Zeiss Diascope Victory 85mm Spotting Scope & Tripod

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I picked up a Zeiss Victory FL 85 spotting scope a little while ago with a 20-75 zoom ocular in the hope that it would see a bit better than my March scope on the rifle. It does but then again so did my Optolyth TBS 100 spotting scope but that was too big to pack around for some competitions.

The Zeiss is somewhat better, it is fairly light and compact. I am surprised how compact compared to the Optolyth. It is fast to focus, the idea of a fine and then course focus in one control seems strange but I find it very natural to use, mainly it is fast and allows fine focus without disturbing the image. This is something that I don’t like on other spotting scopes where the focus control is a ring around the scope body. For my tripod position the straight eyepiece is a must and it is faster to find the target with.

The spotting scope comes into its own between 300-500m I think, it is easier to see 30cal bullet hole with at 300m than the rifle scope and to my surprise I can see 30 cal holes in black and grey targets at 400m and 30 cal holes in white targets at 500m. This may not be the case when the temperature warms up.

One of my ideas with the scope is to buy an astro adapter and 4mm televue eyepiece – it gives something like an effective 127x magnification but this could well be a waste of money but I am curious to see how much magnification the 85mm objective can cope with and maintain resolution.

The scope body is fully rubber armoured. I don’t think it is as bullet proof as the Optolyth which was also rubber armoured but the Zeiss wins in that the seams of the rubber are much better – one of the Optolyth”s weaknesses was splitting seams around the focus control wheel. The Zeiss scope is in general more ergonomic and quicker to use.

The ocular is big, about a quarter of the scope……supper smooth and as expected FOV and image quality are excellent and the 75x top end magnification makes a difference at 400 and 500m compared to a 20-60x zoom

The tripod and head are critical but my most stable tripod a Manfrotto 055 nat3 with video fluid head is now dedicated as a rifle support for shooting sitting and standing position in plod comps…….it is too big and heavy to drag around 4 day out in the sticks type comps. On the other hand my Ewing tripod is also a range queen because it is not stable as a rifle support for sitting. A reasonable compromise seems to be the Vangard carbon Geo series though I would like it about 3inch shorter t fit into my pack better. The Vanguard is very light but not be as stable as the 055 Manfotto but still ok.

For the tripod to serve as a rifle support and spotting scope stand the head really needs to be a ball joint with a variable friction control………it makes movement of the rifle or spotting scope smooth and keeps the spotting scope in position without being locked down. I went with a Manfrotto head….386 I think but a bigger one may be better. I am also sure that the almost standard RC2 adapter plates are not the best choice but have survived recoil from 338 Lapua so I am too lazy to change them.

I think the combination of scope tripod and head are something that I will make use of more rather than less……..the feature set of this scope works well for me, on the other hand I have a friend who prefers the view through a Meopta spotting scope ……….to each his own I guess.