spotting scope help

[Badger_55]

So about a month before my deer trip I pulled my ventana 15-45 out and seen it was broke. I'm going to send it in to get fixed but probably not in time. I am a big fan of Leupold and I have been looking to upgrade. I deer and elk hunt. Pack in by foot and horse most of the time. Should I go with a bigger mag? 20-80? Or the gold ring 12-40? Just looking for advice from all. Just started to really utilize my spotter well too.
thanks!

 

[Louie]

I would not go to the higher magnification. Lots of mirage as the temp warms up and you will not be able to go to the higher magnification anyway. Another consideration since you mentioned hunting on foot is the weight. I would pick a quality scope in the same power range you have now and not go larger.

 

[Mcseal2]

For an all around spotter a good 65mm is hard to beat. I use a 80mm Swaro and recently ordered a 55mm Kowa to have the best of both worlds. I would go with a wide field of view over a high magnification. In a Leupold spotter for all purpose the 12-40 is hard to beat. There are other spotters with better glass but a friend who outfitted for 25 years still packs his 12-40 Gold Ring everywhere and gets the job done. If I was set on Leupold I'd go that route.

This is a post from Eastmans forum I saw a few days ago, sounds like a good deal if not set on Leupold.

"Just bought the new style razor hd 22-48x65. Got it for $800 on sale at reeds sporting goods. Super pumped to try this baby out. Thanks for all the input everyone!!"

 

[cgarner]

I recently picked up a Vortex Razor HD 27-60X85 spotting scope. That thing is a beast. I opted for the bigger objective after hearing so many people regretting the 65mm objective.

 

[pumatom]

Gold ring 12x40 may not be the best
But for the weight it's hard to beat
If you don't need real high magnification!

 

[Badger_55]

Got yeah, I am sure alot of glass would be a step up from the Ventana. Yeah I am pretty stubborn with the Leupold glass. That's all I ever run. Never had a bad experience. Just want to make sure I have the glass to get up high and pick out sone hidden bucks. I just hope 40x mag would be enough.
Thanks for the advice, keep it coming.

 

[rlmmatt]

Cabelas has ats65 swaro's for sale around 1700 or at least the louisville store does. I picked up an open box and they gave me an additional 10 percent of so I got it for 1550 if you were interested in going that route
There was also someone on here trying to sell a swaro last week for a fair price but I don't know if he still has it