A while back,
I and the IHMSA NEWS were probably one of the very first to reveal in print
that Meade Corp, producer of the finest amateur astronomical telescopes made,
had purchased the Simmons, Redfield, and Weaver brands. At the time I also
outlined how they were now going to be pumping some of their vast technical
knowledge into their newly acquired sport optics products.
Simmons was
the first to get the benefit of this technical infusion with their “Master
Series” rifle scopes. Well now they’ve turned their attention to their
spotting scopes. There are three new grades of spotters being offered by
the new Simmons: the Master Series (their best), the Wilderness Series (middle
grade), and the Pro Sport (economy). The Master Series is composed of two
scopes i.e. a 60mm and an 80mm. The Wilderness Series has four scopes ranging
in size from 65mm to a jumbo 90mm, and the economy ProSport has two i.e. a 50
and a 60mm. Surprisingly, all three lines come with a hard sided aluminum
case, a bench tripod, and a fabric scope cover case with carrying strap. This
has to be an industry first when even the economy level scopes come in a good
looking foam lined aluminum case.
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The
new Simmons Master Series 80mm is a high quality scope that can
easily compete with other well known brands |
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Fortunately, I was able to get my hands on an early production model of one of
the Master Series 80mm’s, and I can tell you that this is a very different
product from what we’ve seen before from this brand. The optical
performance of his new scope is very, very good and can hold it’s own against
some very serious and more expensive competition. To illustrate, my good
friend Mike Baggett is a high power rifle competition shooter and so requires
a good spotting scope to glass paper targets at long distances. He’s currently
using a Kowa TSN-182M. Well Mike happened to be practicing at the range at the
same time I was, and so I loaned him the big Simmons for the morning and asked
him to let me know what he thought of it. Bottom line - he said it was
actually better than his Kowa. I have to admit I was a little surprised when
he said so as the Kowa has the big dog reputation and Mike is very loyal to
his equipment. I then asked him if he liked it well enough to buy one if he
ever got into the market for a new scope. He said he definitely would.
Like most 80mm scopes,
the Simmons is a big guy, being some 18” long and being nearly four and a half
inches wide at the objective lens. It also weighs in at 51.5 ounces. The tube
is made out of polycarbonate which is a very tough material, and it helps to
keep the weight down, which is highly desirable with these big scopes. Some of
these 80’s seem to weigh a ton.
The surface is covered
with a hard, very smooth, dense, black armor coating - very similar to an
inner tube. There’s also a sliding sunshade built in up front with a
rubber lens cap permanently attached with a rubber strap so it won’t ever
get lost. When the lens cap is removed, it also can be folded back out of
the way and attached to a little stud on the sun shade to prevent it from
dangling around and getting in the way. Overall, the exterior is a fairly
good looking, straight forward design.
Full
immersion waterproofing and nitrogen purging is standard and the scope
subsequently easily passed my one hour yellow bucket dunking test, and my
overnight in the freezer test with no problems at all. The lenses are fully
multicoated and Bak4 prisms (the best kind) are used, indicating that Simmons
was serious about building a quality spotter. The field of view at 100 yards
is a very nice 10 feet, and the eye relief is a little over 12mm’s. The
magnification range runs from 20 through 60X which gives you lots of options
in viewing.
So how do
things look through the new Simmons? Actually, very, very nice. I was frankly
impressed with the high degree of resolution that the scope could present to
the eye. As usual, I put out my home made resolution chart which consists of
several lines of “O’s” in decreasing size out at 50 yards. I then mounted the
Simmons on the little plastic bench tripod provided in the kit. I quickly
discovered that the tripod was too small and light for a big, heavy 80mm
scope. Everything was wobbling all over the place making precise focusing
difficult. The tripod was also very awkward and stiff to use. I then switched
over to my Sinclair spotting scope mount which is made of steel and aluminum
that clamps on to the side of the bench. Thanks to its heavy duty premium
materials and first class workmanship, it’s absolutely rock solid. The scope
was now able to do its thing totally unimpeded.
At 20X, the scope was able to resolve 12 point type at 50 yards with no
problem. I consider resolving 14 point type at this distance to be excellent
performance, so the fact it could resolve 12 point type was impressive. I then
increased the magnification all the way up to 60X. As expected, the image
darkened but the resolution hung in there. I could easily distinguish the
smallest line on the chart i.e. 9 point type which is the smallest that can be
produced by my computer and printer. I then took my target out to 100 yards as
the mirage was almost nonexistent that day. 24 point type could be resolved at
20X, and 12 point type could be clearly seen at 60X. Again, I would have to
characterize this as being excellent resolution.
Another
interesting optical characteristic was that I could see a very slight rosy
bronze tint to the image. I don’t believe that this was a quality issue in the
lenses, but rather a characteristic of the coatings to increase contrast.
Indeed, when I took the scope today to our local silhouette match at the
Inland Fish & Game Club, conditions were overcast and a light fog/haze was in
evidence over the course. However there were absolutely no problems seeing the
animals in vivid detail. The black targets stood out boldly in spite of the
conditions. I also showed the scope around to several of my fellow competitors
and to a person they all said that they were very impressed with it. One
person even said “Are you sure it’s a Simmons? Boy, this is nice.”
All and all, like my fellow shooters, I’m very impressed with the Simmons 80mm
Master Series spotter. It has all the features a discriminating buyer would
want. It’s tough, and the resolution and contrast image will let you see
everything you need or want to see during a silhouette match and much, much
more. It comes in a very nice aluminum carrying case to boot.
Make no
mistake, this is a high quality scope. In fact it’s good enough to have some
of the big boys looking over their shoulder. Consequently, you can expect to
pay a commensurate price for this level of performance. Suggested retail for
the Master 80mm is approximately $600. However, as we all know sports optics
products are significantly discounted, so shop around. Bottom line - if you
can’t afford the big name premium brands (you know who they are) but you want
something more than just average, definitely look into a Simmons Master
Series. I think you’ll be pleased by what you see.
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