Customer Reviews

Swarovski ATM-80 HD Spotting Scope

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I have been researching spotting scopes for over a year. After reading countless reviews, I finally settled on the Swarovski 80 ATM HD. I have never owned a spotting scope before and this was my first one. I own a couple of pairs of binoculars including two pair of Swarovski Pockets that I take to football games and a pair of Steiner Predators for hunting. I was impressed with the Swarovski Pockets and the clear images I get with them as well as the quality of their construction. The reputation of Swarovski as the best led me to start my search for a spotting scope with Swarovski. I was able to compare the Swarovski to other manufacturers' products at a Cabelas store near my house.

One of the things that I immediately noticed was the quality of construction and the armor coating on the body of the scope. Another feature that caught my eye was the helical focus that surrounds the body of the Swaro scope. It is big and very comfortable to adjust focus. It was also very easy to do fine adjustments.. I was confident that I could easily use it whether I was using gloves or not. The clarity and sharpness of the image was better than most of the scopes that I examined in the store. I couldn't discern differences in some of the scopes while in the store, but that changed once I got it outside. I was able to do a side by side comparison of the 25-50X wide angle and the 20-60X eye-pieces. The zoom on both were great. I did not think the extra 10x magnification would be as valuable to me as the much larger field of view in the 25-50X wide angle eye-piece, so I ended up buying the wide angle 25-50X eye-piece.

I was also able to compare the Angled vs. the Straight scope. I guess this choice comes down to personal preference. I spend a lot of time looking through a microscope at work so I am comfortable looking down through an eye-piece. My wife is a foot shorter than I am and my kids are even shorter. Not having to adjust the tripod and relocate the animal every time someone else of different height wanted to look through the scope seemed like a good idea. Also, I am pretty tall at 6'3" (1.90m). Many tripods do extend to that height. However, one will need to use the center pole which greatly increases the shake of the tripod due to wind or vibration. So, I purchased the angled body. They say that it is easier to locate the animal with the straight scope, but I haven't had any problems. There is a peep sight on the side of the scope, but I detached it and just "eyeball" it.

I also was torn by the 65mm scope vs. the 80mm. In a side by side the 80mm's image was 3 shades lighter when using identical magnifications. If you back up and look through the eye-piece you will see a circle of light in the eye-piece. The diameter of that circle is the "exit pupil." That circle is how much light the scope lets into your eye, with coatings and lenses etc. being equal. With optics, the exit pupil is calculated by dividing the objective or big end of the scope by the magnification of the eye-piece end. Thus on 25X magnification, on both scopes the exit pupil would be 80mm / 25X = 3.2mm and 65mm / 25X = 2.4 mm. At the high end (50X) the exit pupil will shrink 80mm / 50X = 1.6mm and 65mm / 50X = 1.3mm. That is a pretty big difference in price for 0.8 - 0.3mm of exit pupil between the two scopes. A twenty-something will be able to dilate their pupils to about 7mm. At 41, I am probably only able to dilate to about 5mm. An exit pupil of 7mm is wasted on me, because I can only take advantage of 5mm of it. Due to the large magnification of spotting scopes, I am probably not going to have to worry about exceeding my 5mm max pupil diameter. The exit-pupil of the ATM 80 HD ranges from 3.2 - 1.6mm. The point is that in dim light you will be able to make out more detail with the bigger scope because it gathers more light. The weight was a concern as well, until I realized that there was only 9oz. difference between the two. Size could be an issue as the 80mm is larger and might not pack as easily. But, at the end of the day, what I wanted was more light going into my eye. So I got the 80mm.

Along with the scope and the eye-piece I purchased the Swarovski Travel tripod and head. It is made of carbon fiber and dampens vibration. I liked it because its quick release on the tripod head integrated with the base of the scope without having to mess with an adaptor. I read several reviews that said that certain Manfrotto tripod heads would do the same, but I could not figure out which models were compatible. In the end I gave up and went with the Swarovski tripod and head. Finally, I also bought the cordura cover for the scope that is made by Swarovski. It is expensive and cost around two hundred fifty dollars, but I thought, what the heck I just spent close to 4k on the scope and tripod, and might as well protect it. Like everything Swarovski it is green, and well made.

