Re: Viper HD spotter
Alright so I got everything in today and unpacked. Which was a 45-45x65 Viper HD, Vortex camera adapter kit, and a camera lens for digiscoping (Nikon 50mm f1.8 which was recommended by Vortex).
In the box with the scope body is the adjustable eye piece, Neoprene cover, and rubber lens caps. When I first picked up the scope it felt solid in my hand and is rather heavy. The rubber armor on the outside had a nice texture and made the scope easily gripped. The spotter also has a foot the protrudes from the scope that will function as a QD mount in some tripods, it also has threaded insert in the foot so it can be screwed directly onto most any tripod.
As I mentioned earlier I also purchased the camera adapter kit for this scope. Vortex offer two different attachment for this. One is for Point-n-Shoot type cameras the other is for SLR type cameras. I purchased the later to couple with my D3100. Now I will say I'm not super impressed with the system Vortex has devised for this but is does function. The adapter system offered by Vortex threads onto the end of your camera lens. I would much rather have the adapter utilize a F-mount type system. But enough about that.
The Neoprene cover that is provided will work but for my purposes I do not see it being anything useful. The cover itself provides a snug fit but in turn takes some doing to get on and off. It is also provided with caps that clip on either end of the cover and they seemed to function well but the cover as a whole did not work well with the camera adapter thus the cover was quickly thrown in the closet where it will stay. And the rubber lens caps will be utilized from this point forward.
As for the optical quality it seemed good but that phase of the testing will be done over the next couple days. So I hope this helps some of ya'll and I'll post more of the evalution as I get farther along with it.
One more picture for good measure (the entire kit assembled)
So I went out today and sent some time behind the scope and was impressed. The local reservoir is still low from the drought so I took off and was able to walk out on the dry lake bed which gave me a excellent area for evaluation. The area was rich with wildlife, fishing boats and all kinds of structure on the other side of the bay. Thus I was able to get a clear line of sight to thing from 100 meters away to over a km away. The scope offered edge to edge clarity, vivid colors w/ excellent contrast, and resolved images really well. I was able to make out details of a gull sized bird 600 meters away even with a kicking mirage. I wish is could have taken a few pictures but after getting out there I realized my SD card will still in computer at home. Thus not photo today but that should be corrected tomorrow.
