10 Best Spotting Scopes 2024 in the United States

A spotting scope is sort of a low-power telescope, while also offering better magnification than a set of binoculars. You’ll find a spotting scope useful for outdoors activities such as observing and photographing wildlife, watching ships and even astronomy. It can also give a tremendous edge in hunting since you can discern much more detail than with a pair of binoculars. You’d be able to identify the animal that you see, and whether it’s worth hunting. A spotting scope can also allow you to stay away from any predators in the area--since you’ll see them from a safe distance.

Spotting scopes can also be fashioned to withstand inclement weather since they are made to be waterproof and fog proof. They are also usually more rugged than a telescope, with rubber casing to prevent the optics from being jostled around when hiking. And while telescopes will have special drives and motors to keep celestial bodies in the field of vision, a spotting scope will be much simpler to set up and operate.

We’ve composed this buyer’s guide to help you make the right decision when selecting a spotting scope. It'll help you:

• Choose the right type of spotting scope,

• See useful tips about that particular type of spotting scope,

• Read reviews of different spotting scopes, and what customers are saying,

• Select the right brand of the best spotting scopes, and

• Compare prices and find the best deals.

We can distinguish between spotting scopes based on their construction:

• Straight body spotting scopes: These have the eyepiece and objective all in a straight line, or at least in the same plane. It gives an experience much like looking through a monocular. An example is the Barska Spotting Scope. You have the option of mounting it on a tripod or operating it while holding it in your hand since it weighs only around 1.5 pounds.

Barska Spotting Scope

• Angled body spotting scopes: These have the eyepiece placed at a 45-degree angle to the body of the scope. This is somewhat better for taller people, who don’t have to stoop so much to look through the scope. It can also be used while lying down or sitting. This typically will be more comfortable for viewing An example is the Svbony SV13 Spotting Scope.

Svbony SV13 Spotting Scope

• Sunshade: A sun shade on the spotting scope will help you cut down on glare when viewing wildlife in broad daylight. This is especially desirable when bird watching.

• Attaching a phone for photography: Many spotting scopes will have special attachments that allow you to take photographs with your phone.  For example, the Aomekie spotting scope has a bracket that attaches to the eyepiece, for easy photography.

Aomekie spotting scope phone bracket

• Durability: A big factor in buying a spotting scope is its durability. You would like a spotting scope that is waterproof and fog proof. The best spotting scopes will be filled with a gas like argon or nitrogen, to keep out water vapor. This will prevent the lenses from fogging up from the inside. These will also have special O-rings keeping the lenses in place, which form a tight seal so that no water vapor can seep in. Also, look at the Ingress Protection (IP) number: a grade of IPX7 will mean that the scope is waterproof and fog proof--it can even be submerged in 1 meter of water for up to 30 minutes!

• Stability: An angled-body design makes the spotting scope more stable on the tripod. This is especially important in windy conditions and might tip the scales towards buying a spotting scope with such a design.

• An advantage over binoculars: Why should you prefer a spotting scope over a pair of binoculars? One big reason is the order of magnification. Binoculars will usually have a magnification of 7x to 15x. And when they’re 15x magnification, they’ll be so heavy (around 42 ounces--almost 4 pounds!) that you’ll need to mount them on a tripod. On the other hand, a spotting scope will have a magnification of 15x for starters, and go up to 60x!

• An advantage over a telescope: Spotting scopes won’t give you the magnification of a telescope--but that’s actually an advantage. When magnification is high, then moving the slightest bit will cause objects to fly out of the field of view. Also telescopes will usually invert the image: a refracting telescope (that uses primarily lenses) will flip the image right-to-left, as if looking in a mirror. And a reflecting telescope (that uses mirrors) will flip the image upside-down. The spotting scope has a set of Porro prisms inside that shows you the object “as is”, just at a greater magnification. This is a big plus for hunters, especially when the game is moving.

• Explanation of spotting scope specs: You’ll see spotting scopes with a series of numbers in their specs. For example, the Aomekie Spotting Scope has the specs 25-75x70. The first numbers indicate the magnification: Thus, the Aomekie has its weakest eyepiece with a 25x magnification and its most powerful eyepiece at 75x magnification. The second number is the width of the objective in millimeters. The advantage of a large objective is that it lets in more light. This will be important when viewing animals in twilight conditions when you need to take in as much light as possible.

• Coatings: Another advantage to let in more light is by applying a coating to the lenses. The coating causes less light being reflected, and more light absorption. You’ll see lenses that are fully-coated, multi-coated, and fully-multi-coated--the latter is the highest grade. Magnesium fluoride coatings ensure less glare and capturing more ambient light, and ensure maximum brightness of the subject.

• With or without a tripod: A tripod is best when you expect to remain stationed in one place. So if you’re hunting or observing animals in a thicket of trees, the tripod will allow you to remain perfectly stationary, and thus less noticeable by the wildlife. A tripod will also allow you to rotate the eyepiece from side to side, which is a good option if you’re in a tight position. But, if you choose to be moving around, then you should prefer using the spotting scope while holding it in your hand. Most are quite lightweight, so holding the scope in your hand is quite practical when scanning for objects.

• Eye relief: You’ll see scopes that mention “eye relief”. This is the distance that you position your eye from the eyepiece, in order to get an accurate image. The rule of thumb is that the distance where you can position your eye will decrease as the magnification of the eyepiece increases. If you wear eyeglasses, the distance at which you have to place your eye will be even shorter. The Swarovski spotting scope has an eye relief of 17 mm.

• Vortex Optics was founded in 1986, and is owned by the Hamilton family of Middleton, Wisconsin (the company relocated to Barneveld, Wisconsin). They make equipment for hunting as well as for tactical and birdwatching use. They make riflescopes, red dot devices, binoculars, rangefinders, monoculars, spotting scopes, and more.

• Barska is located in Pomona, California, and was founded as a manufacturer of optics such as rifle scopes and spotting scopes, lasers and lights, tactical gear for hunting, metal detectors, safes and security, and more.

• Aomekie, located in Ningbo, China, are manufacturers of telescopes, microscopes, magnifying glasses, binoculars, and more.

• Swarovski was founded by Daniel Swarovski in 1895 in Tyrol, Austria. The son of the founder, Wilhelm Swarovski, an avid astronomer, expanded the business in 1935 to include manufacturing prisms, binoculars, and later, telescopes.

• Svbony, founded in 2003, is based in Zhengzhou, China. They make cameras, telescopes, binoculars, monoculars, and spotting scopes for uses both in astronomy and hunting purposes.