I know I dont ask for help much but its about time to buy a new spotting scope, and guess what... I am asking . I am looking at 15X45s. I would like some input between the Leupold wind river and the Burris landmark. What are your thoughts, likes, and dislikes. Take care SF

Smallfry,
I don't know much about the two spotter scopes you listed but I do know at one time the Nikon XL spotter was rated very high up there with the Euro spotter scopes. Have you looked into Nikon? MtnHtr

smallfry, I use a Wind River 15-45x60. I absolutly love it. Very clear. I can see .22 cal holes in light targets at 300 yds. Its 3 years old and I've never had any problems with it.

Whatever you get, perform a couple of quick tests before you buy.

A cheap spotting scope (like mine!) will have very short eye relief, and a fairly narrow field of view. You can test those in the store.

Next, take it out into the parking lot. Angle it so that direct sunlight is falling on the front lens, while you look at something in the shade, several hundred yards away. What you're looking for is now much of that sunlight falling on the front lens gets scattered back through the optics. If it is a lot, it will wash out detail in the shadows.

Rack it up to full magnification. Watch the edges of your field of view. Do they distort noticeably?

There are cheap scopes like mine, some really decent mid-priced scopes, and some really expensive scopes that offer no performance advantage over the better mid-priced ones.