Barska Gladiator 25-75x100 Waterproof Straight Spotting Scope w/Tripod by Barska
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Digital camera reviews of Barska Gladiator 25-75x100 Waterproof Straight Spotting Scope w/Tripod
Digital camera Review: Barska Gladiattor 25-75X100
Summary: 4 Stars
We have a lot of Deer around my town and Eagles.While I have a pair of Glasses 10X50 they still are a bit away from us.So I purchased these hoping to bring them in closer,it sure does,I can not say enough about the extra light at dusk they bring in, the Deer look very nice at this range....This Scope is very heavy,you will need a good tripod to rest it on.The dinky one it comes with just will not handle it.Digital camera Review: I like it but...
Summary: 4 Stars
I guess I'll start with the nice things.
- It seems to pretty sharp throughout its zoom range (caveats below).
- The construction seems reasonably solid. It doesn't feel flimsy. The body is rigid and nothing rattles if you shake it.
- Unlike other reviews I've seen, I like the built-in lens shade. I've had a number of camera lenses with shades and this one is pretty hefty/solid by comparison.
- With a 100mm front element, this thing is BRIGHT! When you turn the zoom to max, this scope is as bright or brighter than an average scope is at its minimum zoom.
I'll go ahead and say the one really bad thing I have to say about the scope: the tripod that comes with it is utter, absolute, inconceivable JUNK! I saw similar comments in other reviews and I can only say that I don't think any of them went far enough when it came to bashing that tripod! When you open the box, grab the tripod and throw it into the nearest trash can and never waste another thought on it. If they paid more than $1 for it, I'd be amazed! Mine was broken when I got it and even if it hadn't been, it would never hold up this scope.
This next bit isn't necessarily bad, but it is critical: this scope is HUGE!! The pictures do NOT properly convey its size. Without the lens hood extended, it is 19 and 3/4 inches long and the outside diameter of the front is just shy of 5 inches. The product page says 9 pounds and you should believe it. The problem with this is the weight distribution. This scope is VERY front-heavy and they did not put the tripod mount under the center of gravity so you constantly have to deal with the consequences of that design decision.
Have you ever taken a ruler and clamped one end of it to a desk so that you could pluck the other end and make it vibrate? That's what this scope is like on a tripod. It is so front-heavy that it puts a lot of twisting force (torque) on the head of the tripod and therefore puts the whole tripod under tension. Consequently, it vibrates and jiggles at the slightest touch. It will even vibrate when someone walks past the tripod (depending on the surface you're on).
If you need a scope for something that requires constant resetting of the scope, you may want to go for some other scope. I bought mine to use primarily as a spotting scope at the rifle range so this isn't a big issue for me. I also have a fairly heavy duty Bogen professional photography tripod from my days as a photographer and while it has no problem with the weight, even it vibrates a lot with this scope. It all comes back to their (crazy) decision to not put the tripod mount under the center of gravity. If they had done that right, then at least the tuning-fork-like vibration problem would be eliminated.
This finally brings me back to sharpness. It doesn't matter whether this lens is sharp or not if it's vibrating. You can't see much of anything while that is going on. When it does settle, though, it seems be as sharp as I can ask for. I live in Atlanta so there is always enough humidity and/or haze to wash out colors and details even at two hundred yards. And at that distance, wind and heat shimmer also interfere with resolving detail so at this point the best I can say is it looks sharp to me. If you focus on something close enough to eliminate those factors (say 100 feet or less), it is very sharp and seems to have good color saturation and contrast.
Now that I'm thinking about it, I should probably say more about brightness. For those that may not know, any zoom lens of any type will always look darker as you go from minimum zoom to maximum zoom. At max zoom (75x), this scope is still as bright as the naked eye. It is great at twilight. You can look at birds or animals in brush after the sun has gone down and have no problem at all seeing every detail. The flip side of that coin is that it is very bright at min zoom (25x) in bright sunlight. If you use this in bright sunlight with a scene that is mostly light colors (i.e. white sand), then your eyes will probably start hurting in short order. For anything less extreme, you can probably tolerate it.
Misc.
- It has very short eye relief (I think that's the right term). In other words, you have to have your eye very close to the eye piece to see the full image. If you wear glasses and for some reason can't use a scope without them, you will not be able to use this scope. And considering the brightness of this scope, that also goes for sun glasses.
- It is supposed to be "waterproof" but I will not ever willingly test that claim. :) For what it's worth, I did see one reviewer who said he left it on his deck over-night and the dew didn't seem to effect it.
In summary, I'm pretty happy with the scope but it may not be for everyone.
Digital camera Review: Barska Gladiator hits mark
Summary: 4 Stars
I was a little worried when I purchased the Barska Gladiator. I just couldn't imagine a 100mm objective at such a low price with good performance. So upon receipt, I did a quick comparision with my favorite astronomical scope, the Televue Ranger. The Barska compared quite favorably in a 70 yard fine target resolution comparision. In fact, I could not discern too much difference between the 70mm Ranger and 100mm Barska resolution in daylight. One might say this is expected of a 70 vs 100mm comparision. However, the Televue optics quality and performance is quite legendary with ability to achieve 180x and still perform. With both scopes I was able to read 0.2 inch high text and track 0.1 inch reticle artifacts at 70 yards (Barska at 75x). So, I expect this Barska to perform quite adequately at the shooting range for most calibers and ranges. I was not disappointed in performance of Barska and scope quality looks and feels superior. Oh, of course I used a stable scope mount in both cases. One really needs a stable, fine az and el adjustment tripod to be able to use this scope at 75x. I recommend this scope.Digital camera Review: barska scope 25-75x100 Waterproof
Summary: 4 Stars
Scope works great, Tripod was broke when I received it. I tried to register via their web site also to notify them of the broken tripod but web site was down. I was unable to contact them. Cheap tripod! Scope itself 5 stars tripod 2 starsDigital camera Review: Too Big
Summary: 3 Stars
The low power images are fine. As the magnification increases the crispness of the images deteriorate but not to unacceptable levels for the shooting range. The problem with the scope is it's too big and too heavy and the tripod is not up to the task. It's embarressing to whip out the Hubble Space Telescope and have it topple over.