The Tele Vue Pronto has remained the undisputed optical Reference Standard for 70-80mm spotting scopes since I first tested it in 1993. It is, however, a distinctly unconventional birding scope, especially when compared to the current flock of prismatic scopes. It uses an astronomical style right angle viewer (star diagonal) to provide an image that is right side up but reversed left to right. A 45°viewer is available that provides a right reading image, but it degrades the performance of the Pronto easily to the level of the best of the conventional spotting scopes. Then too, the Pronto is a handful in the field...its massive barrel and mounting collar, 2 inch rack and pinion focus mechanism and 2 inch mirror diagonal make for more than many birders are willing to carry, especially when you add a tripod heavy enough to support the scope. This has lead many a birder who might want the absolute optical excellence of the Pronto to settle for the exceptional optical excellence of the best of the conventional 70-80mm prismatic scopes: the Nikon 78mm ED Fieldscope, the Leica Televid 80mm APO, or the Swarovski ATHD, all of which come about as close to the Pronto's performance as any right reading scope is ever likely to.

Tele Vue has been at work on the problem. The Ranger is the Pronto optics in a pared down, lighter, more compact, package. Optically it is every bit the Pronto's equal. In side by side comparisons (using the dollar bill test outlined in previous BVDs) the Ranger outperformed the Nikon 78ED by four feet at ‰25X (that is, the Ranger showed the same detail on the dollar bill at 59 feet as the Nikon did at 55 feet...which, for my eyes, is the same amount of detail I can see with corrected vision at ‰12 to 18 inches). At higher powers (‰60x), it was impossible to back up far enough to see a significant difference using my lines below the O test, so I looked for finer detail. Take out a dollar bill and examine the back side. Look at the great seal (the one with the pyramid). With a good magnifying glass, or a 30x pocket microscope, you might be able to see that there is detail in the sky right down to the horizon...that is not empty space there where it is lightest...there are some tiny dots of ink in the last row. If you can believe it, you can see those dots at 60 feet and 60x with the Ranger. To see them with the Nikon Fieldscope 78ED at its highest power of 56x, you have to move in to 50 feet. There is no doubt in my mind that the Ranger will provide significantly more detail than the best of the conventional spotting scopes, under any field condition, and that as distances and powers increase the Ranger's advantage will become increasingly obvious. This scope provides the best high power view you can get in an easily transportable, relatively durable, field-worthy package. On a perfectly still, clear day, the Questar Birder or the Celestron C5 could outperform it at the highest powers and at great distance, but for most practical birding, the Ranger is going to give you all the view you will ever need or, honestly, given real world air movement, be able to use, and neither the Questar or the C5 are anywhere nearly as field worthy as the Ranger.

So, how field worthy is it? The 2 inch focuser and diagonal of the Pronto is gone...replaced by a draw tube with helical fine focus and a standard 1.25 inch prism star diagonal (or the 45°right reading diagonal...which, if you are serious about the best view, you will avoid). The massive rotating tripod collar of the Pronto is replaced by a sliding bar mount with several mounting options for correct balance (with a camera attached, for instance). All of this results in a scope that is not significantly larger or heaver than many of the conventional prismatic scopes.

The draw tube focus is probably the feature that will raise the most eyebrows. You pull the tube out to approximate focus. The motion is smooth and precise, and there is little or no play in the mechanism. Fine focus is achieved (when needed) by turning a knurled rubberized focus ring. Again, movement is smooth and precise. With a little practice, focus is actually quicker and more positive than with most "knob-driven" scopes...certainly in same league as the conventional scopes that use helical barrel focus. After a very few moments of practice, I found the Ranger's focus both easy and natural to use.

On the down side, the push-pull action of the focus seems likely to pump dust into the open tube of the scope over time, where it will, almost certainly, find its way to the interior surfaces of the objective. Also, on the unit I had for testing, there was some "grease creep"...some of the lubrication for the helical focus had found its way to the outside, where it made for sticky fingers.

