Sightmark Latitude 15-45x60 Tactical spotting scope
A compact spotter scope for target shooting, spotting, hunting or wildlife observation, the Sightmark Latitude 15-45x60 spotting scope has a load of interesting features at a very competitive price.
Whether you want to see where shots went on a target at the range, act as a spotter for a friend in a long-range shooting session, hunt for prey or observe wildlife in its natural environment without disturbing it, a spotter scope is ideal, and the Sightmark Latitude 15-45x60 is perfectly at home in all these roles, in a truly convenient format: with a dimension of 279x76x145 mm and a weight of 1280 g, it is compact, lightweight and also available with MIL reticle.
THE SPOTTER
Sightmark Latitude 15-45x60 Tactical spotting scope
The Latitude 15-45x60 is a straight eyepiece spotting scope built following the folded lightpath design, using internal mirrors to reduce overall size: some spotting scopes are designed as just a straight sequence of the lenses necessary to achieve the necessary magnification, but this means aa cumbersome scope due to the long focal length.
The simplest way to make the scope more compact is to make the light follow a back-and-forth path, effectively “folding” the light path much like a carpenter’s yardstick.
This allows the scope to be much shorter, albeit a little taller, and much more compact. Prisms or mirrors can be used to this effect, prisms being more common in binoculars, mirrors used often in scopes and tele lenses, where there is no need to achieve the complex light paths used in binoculars.
The Sightmark Latitude 15-45x60 chooses this latter option, with nitrogen purged internals. Mirrors may appear perfectly reflective to the unaided human eye, but normal mirrors absorb quite a sizable amount of light, this is why the Sightmark Latitude 15-45x60 mirrors are fully multicoated, as are the lenses, to insure maximum light transmission.
Under this aspect, the Sightmark Latitude 15-45x60 is designed to offer very good performances, with a 60mm objective that grants a considerable light-gathering capacity, for an exit pupil varying in size from 4 to 1.3 mm, with an image that looks bright even in twilight conditions, well up to 30-35x magnification.
Sure, you can always gather more light, and have higher magnifications, after all there are such scopes that do just that in Sightmark’s own catalogue, but they are much more cumbersome and heavier to lug around: the Latitude 15-45x60 is made with a focus on portability and compactness, and with its high definition, it has more than enough to spot or observe the environment allowing the user to discern minute details at long range through a very crisp image.
The hinge allows the slide to pass through for mounting a red dot
The upper Picatinny rail allows the mounting of a red dot for easy target acquisition without zooming
Threaded holes on the sides of the scope allow you to mount additional slides or M-Lok panels
RETICLE
The MRAD reticle works as a rangefinder, equipped with a staff with lines at the width of the shoulders of a human figure, for rapid rangefinding
On the “Tactical” version, the Latitude 15-45x60 optics are integrated by a MIL reticle.
This has 0.5 and 1 MIL subtensions that can be used to determine an object’s or quarry’s range or size, and a stadia based on shoulder-width lines for quick rangefinding.
The reticle includes also several other subtensions that can be used for quick range or size assessment, detailed in the reticle instructions.
The Sightmark latitude 15-45x60 is ideal in conjunction with MIL reticle rifle scopes, where it can be used to spot for a shooter providing fast, accurate corrections, or to apply the corrections yourself to zero your rifle scope with less time and ammo expenditure. It is also a good learning instrument to practice range finding and wind reading without drawing undue attention as a rifle scope would (particularly if mounted on the rifle!).
The tripod attachment point is always accessible through the padded case
MECHANICS and ACCESSORIES
The Sightmark Latitude 15-45 x 60 Tactical version is at its best when paired with a scope with an MRAD aiming reticle
All controls (zoom, focus, diopter and eye-relief) work smoothly and without slips or hesitations, denoting good internal mechanics and, apart from the excellent optical qualities, the Latitude 15-45x60 also has a load of interesting features, starting with the dual picatinny rails on the bottom and top of the scope, each featuring also a ¼”-20 photo mount hole.
This allows the scope to be mated with a picatinny rail tripod or with a traditional photo tripod, in both standard or inverted position, and to mount a red dot sight on the upper rail for faster and easier target acquisition at high magnification, without the need to zoom back and forth to reacquire target when panning through the field.
The lower rail is full length to allow the scope to be mounted in optimal position on a fluid head tripod.
On each side of the scope there are also two threaded holes to mount additional accessories, such as M-Lok panels or Picatinny rail sections.
The wording "Tactical" denotes the version equipped with an MRAD reticle
Thanks to the two upper and lower threaded holes, the optics can also be mounted in an inverted position, for a more secluded observation
The straight eyepiece allows for easier aiming, but requires a taller tripod
This makes the Latitude 15-45x60 very interesting, as it can carry a host of accessories without any need to purchase separate chassis systems to attach them to the scope, as instead happens with some far more expensive spotting scopes.
To further enhance portability, the Latitude 15-45x60 comes with a padded carrying case and sling that allow full useability of the scope without need to remove it from the case thanks to an ingenuous system of zippers and velcro pads: just unzip the case and fold it on the sides, and it will stick to the velcro panels allowing acces to the eyepiece. The front cover folds down and sticks the same way, while a similar velcro stripe covers the bottom opening with the tripod mount hole.
The zipper can then be left partially open to allow any red dot mounted on the top to pass through.
PERFORMANCE
The padded case protects the optics during use in adverse climates
How does the scope perform in terms of detail discrimination, at twilight and in low light conditions? It performs well indeed.
It’s possible to discern minute details of far away, small objects (I could count the grid lines on a 20 cm x 20 cm grid on a building some 340 meters away) while, as it comes to picture brightness, the Latitude 15-45x60 at late twilight actually makes the picture brighter than it appears to the naked eye at lowest magnification, and offers a crisp, luminous picture well into 30x range.
At higher magnification, past 35x, the image in the eyepiece starts to dim: after all even the best coatings can’t change the laws of physics, and at 45x with a 60mm objective, you get just a tiny 1.3 mm exit pupil.
Anyway, considering that 15-20x magnification is still twice that of many binoculars, at low magnification the scope can still be used even at night for spotting, allowing the user to discern landscape details provided there is at least some moon to cast a little light around.
Unfortunately, you loose the use of the reticle after dusk, since it is not illuminated, but for the price point of this nice little scope, I believe this is more than enough.
While it can be used freehand at the low end of its magnification range, I believe the best use of the Latitude 15-45x60 is mounted on a fluid head video tripod that allows smooth panning at high magnification. Photo tripods have stiffer heads that usually tend to snap from “where you are” to “too far beyond” when used with high magnification spotting scopes, making it difficult and tiring to frame the desired field of view, particularly when using the reticle.
At an MRSP of 749$ at the time of writing, the Sightmark Latitude 15-45x60 offers a load of features: crisp and luminous glass, a portable, compact format, a well designed padded carrying case, and a great choice of accessory mounting points, straight out of the box, all at a very affordable price, and I believe it to be, at this time, one of the best spotting scopes on the market, when price is included into the equation.
