# Opinions on Alpen Spotting scopes PLEASE!



## Tenspot (Mar 23, 2004)

Hey all,

I am looking for opinions on Alpen spotters, primarily the model 788, but any of your expereinces will be helpful to me. My primary intent for the spotter is benchrest rifle (rimfire to 50yds and centerfire to 1000yds).

How is there resolution? What is good price? ANy quirks? Customer service? LIght gathering?

I have seen several postive notes on here, as well the 2005 Outdoor Life Great Buy listing in their year end test. I suspect the resolving power will be pretty good on the 788 with the 80mm objective. Has anyone tested one a resolution chart?


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## RecordKeeper (May 9, 2003)

Tenspot said:


> Hey all,
> 
> I am looking for opinions on Alpen spotters, primarily the model 788, but any of your expereinces will be helpful to me. My primary intent for the spotter is benchrest rifle (rimfire to 50yds and centerfire to 1000yds).
> 
> ...


I own one. I use it for spotting FITA, and absolutely love it. I cannot imagine a better bang for the buck. Highly recommended!


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## Tenspot (Mar 23, 2004)

Why thanks RK!! I posted in here because I figure the Fita folks know a few scopes for those 90m rounds.

Is yours the 788?

I found a place selling them for $351 in the kit.


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## RecordKeeper (May 9, 2003)

Tenspot said:


> Why thanks RK!! I posted in here because I figure the Fita folks know a few scopes for those 90m rounds.
> 
> Is yours the 788?
> 
> I found a place selling them for $351 in the kit.


I own the 788. I think retail on it is around $450, so $351 is a great price.


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## Rich (Sep 9, 2002)

The 788 is a great scope, I bought one last year. Its a little heavy, (think heavy duty tripod for best results) For the money you can't go wrong...


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## Tenspot (Mar 23, 2004)

Rich said:


> The 788 is a great scope, I bought one last year. Its a little heavy, (think heavy duty tripod for best results) For the money you can't go wrong...


Rich, Did you get the kit? Is the short tripod in the kit sturdy enough for benchwork? Thanks in advance!


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## Rich (Sep 9, 2002)

Yes, it did come with a benchtop tripod (kinda forgot about it). Very nice fine tuning adjustments. I never really used it, but, it seemed sturdy compared to another bench top I had.


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## InKYfromSD (Feb 6, 2004)

I picked up a 735 that was pretty reasonably priced. It's just what I needed for FITA. It also accompanies me on mule deer trips. Nice scope.


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## Tenspot (Mar 23, 2004)

Good info< anyone else?


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## coach1 (Apr 14, 2003)

*Alpen 788*

Tenspot,

The Alpen 788 is the Cadillac of the Alpen Spotting Scopes. Nitrogen filled waterproof and rubber coated. The 80mm objective lens pulls in plenty of light. The one I use has no vignetting even at 60X magnification. At 90meters I can clearly see the ¼” X in the center of the 122mm Target.

Customer service is top of the line. The warranty is pretty much no questions asked. Return it and they will repair or replace at their discretion. Normal turn around is about 72 hours for repair faster possibly faster for replacement. I returned a 735 for service after an international trip last year (eyepiece problem.) As it happened they excelled on this one. I received a complete Scope replacement about 34 hours after UPS picked up at my office. Can’t count on this fast service always but it did happen.

I also sent you a PM.

Gary


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## Tenspot (Mar 23, 2004)

Thank you very much Gary and I appreciate the PM, I may be in contact!


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## Tenspot (Mar 23, 2004)

Just an update and a thanks to all who posted here.

I received my Alpen 788 Hardcase Kit today. I am worse than a little kid at christmas with these things. I left work sick at noon today and am really feeling crappy, nauseau and the whole 9yds.

Nonetheless, I had to check out the scope. I set it up on the kithcen counter on the small tripod from the kit and took a look. My closest neighbor is across the road from us and his green treated front deck lasers at 227 yds. From my kitchen counter through a window with a screen in our house I had absolutely no problems counting screw heads on his deck's front joist. Mind you it is sunny and there is snow on the ground, so there is alot of ambient light, however, the facing joist I was looking at faces NE and was not in direct sunlight.

Of course I looked at numerous other things before a short nap, and I am very impressed with this Alpen spotter. I have several friends in the benchrest rifle game with Swaro's, Zeiss, Leica's and otherwise and at this point am thrilled to have the Alpen. Rifle mathces this summer will let me test some super high $ scopes side by side with the Alpen in same condiitons.

So, thank you all for your input, as well Outdoor Life for putting the spark under me with there Best Buy recommendation.


Shoot straight>>
Brian


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## JLorenti (Mar 17, 2004)

*Alpen scopes are terrific....*

Can't say enough for the scopes, they are great. The company is top notch also. For the price you will pay for their scope you wouldn't touch the quality in another scope for double the price. Buy the 788 that is the model we use it really is a great scope. A little heavy so use a good tripod.
good luck

Joe lorenti


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## downunder (Jul 15, 2005)

I've looked at these scopes for a while. I haven't been able to find any reviews on them in bird watching forums and I usually find my best info on optics in those forums. They also use the Bak 7 prism rather than the more preferred Bak 4 prism. I would want to use them for general use as well as archery. I am so tempted though to buy the 15-45x60 angled eyepiece model. They have received good reviews here but does anyone else use these for activities like backyard birdwatching and do they give the optical performance required for bird watching as well as for archery.