The Ranger is in the right weight and size class for field work. It is compact enough to sit on top of a tripod without undo worry, and it is no more cumbersome to fit into cars and buses than, say, the Swarovski or Leica scopes. What is more, the sliding, multi-position, tripod mount makes it possible to precisely balance the scope on most tripods...making it quite stable even on medium- to light-weight rigs. One of the holes has a matching unthreaded hole for the security pin on a video style tripod...an idea I hope more manufacturers will pick up on in the future. With a camera adapter, the scope should make an excellent 480mm lens, equally as well balanced.

No discussion of the Ranger would be complete without some mention of the wide range of eyepieces available for it. Unlike most scopes, which require eyepieces made for that particular scope, the Ranger takes any eyepiece in the standard 1.25 inch astronomical barrel. There are literally thousands out there, and, the astronomical market being what it is, if you can't find one to meet your particular needs and budget, you aren't really looking. While, obviously, the Tele Vue eyepieces are the best match in optical quality for the Ranger (and I highly recommend them), I got very good results even with bargain eyepieces from Edmund Scientific. Tele Vue makes a good range of relatively inexpensive, high quality Possels, from low power (32mm, 15x) to high power (7mm, 69x and even higher...see the side bar for how to compute powers from eyepiece focal lengths). They also make a full range of specialty eyepieces...the Panoptics, in particular, provide fields of view that simply must be seen to be believed...but at a price (as in half-as-much-as-the-whole-scope-costs!). Those who are serious about their view might want to check out the 15mm Panoptic (32x and wider than you have ever seen at that power in any other scope). For those who need exceptionally long eye relief, manufacturers in the astronomical market are beginning to address that need as well. The only thing lacking is a decent zoom...I know people who have adapted both the Nikon and Swarovski zoom eyepiece to the 1.25 barrel on their astronomical scopes with good results...or check out the new high quality 20-60x zoom from Swift for their NightHawk series. A clever machinist should have no trouble making you an adapter.

An interesting combination of eyepieces might be a 21mm (22x), a 15mm (32x), and a 2x Barlow (similar to a 2x converter for telephoto lenses) which would give you 44x and 64x with the other eyepieces, and considerably longer eye relief than you would get at those powers with regular eyepieces.

I also have to mention the field bag (case) which is available for the Ranger. You can mount the scope on a tripod while still in the bag, unzip both ends and fold them back so they are held open by velcro tabs, and use the scope without removing the case. Once you sort out all the zippers, it is one of the best designs I have seen. It only lacks an outside pocket with elastic bands for extra eyepieces to make it perfect.

For those of you who are also into astronomy, I found the Ranger to be quite good under the stars. The fast focal ratio makes it most suitable for wide field views of star clusters and other features of the Milky Way, but with a Barlow I am told it also gives good views of the planets. The draw tube focus is, if anything, easier to use under the stars than the rack and pinion on the Pronto. For astronomy you will want to consider the QuickPoint attachment (the Ranger's rear collar is machined to fit the QuickPoint mount). The QuickPoint projects a spot of red light against the star background and makes finding astronomical objects much easier. (The QuickPoint comes with a brightness adjuster for daylight use, but I find that, with a 20-30x eyepiece, the Ranger is already very easy to get on target, simply by sighting along the barrel.)

The only major quibble I have with the Ranger is its tendency to "flare" in situations where the sun is low enough to shine directly into the barrel of the scope. A screw on rubber lens shade is supplied, and the field case provides some shade, but neither is enough to block out low level light.

The Ranger is still an unconventional scope, but it is undoubtedly a successful attempt to provide the best view possible in a field-worthy package. It provides a clear Reference Standard for optical performance, and comes very close to providing the ease-of-use of conventional scopes, and it does it at a price that makes it a definite Best Buy in a high performance scope. If you are willing to be different to get the best view you can, or if your birding often requires resolution of fine detail at great distances, the Ranger will give you all the view you will likely ever need.