Home > Consumer Reviews > Barska Gladiator 25-75x100 Waterproof Straight Spotting Scope w/Tripod

I sure am not an expert and this is my first spotting scope, yet after doing the research and owning a pair of 8 x 42 Barska binoculars (I love) I pulled the trigger on this scope. I am delighted with it especially compared to its competition that is pricey. Here I feel it is a great bang for the buck scope. It is clear and stable and sees birds close(10M) as well as far (1 KM) for hawks. I even left the Gladiator out and while it was covered with rain and dew, a quick wipe off and no damage. The stand could be improved, but as for the scope I am very happy.

I recently purchased the BARSKA GLADIATOR 25-75x100 spotting scope. My only complaint is that it is rather cumbersome because of its large size, but the optics are really good. The focus adjustment is very smooth and fine tuning is done with ease without any problem to focus in on your subject. If I had it to do over again, I would make the same purchase.

I already had a 20-60x field scope with a 65mm objective lens, but found it wanting in early evening lower light (often when bears and wolves become more active), so was looking for a lower cost option. After a fair amount of research, this scope seemed to be the ticket. We have had it out on a number of trips and it works well. The key element is a very stable tripod for it. When one is at 75x magnification, a little bit of anything can make a lesser tripod shake, which means the image isn't too good, either. We haven't been on an outing where others had high dollar scopes, too, but our other scope in decent light held it's own. This one is taking in so much more light, it's no comparison better.

I am not an expert in consumer optics; however, I am uncompromising when it comes to what I take to the rifle bench. I bought this spotting scope specifically to do the job of eliminating the waste of time and annoying necessity of manually checking target paper out, and it is capable of that and much more. I have since completely stopped using my clunky, annoying to setup and calibrate telescope for my casual astronomy hobby as this big honking scope captures amazing amounts of light in pure darkness. You just can't beat a 100mm objective lens. I should note I have only used this scope at 50 and 100 yards - and if it's pertinent, I was observing at 75x, shooting a Savage .22 bolt action and a Mosin Nagant M91/30. Even the .22 caliber holes were very clearly visible at 100 yards with full magnification. I have read someone complaining of Barskas having problems resolving fuzzy edges of the image at full magnification but it is possible this problem is exclusively isolated to other hobby applications such as birdwatching. I have not encountered it thus far.

The ONLY serious defect in the total package that leads me to write it down to 4 stars are the accessories. Barska has seriously under-anchored this product with a light, unwieldy tripod. It was clearly not designed for a spotting scope of this weight, length and objective. It would probably be rock solid on a 20-60x60, and perhaps they just decided to save time and money not sourcing a bulkier tripod. But I have bad news about it. One of the tightening screws broke the first day I took it to the range, but luckily I haven't quite figured out what it tightened, so it hasn't been an issue. Unfortunately, just today, while experimenting with a little airliner watching (which it does fantastically even at 25x, if a bit hard to track the aircraft), I actually broke the critical y-axis tightening rod -- the tilt grip. This is probably the most important part on the tripod to work well because it's your only tool to keep the MONSTROSITY of an objective from tipping forward. This thing is SERIOUSLY front heavy. I apologize for not having current information about customer support in this area yet, as I have not yet contacted Barska. I'm not sure if I even intend to request a replacement or spend high dollar on an after market tripod of superior quality.

I'm not sure what they are referring to as "micro-adjustment capable" but you really just have to wiggle it around the right way until it is fixed on the target you want. Luckily, an extreme advantage the optics give you over the limitations of the tripod is that the field of view is quite impressive.

Last and unfortunately least, they provide you with a soft carry case instead of the hard carry case that comes with the 25-125x88 and the 20-60x60 Benchmarks and other slightly smaller spotting scopes. Initially, I sought to get a carrying case separately simply for aesthetic and convenience concerns. However, the fit and organization of the interior is troublesome, with lots of strange velcroing subcompartments. I'm sure someone at Barska R&D thought, "People will love this, they can add and remove this compartment!" But the compartment is used to separate the crap-tripod from the awesome-spotting scope. Why would you want to remove the compartment and clunk it around w/ the tripod banging on top of the scope with no protective layer between them? Perhaps they prophesied that people would just dump the tripod and get a new one.

I cannot downplay the quality of the optics. I had concerns about resolving the tiny image of a .22 caliber hole in the paper at 100 yards, but it was crystal clear. I am anxious to push this scope to the limits of its range and clarity. Unfortunately, the extremely impressive cost on Amazon is offset by the fact that the accessories are somewhat worthless.

I have contacted Barska to request individual sale of a carrying case and they are getting back to me while looking into whether one of the Benchmark hard cases will fit a Gladiator series scope. It seems that the Benchmark is several inches shorter than the Gladiator (Naturally, as I said, this thing is gigantic), so they do not believe their smaller carrying case will fit it.

It's too bad. With even a functionally acceptable tripod, this would be one HELL of a total optical package to fit anyone's hobby needs - bird and wildlife watching, astronomy, shooting. If it's far away and you need to see it, it'll do it.

I hadnt expected this scope to get so close far away objects with clear and wide vision. It is a bit heavy and you will need a strong and high tripod but it values everything if you wanna have a strong and good scope. Just setup your scope with high and durable tripod and enjoy to see whatever you can never see only with your eyes. I definetly recommend it as an amatour watcher...