Big binoculars vs. Spotting scope
 

What are your opinions on big, tripod mounted binoculars vs. Spotting scopes. I'm talking 15x56mm binoculars at the small end and 25x80mm at the big end.

Do you prefer one or the other, or is it situation dependent?

Spotting game vs. Judging trophy quality I guess plays a role.

Binos are much heavier and in my case I am heavily left eye dominant and pretty much see through the left barrel anyhow. Also, it is easy to get top quality spotting scopes with 15-65 variable oculars. For hunting I would always take the spotting scope if it is something that needs to be tripod mounted.

Maybe I should elaborate.

I have used top notch high end spotting scopes. I find them very useful for judging trophy quality, but that is about it. I find them poor for spotting game/general glassing.

I own and like telescopes. In the telescope world there are lots of eyepieces with super wide AFOV, like 100° +. If you have ever used an eyepiece like that they are super addictive, your entire peripheral vision is filled with the view. I get why modern spotting scopes don't have eyepieces like that. Telescope eyepieces like that are massive, some are the size of a can of coke, for just a single fixed mag eyepiece. Plus there are distortion issues that aren't apparent in a field of pin point stars, but are distracting while looking at a landscape.

Spotting scopes are like looking through a straw by comparison. Even the top of the line Swarovski ATX has a 57° AFOV at the low end of its magnification range. Most quality binoculars nowadays have an AFOV from 60-66°, which I find sufficient. Spotting scopes with zoom eyepieces are generally like looking through a soda straw at low powers. Many are around 40 or 45° AFOV I find that unpleasant and not useful for searching around.

So there are a few spotting scope that take telescope eyepieces, and the old Nikon field scopes have nice fixed power eyepieces with a 70° AFOV, but you have to get them from Japan. I was thinking that big, tripod mounted binoculars would be useful. Vortex 18x56 Kaibab have a 67° AFOV, so I won't get that soda straw effect, plus your get the stereo vision/added depth perception from using both eyes. I think they would be more useful than a spotting scope for scanning for game, but still useful for judging antlers/horns. Although I wonder if anyone has experience, can they replace a spotting scope? Or just not enough magnification?

Pretty good explanation. I agree, I would never use a spotting scope to search for game, only after I had it located. I have never seen anyone use a spotting scope as a search tool since an 8 or 10 power hand held binocular, even if you put them on a tripod, can't be beat for locating game. I have set of of Leica Duovid 8x12x50 for all day glassing. Anything with more magnification has too limited a FOV and will give you a roaring headache if you try to use them all day, no matter how good the glass is.

binos vs spotter
 

I was thinking the same thing this last year and searched for a good set of high power binos. I ended up with the zeiss 20x80 with the stabilizer. so far so good, but man are they a beast to pack anywhere!
I find them extremely comfortable to glass with, and usually mount them on a window mount. Me and a buddy have a high-house/shooting stand that enables us to view 3-4 miles in about 270 degrees of terrain. great set-up for a tripod mounted set of high-power binos.

From what I hear, south of the border the high-magnification large objective binos are commonly used for Coues deer and desert mule hunts.

Having never used them, I suspect that eye strain would be less with the high-mag binos that with a spotter, and I think the broader field of view would be of great benefit to finding game.

The two big drawbacks of those big binos seem to be weight and lack of zoom, which I find to be very useful in my Kowa 664 20-60 spotter with far away animals.

I say give the big binos a try and report back!


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You need both, binoculars for the coarse work and a spotting scope to refine the details, end of story. :confused:

Grizz

My Steiner 20x80 weigh 70 ounces that’s 4 1/3 lbs.

Why word, can a feller see well with them...and far! It’s easy to spot game in the mountains that is way too far to get to in a full day of walking. They fail at really seeing small details though they’re not as powerful as a spotting scope so for sheep hunting it might not be ideal. They find their way into my pack quite often and I’m totally comfortable with using them without a tripod as they don’t really shake.

I guess if they were Swarovski Quality in that size the better glass might put them into a position to replace both spotting scope and binoculars. They definitely excel in low light and I can Clearly see elk antlers in moonlight, that’s a big plus.

If you’re in Calgary and want to take a peak through them let me know.

Celestron has a fixed 28 power eye piece that will fit most any higher end scope.
Might help you out.....FS

Binos: looking for game
spotter: looking at game

Considering the same question for a future mountain mulie hunt...probably gonna go maven 18x56. Better reviewed vs the Kaibabs. I don’t count horn rings or score though. Still, big binos and tripod are a heck of a lot of extra (and expensive) weight to pack. Lots of good info over on rokslide and goHunt.

The binos you mention are big, bulky, and heavy; and their magnifications are too low to be of much use as a spotting scope for judging game heads.

Further, you don't need those magnifications for just spotting game; anything from a 7 power to a 10 power will do just fine for that.

I use a combination of a good pair of binos and a lighter weight spotting scope.

For the binos, if you are packing in the field and weight/size are issues, use a pair of compacts in the 7 - 10 power range. If a wider FOV is important to you
(as it seem it is) use the lower power.
If size/weight is not really an issue, go with a full size pair.

For the spotting scope, use a better quality optic (although Swarovsky-level quality is not necessary, and very poor value for money, as their quality is not astoundingly better than second tier optics, (I know by comparing my Leupold Wind River scope to my friend's Swarovski time and time again in the field!) An ideal range is 15 to 45 power; any power higher than 45 is either too dark to see effectively, or, if it is bright out, prone to too much heat wave distortion. A long eye relief is also useful. And 15 power gives you a wider FOV for general glassing than does 20X.

Put your scope on a tripod of a size and weight suitable to your application, take your binoculars, and go out and find game!

I agree with everything you’ve said. Big binos are a huge advantage in spotting game a long ways away, whether or not we have the weight carrying capacity is the question.

Third part to the equation is the tripod, good ones aren't light, light ones aren't usually stable enough in the wind on a mountain side, and what do you want to haul around all day. I've never used big mag large lens binos out hunting, 7x50 was great for bow hunting, 10x40 did the job for gun hunting, along with a small 15-32x50 spotter and a medium weight/height tripod. I've hauled a heavy tripod and my big 15-60x77 spotter, also taken that tripod with the small spotter, really nice to use, but a pain to carry on a long day and climbing and descending big hills. Between that and water it adds up in a hurry.
There is always a tradeoff, just have to decide what you are willing to tolerate in that arena, and where the happy median point is for you.

I’ve played around with both scenarios a bit. In the stable at that time I had Swaro EL 10x42, SLC 15x56 and a 20-60x65 spotter. The big binos sure are nice and easy on the eyes on a tripod or window mount. Although doable, were a pain to carry. Literally and figuratively. Stationary scanning, I really liked them. But In playing back and forth I found the 10s and spotter were a more capable pairing for the stuff I do. I would dearly love a spotter that went to a bit lower power though. I had 12x as the bottom end on my previous spotter and really miss it. If I was hunting bigger country all the time I may feel differently about my pairing. You can effectively eat up a lot of terrain with big binos in short order.

Happened across this last wk, reinforced a lot of what I`d learned over the years, like many things, there is a right tool for a certain job, and sometimes it isn`t what you may think it is, and sometimes, it has been made, but, isn`t currently, due to marketing decisions;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ro33npOg2I

The one thing no one has mentioned ( I think) is that the two barrels of the bino’s give a much better 3D effect. If you don’t mind packing the big bino’s this can be an advantage. There will be times when the coloring of the game will make it blend in with the surroundings but the 3D effect will help separate it from the background.