Eye Relief for people with glas

Post by Bob259 »

aliascraig wrote:Thanks yes there is a rubber boot on the eye piece which is too thick to fold over and yes it is quite long. I am contemplating cutting this off piece by piece to see how it works but the eye piece alone was $215 plus shipping and I am not sure if this can be replaced if this doesn’t work. I may need to look into this further if I can’t find another suitable spotting scope or eye piece, I just hate cutting up new equipment.

Thanks,

Craig.
Craig, Did you contact Kowa Customer Service about this? They are very helpful and usually their, and other high end scope manufactures, Extended Eye Relief eyepieces work very well with glasses. Like anything else these days, the eyepiece you have may be out of spec.
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Re: Spotting Scope with Long Eye Relief for people with glas

Post by xpilot »

I also have a Kowa w/25xLER eyepiece. I have no problems wearing Decot shooting glasses. The eye relief with this setup is very forgiving/not critical. As suggested , give Kowa a call. Also have another shooter with this setup check yours out. (shouldn't be hard to find) Good luck.
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Re: Spotting Scope with Long Eye Relief for people with glas

Post by xpilot »

Just checked my scope. I DO NOT have a rubber boot etc., just the eyepiece. Might be the rubber is a safeguard to be removed when using.
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Re: Spotting Scope with Long Eye Relief for people with glas

Post by lone ringer »

One thing is for sure those Kowa spotting scopes are big and heavier compared to others and they very seldom pass the drop test when blown down by the wind or when some one bumps them hard and knock them down. We used my friend Ralph Corral scope for many years and he had to send his scope back to Kowa to be repaired more than once when his scope bit the dust, expensive repairs by the way. I always make sure when I am not using mine that is in a secure place and as low as possible.
aliascraig
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Re: Spotting Scope with Long Eye Relief for people with glas

Post by aliascraig »

Thanks for the advice. I might have another really good look at the eye pice and even possibly talk to KOWA. I do recall reading somewhere that these have been recently redesigned so this may have something to do with this. As you said if I cut some rubber away then it would be more useable but I will see what I can pull off and see if I can get a new spare before getting out the scalpel blade.

Thanks for all you good advice.

Regards,

Craig
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Re: Spotting Scope with Long Eye Relief for people with glas

Post by lone ringer »

aliascraig wrote:Thanks for the advice. I might have another really good look at the eye pice and even possibly talk to KOWA. I do recall reading somewhere that these have been recently redesigned so this may have something to do with this. As you said if I cut some rubber away then it would be more useable but I will see what I can pull off and see if I can get a new spare before getting out the scalpel blade.

Thanks for all you good advice.

Regards,

Craig
Craig, the rubber that your eye piece has is only there for protection during transport and so that if you drop it will hit the rubber and not the eye piece but when using it you are supposed to remove it other wise you will not be able to get close enough to get the full field of view. I had discarded the rubber piece of of mine but I looked for it to see what you were talking about and it pulls right off and on the eye piece. From now on I will leave it on my scope to transport and when I am not using it at the range.
Hope I helped to solve your problem
Last edited by lone ringer on Sun Sep 26, 2010 6:24 am, edited 1 time in total.
aliascraig
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Re: Spotting Scope with Long Eye Relief for people with glas

Post by aliascraig »

I will dig it out again and have another close look at this. Lets hope that is all that is needed.

Kind Regards,

Craig
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Re: Spotting Scope with Long Eye Relief for people with glas

Post by eeleater »

As an FYI, the Fujinon spotting scopes with the 25X LER eyepeice have a very long eye relief (31 MM), and are easily used when wearing glasses. They also have the rubber eyepice which can be removed. I do not know if they are still made- but some do show up on E-bay. Fujinon also made some excellent riflescopes for a short period of time. Should have bought some when I had the chance...
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Re: Spotting Scope with Long Eye Relief for people with glas

Post by boats »

Craig

I just bought David Tubb's new book "Rifle Shooter" It's not the old one revised, completely new. Chapter on equipment he has a photo of his Kowa with the eyepiece altered. He chucks it up in the lathe and turns off the rubber and protective ring around the glass so he can get closer with shooting glasses on. Nothing between his glasses and and the eyepieces glass.

However I use two spotting scopes one LER one not. LER is a older model 25 x 50mm fixed power compact Leopold, it's good about giving me a wide sight picture with glasses on. Other is a 50 Year old Unertl 20 x 53 mm. It's not LER and when looking with glasses you don't see the full field, but what you see is much clearer than the newer Leopold. I think variable, wide angle & LER detract from the clarity and resolution, no way to prove it but seems that way to me. Most spotting I do only need the center of the glass anyway so regular relief is not an problem. I just accept it's not full field. Use the Unertl more than the Leopold by far.

Tubb says Kowa is the scope to have though, and if what you see on the line in matches is any judge it is.

Boats
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