Better than the competition - Celestron Regal M2 100ED Spotting Scope

I've looked through the Swarovski, Zeiss, Kowa and Vortex Razor HD scopes out in Yellowstone watching wolves. The 100mm ED aperture outperforms the 80mm apertures hands down. It is brighter, has higher resolving power, a higher limiting magnification and a decent out of the box eyepiece that can be changed for a premium fixed focal length eyepiece. In fact, for almost all conditions viewing out there the limiting factor was refraction from thermally generated air density differences (so - called heat waves). In the early morning the Celestron Regal M2 100ED more than held it's own when stacked up next to the creme-de-la-creme of spotting scopes. Just as an aside the Swarovski ATS 80HD costs a whopping $2800, the Zeiss is about $3500 and the Vortex Razor HD 85 is $1750. The Celestron at under $1000 outperforms all of these, particularly when coupled with a first rate eyepiece.

Clearly a 100mm scope is going to weigh more than an 80mm scope. I can assure you a 5 lb scope needs the same tripod as a 3.5 lb scope. The tripod is the limiting factor unless you have a limitation on size (let's face it this scope will fit in any 4 wheel automobile but it is going to be a hassle on a Harley, but so is the other one... it's the tripod that is the problem).