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## CHPro (May 21, 2002)

downunder, I use the 15-45x60 angled eyepiece for target shooting (FITA) and found that it does everything I need in a spotting scope. I haven't used the scope for birdwatching, though I have set mine up to spot deer down the lane leading back into my hunting land. Worked fine for that app, can easily spot sufficient detail at several hundred yards. Price is excellent also. If I had the $ and were looking to do only birdwatching or spotting rifle shots at long range I'd probably lean towards the 788. But for all around general use and portability I'm happy with the 15-45x60.

>>------>


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## coach1 (Apr 14, 2003)

Downunder,

Actually the Alpen spotting scopes use a porro prism. The 728 scope (10-45x60 w/ 45 deg eye piece) is an excellent scope retails for $220.00 US. Since 2000 Alpen has won five Outdoor Life Magazine Great Buy Awards 2000 and 2001 were binoculars 2002 – 2005 were for scopes. The bright clear image with virtually no vignette at full magnification Alpen scopes and binoculars are serious contenders. Especially with optic products you normally get what you pay for. With the changes in the industry that is not necessarily the case anymore. The Zeiss name is now owned by SONY and is used as a marketing item in many products. (Name recognition is everything.) 

To address your concerns regarding other uses currently the birder community represents a significant portion of Alpen’s sales. When I upgraded my smaller 8X25 binos to the Alpen Apex 12X50 I was first handed a pair of $1500.00 Swaros (They were great) Then I was handed a $900.00 pair of Nikon’s (Just about as good) Then I was handed the Alpen’s Frankly I could not tell any difference between the Swaros and the Alpen’s I liked the feel of the Alpens better and the image was essentially the same for just over $400.00.

I addressed my warranty experience earlier in this thread. You will not be disappointed with Alpen Optics.

Gary


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## downunder (Jul 15, 2005)

Well, you convinced me. I've just ordered the Alpen 15-45x60 spotting scope with the 45 degree eyepiece. The price was great at $102 new.


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## downunder (Jul 15, 2005)

I only just received my Alpen model 728 15-45x60 spotting scope. There was a hold up and delivery took 7 weeks. I have been playing with it for a few days and had made some comments in reply to a post on Birdforums.com query. I thought my comments might also be useful here:

"(Originally Posted by lvn600Has anyone ever tried an Alpen Scope?They offer nitrogen purged waterproof scopes with multicoated lenses and a lifetime warranty at riduculously low prices.-Too good to be true? Larry)"


"Larry, I've been playing with the Alpen model 728 for a day now. My problem with giving a review is that this is the only spotting scope I have ever looked through. I have nothing to compare them to. Having said that, I am well pleased with it for the purposes I needed. I don't live near the coast so all my viewing is in my backyard or the bush and not at massive distances, but the little Alpen would probably cope well at long distances if needed.

The first thing that impressed me was how small and light this scope is. It's not much bigger than my Carson XM series 8x42 roof prism binoculars and complements these outstanding binoculars well. This is an extremely light weight scope. I've been using them for a few hours and have suffered no eye fatigue (which I have with some pairs of cheap binoculars over the years).

At dawn, I took my Carson binoculars and scope outside. My Carson binoculars excel in these low light conditions (it's like putting a spotlight on when you look through them) and the Alpen scope couldn't compete in these low light conditions. It didn't take too long though before a little more light came and the Alpen came into its own. I can't complain about their colour rendition or their clarity once there is enough light. I did find them a pain to follow a couple of little active Silvereyes that were in a tree but that would be a problem for any high power optics. Silvereyes just don't know how to stay still.

Once full daylight is up, these Alpens are very clear even at the 45 power. Most of the time though I found myself using them between 15 and 30 power simply because I didn't need any more and bird viewing was so convenient at that power. The advantage of the higher power over my Carsons came up when I looked into a nearby rainforest area. It was fairly dim and at 50 to 60 metres I looked at what I thought was moss on trees when looked at through my Carsons. The scope with its higher magnification, although giving a darker view, clearly showed that the moss in fact was a fine leafed vine.

I may one day buy a bigger more expensive scope, but the model 728 will stay with me for the times when its light weight, water proofness, and small physical size are needed. At $102, I think I got a bargain.

Just a bit more about the little Alpen model 728. I didn't realise that the 45 degree eyepiece is fixed and not rotatable. This does reduce its versatility a little but not a lot in my use so far. 

To give you an example of what I mean, this evening I was sitting in a camp chair on a verandah when a group of six figbirds landed in a tree about 20 metres away. I have been using a very old cheap very light aluminium camera tripod, the ones where you screw to tighten the legs into place (I have a new tripod on its way to me). Some of the birds moved out of view behind a tree in the foreground. I had to move the scope to the side a little to see some of them, and by accident I started using the tripod like a monopod balancing the tripod on one leg (so I could stay in my chair - I'm at an age where comfort is prime) and found this very comfortable and easy to do with this lightweight scope lightweight tripod combination. This seemed to cancel out the fixed eyepiece disadvantage (at least when only one person is using the scope). It was easy to hold the scope this way for an indefinite lenght of time with zero shaking. The detail I could see was fantastic compared to my binoculars because of the higher magnification."

I'd love to have the model 788 but for now the model 728 will keep me happy.


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