What should you know about spotter scopes?

[Ignition Override]

Have never owned one and know nothing about them.
Other than plinking at a river, my range shooting so far is only 100 yards (Shoot-N-See targets only), and have Not Yet tried standard black NRA targets, having just my small binoculars.

Would like to try 200 yards this spring with the Garand and Enfield #4: iron sights. Whether my skills will develop enough to justify this range, remains to be seen. Began learning about guns in '07, age 52, distant vision still ok.

A guy at the range had a discounted Barska 60x60mm from Amazon, which has good feedback. It is deeply discounted from $120, whatever the original 'price' really means.

Are scopes which are normally priced about $150 or less a bad investment? Some like the clarity of the Barska at 200 yards.
A guy named Scott at 'Snipercountry' condemns anybody who wants to go cheap with scopes.
If a lower-priced scope can easily identify holes at 100-200 yards, you could have almost enough spare cash for another Enfield rifle...or is this a really dumb question/bad comparison?

 

[paulo]

You get what you pay for. If you go to a highpower march you will most likely see a fair amount of Kowa scopes. They are not cheap around $1000 or so. If you want to get into a fair scope look into the Konus line.They are a very good value for the money. Check jarheadtop.com for pricing and a review. I bought a cheap scope once, save your money and get a better one once.

 

[Robert Wilson]

You can get good service from a cheap scope. If you're just looking for bullet holes in broad daylight the Barska (or Simmons, or Bushnell, or whatever) will work. More money buys you better performance at dusk and dawn, and better reliability. It also tends to reduce and/or eliminate annoying optical aberrations of the type that can drive you bonkers if you're spending hours glassing for a record book buck, but that can be easily ignored if you're just glancing at your target between strings.

 

[Ignition Override]

Thanks guys.

As a very late starter in life, I've never even tried 200 yards (we need a buddy to use the 200 or 600 range), having no training for it.
My limited but ok Range progress, which began about a year ago is only due to the Enfield #4's (plus #5) and Service Grade Garand's aperture sights.

Doubt that my eyes will allow iron sights for many more years, but should take into account the future need for a rifle scope also.

 

[jpwilly]

I bought a cheap Barska 20-60x60mm and get good service out of it 100-200yrds, I paid $69 a few years ago for it. If I were to purchase a new spotter I'd get a Nikon for a few hundred bucks. They look like great glass for the $$