Introduction
In the world of tactical spotting scopes, the market has long been dominated by two major players, Leupold and Hensoldt. With limited competition, the prices were high, and their devices primarily catered to professional users in military and law enforcement applications where they were funded by government budgets. You know what they say… There’s no money like taxpayers’ money.
Luckily, things have changed in the past couple of years, and there’s a lot more choice out there, which also means lower price tags. You can now look at manufacturers such as Sightron, Athlon, Vortex, Sightmark, etc.; they all offer quality tactical spotters that will not cost you an arm and a leg.
As we entered 2023, German Precision Optics (GPO) decided to buy into action and up the antes even more. Their new TAC Spotter 15-45x60 was unveiled earlier at the SHOT Show 2023 and a bit later at IWA 2023 as well. They saw the opportunity to take their share of the market that still has a lot of growth potential, and they grabbed it. And the best part about it? Unlike some brands which are heavily geo-restricted, GPO is present virtually everywhere.
GPO TAC Spotter 15-45x60: A Stylish Design for a Tactical Device
GPO TAC Spotter 15-45x60 is fairly easy on the eyes. It has dark beige magnesium housing that is waterproof and is complemented by black rubber armoring, making it a durable yet stylish choice. It will also be available in all-black color.
Its eyepiece is equipped with a dual focusing system for enhanced precision, and it also comes with three pre-installed Picatinny rails, with one located at the top and one on each side, making it a true tactical piece. This is going to be especially alluring to those that like to mount a few extra attachments on their devices, especially red dot sights which are the usual addon for easier target acquisition.
It has a 60 mm objective lens diameter, and it is also relatively light, especially considering what it offers. It weighs only around 1.4 kg, and this is, at least in our opinion, a perfectly acceptable range for a device like this one.
GPO TAC Spotter 15-45x60 Pros and Cons
PROS
Reticle compatibility with the GPO Tactical Scope
One of the strongest points of the GPO TAC Spotter 15-45x60 is its reticle, especially if you already have the GPO SPECTRA 6x 4,5-27x50i FFP tactical riflescope. They share an identical PLRi reticle which sits in the 1st Focal Plane, and together they make a perfect tandem.
Of course, the GPO Tac Spotter 15-45x60 is usable together with any other riflescope as well, but the whole experience feels way more natural when everything is more “in tune”.
Magnification and FOV
Featuring a 15-45x magnification range and a generous 60 mm objective lens diameter, the new GPO TAC Spotter 15-45x60 is designed to observe even more distant objects with impressive clarity and detail.
Its edge-to-edge field of view (FOV) changes with the magnification, and it ranges from 60 to 20 meters/1000m, with 20m/1000m FOV at the maximum 45x magnification, and 60m/1000m FOV at the lowest 15x magnification.
You can also focus on a target as close as 10 meters.
Price
As we mentioned above, tactical spotters used to cost an absurd amount of money, which only changed with more manufacturers entering this field.
Today, there are fairly affordable options out there, and we would count the new GPO TAC Spotter 15-45x60 among them as well.
It is priced at 1009 €, and you can buy it in our store:
CONS
Lack of App Compatibility
Both the GPO TAC Spotter 15-45x60 and the aforementioned GPO SPECTRA 6x 4,5-27x50i FFP tactical riflescope have no app compatibility.
It is not like this is deal-breaking or anything, since both of them are still excellent devices, but if GPO is trying to build a family of tactical products that would work great together, then it is our opinion that it might be worth investing in the app development as well. After all, everything is going digital, and it is only a matter of time before apps begin to play a decisive role in the tactical market as well.
Reticle Placement
TAC Spotter 15-45x60 has the reticle placed directly in the middle of the FOV, but with tactical spotting scopes, we prefer to see reticles placed a bit lower and to the side from the middle, so the user can have around two-thirds of the FOV completely unobstructed.
We realize, however, that this mostly comes down to personal preference, and a lot of people might disagree with us on this one.
Conclusion
GPO TAC Spotter 15-45x60 is coming to the shelves worldwide, and you will be able to grab it in our store as well.
We expect it to find its place among the tactical spotters in no time, but it will likely be most popular with GPO riflescope owners since it looks like GPO is aiming to build whole packages for their customers.
You can also view the GPO SPECTRA 6x 4.5-27x50i FFP tactical riflescope here:
