‘smart’ spotting scope?

[Powder_Burns]

Readind a thread about tripod setups earlier, seen a lot of cool configurations with kestrels, lrf’s, binos, tablets, and spotters mounted on tables and rails got me wondering.
Is anyone making a spotter with an integrated lrf yet? Seems like a good idea to have a rangefinding spotter that can pair with a kestrel and give firing solutions inside the spotter. I’m on the fence for purchasing a sig kilo 3000, but still want my spotter to see impacts and call corrections. Trying to simplify the setup so I don’t have +3k worth of gear on a tripod with another $1500 in ballheads and mounting plates to add to the mix.

 

[THEIS]

Hi,

Newcon Optik 15-45x60 Laser Rangefinder spotting scope.

Sincerely,
Theis

 

[wyliecoyote]

I've always been hesitant to buy into optics with integrated electronics, especially at the high end of the price scale. For me, spending $3-4K on an optic is a lifetime purchase and I want that glass to last me the rest of my life (40-50 more years God willing). I'd be really pissed if I spent a big chunk of cash on good glass with an integrated gizmo and then 10-15 years later, said gizmo stopped working, as any electronic thingy will eventually do. Then you'd just get mad every time you went to use that glass with the dead gizmo in it. For a spotting scope, I went with the Swaro STR-80 and made full use of the pic rails you can get for it (pic attached). On top sits a TerraPin X with a RRS arca clamp bolted onto a ADM pic rail clamp. This is really cool because the LRF and spotter are almost co-witnessed and only take a slight adjust to center up one or the other. The Kestrel sits on a RAM mount with a claw that can grab onto one of the side pic rails or anywhere else that happens to be convenient.

 

[wyliecoyote]

I've always been hesitant to buy into optics with integrated electronics, especially at the high end of the price scale. For me, spending $3-4K on an optic is a lifetime purchase and I want that glass to last me the rest of my life (40-50 more years God willing). I'd be really pissed if I spent a big chunk of cash on good glass with an integrated gizmo and then 10-15 years later, said gizmo stopped working, as any electronic thingy will eventually do. Then you'd just get mad every time you went to use that glass with the dead gizmo in it. For a spotting scope, I went with the Swaro STR-80 and made full use of the pic rails you can get for it (pic attached). On top sits a TerraPin X with a RRS arca clamp bolted onto a ADM pic rail clamp. This is really cool because the LRF and spotter are almost co-witnessed and only take a slight adjust to center up one or the other. The Kestrel sits on a RAM mount with a claw that can grab onto one of the side pic rails or anywhere else that happens to be convenient.

Funny that I say this when the STR-80 has an electronic reticle in it. Oops! I guess at some level, we're all dependent on the quality and supportability of the manufacturer. With names like Newcon or Swaro, I'm not too worried though.

 

[dgheriani]

I think it all depends on how much money you want to spend and how flexible you want your system to be. An LRF intergrated into a spotter is a great idea but depending on your use case you'd also still need binos and a LRF (in that it's not always feasible/practical to lug around a spotter). If money is no object, then yeah, buy the spotter with the integrated LRF, buy the LRF binos, buy every piece of gear to be able to select the most optimum compromise for each specific situation.

In my case, I wanted a flexible setup. Mine is similar to wyliecoyote's (although my spotter isn't as skookum as his). Athlon spotter with reticle with a rds on it to be able to rapidly get on target and a home brew mount on top (adjustable for windage and elevation)

that allows my Sig Kilo 3000s (with RRS Bino adapter) to be co-zeroed to the reticle. This way I can use the spotter or the lrf binos independently or mount the binos on top and they return to zero.

 

[wyliecoyote]

I think it all depends on how much money you want to spend and how flexible you want your system to be. An LRF intergrated into a spotter is a great idea but depending on your use case you'd also still need binos and a LRF (in that it's not always feasible/practical to lug around a spotter). If money is no object, then yeah, buy the spotter with the integrated LRF, buy the LRF binos, buy every piece of gear to be able to select the most optimum compromise for each specific situation.

In my case, I wanted a flexible setup. Mine is similar to wyliecoyote's (although my spotter isn't as skookum as his). Athlon spotter with reticle with a rds on it to be able to rapidly get on target and a home brew mount on top (adjustable for windage and elevation) View attachment 7345701that allows my Sig Kilo 3000s (with RRS Bino adapter) to be co-zeroed to the reticle. This way I can use the spotter or the lrf binos independently or mount the binos on top and they return to zero.

View attachment 7345696View attachment 7345697

Your "home brew" mount looks pretty awesome, especially with being able to adjust in windage/elevation. I always have to move the ball head around when switching between the spotter and LRF which is mildly annoying. The red dot is a cool idea too.

 

[dgheriani]

Your "home brew" mount looks pretty awesome, especially with being able to adjust in windage/elevation. I always have to move the ball head around when switching between the spotter and LRF which is mildly annoying. The red dot is a cool idea too.

The red dot is great for getting on target or transitioning from target to target quickly.

My home brew adapter works great for what it is, it's not the most elegant solution, mainly because it's an adapter plate on top of an adjustable mount but it does work well. I sent some photos of it to RRS as it would be awesome if they made something similar but I'd imagine they could fit it into a much more sleek form factor.