Rifle Scopes Bushnell FFP Spotter Review w/ Update

[45.308]

I got my hands or is that eye on one yesterday with out the mildot. I found the thing to be quite large and very heavy.

Construction quality felt better than the Alpen I am running but not as good as I was thinking it would be.

Power ring was easy to adjust and it was smooth. An par maybe slightly more smooth than my Alpen.

Main complaint is the goofy eye cup and short eye relief. The eye cup hindered me from getting a good eye relief or a quick eye relief, I had to wiggle my eye around / in the cup to see full field of view. I also had to push into the rubber eye cup to get the correct relief. Wearing eye glasses I did not like. This was a real pain for me and just did not work, I had to push hard into the cup to get my eye wearing glasses remotely close to the eye relief. The rubber bunched up and would not let me get proper eye relief.

Glass? I am not an expert by any means but I saw no real super glass, it did not jump out to my eye as real bright and crisp. But, I got frustrated trying to get my eye in the cup to see good and I think this discouraged me. It did looked clear edge to edge.

Price? I forgot to write it down but I think it was $529.

Would I buy it? Not at this time with the rubber eye cup wearing glasses. If I did, the rubber cup would be cut off ASAP.

Do not take this as an end all review. Others will have different opinions and I am sure more positive review. I am no optics expert but I tried to be honest and fair. I will go back and try it again and will remove my glasses. I want to check out the glass more.

Hope this helps someone and does not hurt anyone.

 

[pinzmann]

Re: Bushnell Excuersion Spotting Scope MinI Review

Can this cup be folded back around the eyepiece? Iam interested in one of these but wear glasses so this will be a major factor for me anyway. I just sold an old Bushnell trophy that had excellent glass but the eye releif was so short I couldn't use it.

 

[Natty Bumpo]

Re: Bushnell Excuersion Spotting Scope MinI Review

I'm interested in picking up one of these. My primary interest is how did it do resolving bullet holes on the range at distance. Any good at 400 or 500yards?

 

[45.308]

Re: Bushnell Excuersion Spotting Scope MinI Review

I went back and spent almost an hour outside looking through one of these. It was late afternoon, 62F with 40-50% hum, hazy dusty spring day in Alaska, only those who live here know what the air is like this time of the year but as the winter snows melt, the wind and sun dry it all up and dust particles are abundant in the air until the rains come this month.

I still had issues with the short eye relief. Glasses on with the cup rolled down or glasses off using the cup, I struggled to get a full field of view at max power. The best way but not ideal was cup rolled down with glasses off and use my hand/fingers like old school and suck my eyeball into the lens.

The focus ring was finicky. It took very minute movement to get a sharp picture. The further away the object was the more minute focus became. It did not have the same solid feel of movement as the power ring.

Power ring was twisted dozens of times and it was smooth every time.

First target viewed was a sign lased at 388 yards. It was a white sign with red letters, 1/2" letters. Very easy to read and the sign was held on by 3/8" bolts and they were easy to see so, bullet holes around 400 yards should not be much of an issue.

Lased a brown house with white trim at 850 yards. I could see the louvers, make out horizontal lines in the window shades sort of, see some crud growing on the chimney that was about it. I looked at the deck but nothing popped out to focus on but a chair and BBQ grill which of course was easy to see. The grill was a Binford 6600. Focusing at this distant, it never got real sharp.

Lased a church sign at 461 yards. Blue sign with white letters was easy to read but the letters were I guess 6" tall. But, there were Christmas lights hanging around the sign and I could distinguish their color with ease. I could also make out what was holding the sign onto the building, it was difficult but I could make them out. I do not know what they were or know their size but they were painted white, the same color as the trim of the sign so there was some shadow there to pick up. If I had to guess, same 3/8" bolts holding the other sign so bullet holes at this distant would be a stretch too see with ease but under the ideal conditions I would guess you could see them especially with Shoot N See targets.

Lased a few signs at 683 yards. Nothing impressive but I did make out the ' apostrophe on the sign. The main letters on the sign were not readable by naked eye if this gives a clue to its size. There was a smaller sign. blue with white letters and I could make it was 3 words but have no idea what they were at 683 yards..."Insurance made easy"

Lased more things but I did this more to judge my yardage reading skills than to judge the spotting scope.

My conclusion and its just one opinion and mine alone, with mil ret at around $500 this thing is an absolute bargain. It is heavy if anyone wants to pack it around, it would not be ideal for hunting in my opinion but a range toy it is superb for the coin. The short eye relief just has me shaking my head though. I do not understand why some of this spotting scopes are so short. My $160 Alpen with 20mm eye relief, all I do is get my eye close at max power and I can see full field of view.

Again, hope this helps someone and not hurts anyone. This is just but one gumby's opinion who is not an expert but I am honest and fair or at least try my best to be.