My first use of the scope in the field was a hunting trip for coyotes. We didn't shoot any coyotes that day, but we sure observed a lot. We watched a pack of 4 coyotes at 450 yards away (Leica rangefinder) for about 15 minutes. Detail was amazing. The behavior we observed was amazing. 50X magnification means that they appeared to be 9 yards away (450 yards/50x = 9 yards). Even though we didn't shoot any coyotes, I felt ecstatic at being that close to the animals (the real reason I like hunting). This is where the wide angle really helped. We had never been able to see this before using binoculars.

Two weeks later, I took my whole family on a trip to Yellowstone National Park. The Swarovski ATM 80 HD really shone. I have been to the Park probably a dozen times in my life. On this trip I saw more wildlife than all other trips combined. We located 4 grizzly bears, 6 wolves, 1 black bear, 1 osprey, and countless elk and bison, all in one day. Most of the bears and wolves were beyond the range of binoculars, 800 yards or more. We observed the wolf pack from a distance of one mile (the Leica range finder again). The wolves appeared to be about 30 yards away through the scope (1600 meters/ 50X = 32 meters). With binoculars, the wolves were barely visible and detail was non-existent made worse by hand-shake. The light was poor as it was late afternoon and early evening when we were viewing the wolves. They were located in the shadow of the mountain to their west for the two hours I observed them. We witnessed a standoff between the wolves and a group of 30 bison that were traveling through the area where the wolves were resting. It was fantastic. I was really glad that I had the 80mm vs. the 65mm for its ability to gather more light.

One grizzly and the black bear that we observed were about 300 yards away, each. With the scope it was like standing next to them. This is where the choice to use the angled body really paid off. I would set the tripod at a height that my 4 year old could see through. All of my older kids could then view the animals as well by just leaning over a bit and looking in the eye-piece. I didn't have to adjust the scope height for each user like I would with a straight scope. It was also the perfect height for me to sit on a collapsible tripod stool and look through the eye-pieces well.

During the day, I had opportunity to visit with many other wildlife spotters. I asked many of them if I could trade looks though their scopes. One of them was even a Swarovski ATM 80 identical to mine but without the HD glass. He even had the 20-60X eye-piece with greater zoom. None of the scopes even came close to touching mine as far as the detail, clarity and sharpness were concerned. The image on mine was distortion free from edge to edge. None of the other scopes were. I thought that the 60X magnification on the other Swarovski would be helpful compared to my 50X, as the wolves were a mile away. However, it was no contest. The wolves looked bigger but showed a lot less detail. I was able to point out details with my scope that none of the other observers could make out. The HD glass in my scope made a huge difference. After using my scope for a few minutes, the owner of the other scope said he was going to sell his and buy one with the HD glass. Thanks to my scope, I was able to realize a lifetime dream of observing wolves in the wild, specifically in Yellowstone Park. I had never seen wolves before outside of a zoo. The bears and the other animals were just gravy. Even watching bull elk through the scope was a treat. I kept explaining to my kids how special it was to see this much wildlife. Like all kids, they have no perspective and kind of took it for granted. Maybe they are right, with this scope; maybe every trip to Yellowstone will be this productive. Maybe I didn't see as much wildlife on other trips because I didn't have the right equipment.

As usual, buying from Amazon was without trouble and flawless. Amazon Prime and $4 dollar next day shipping, I love you.

I would recommend this scope to anyone who is interested in unmatchable optics. Yes, this is an expensive product. However, in Yellowstone it provided views whose richness, texture, and detail simply could not be matched by another less expensive product. It really made the trip a success. Without the Swarovski it would not have been possible. For a once in a lifetime opportunity, the scope provided a once in a lifetime experience.Swarovski 25-50-xWW Eyepiece

I was disappointed when the scope arrived as it did not include the lens as shown in the picture. Since you cannot use it without one you have to pay an additional $300 -$600 to purchase one. The picture needs to be changed and a better explanation attached to avoid this happening again.