The Hedgehog
Well-known member
This one's starting to crack me up.
Problem solved:
Problem solved:
best budget spotting scope
- Thread starter TOGIE
- Start date
riv3rbanks
Active member
Get the Vortex Viper spotter. The 15-45x65 is probably the best for weight and clarity. The 20-60x85 is just too heavy and once you get past 45 the clarity is not great. I got the angled, but wish I went with the straight to make it easier to transition between binos and spotter. You mentioned you get a discount with vortex and Leupold so I assume you are either military or a first responder. They sometimes have a 50% MSRP sale. it will be under your budget then.
why?
what's wrong with a discussion centered around how to prioritize and optimize one's optics arsenal on a budget?
10x42 SLC binos on a tripod at one mile can easily tell you if theres a legal buck. 2 miles for a legal bull. Have spotted elk at 3 miles with them but couldnt tell you what they were. I cant count points past a mile with my eyes for any animal except for maybe an exceptional elk.
Im glad I bought good binos first as they pick out more animals than my spotter. Spotter only comes in handy to check if that elk 2 miles away is decent, or where exactly that buck bedded in trees at a mile away.
Yes better binos will help you find more game in general. But if you are already finding enough of them for your standards with your current ones, a spotter will help determine how big some animals are or if they are in fact legal at a greater distance. Also helped me bed some bucks I found and see how big they were (im looking for big bucks and pass on small ones).
Great binos still get my vote first, then a spotter - thats my biased opinion cause its what I got and its working for me haha. Side by side with my buddy who has all new top tier swaro, I spot just as much as him but I am glued to my optics.
Im glad I bought good binos first as they pick out more animals than my spotter. Spotter only comes in handy to check if that elk 2 miles away is decent, or where exactly that buck bedded in trees at a mile away.
Yes better binos will help you find more game in general. But if you are already finding enough of them for your standards with your current ones, a spotter will help determine how big some animals are or if they are in fact legal at a greater distance. Also helped me bed some bucks I found and see how big they were (im looking for big bucks and pass on small ones).
Great binos still get my vote first, then a spotter - thats my biased opinion cause its what I got and its working for me haha. Side by side with my buddy who has all new top tier swaro, I spot just as much as him but I am glued to my optics.
Irrelevant
Well-known member
I think you simply have a lot of people that feel like they went down the same path you did, feel like they may mistakes or wasted money, then have tried to convey that info and save you the same mistake. But you seem pretty set on heading down that same path.
There are certainly other that are happily down that budget path...
GH just isn't one of them.
edit: IDK what path if any I'm on. Maybe I'm just wondering around lost with a handful of random optics still looking for some deer...
no, i don't want anyone to get the impression i'm leo or first responder. i'm a schmuck first and foremost.
just have access to outfitter pro deals.
but what did GH do when he only had a few bucks to spend?
i mean it's just a matter of priorities and being stuck with limited money.
i took @Greenhorn s advice very seriously. helped steer me away from the spotting scope at all. i think the advice of this thread got me on track, i.e. better binos is a better use of money given limited money.
but i still ponder the utility of a cheaper spotting scope. given that i may never realistically buy a 2k + one, when good binos will probably cover all my bases for many many years, i could still see myself getting plenty of use out of a 700 dollar one.
finances tend to change as you continue to grow up. all this may be moot in even a handful of years.
BackofBeyond
Well-known member
Here's my deal, and it's along the same lines as your OP.
For the first time this year binos on a tripod clicked for me. Problem being my binos, tripod, and tripod head are "budget" to say the least. I've got a decent spotter (SX-4) which will get the job done that I need it to do, but with the addition of glassing more off a tripod do I keep the craptastic 10x binos for hiking around, close archery work, then have a pair of 12x AND the spotter in the pack, or do I drop the 10x all together, put the 12x in my bino harness and move on.
Upgrades to tripod head and tripod are also in the works, but that all depends on room in the budget.
Right now I'm thinking NL Pure 12x42, keep the SX-4 (15-45x) for closer verification work, and maybe keep the craptastic 10x Vortex for a back up pair or in the bino harness for archery season. But when I think about shelling out $3k for a pair of binos I get nauseous.
For the first time this year binos on a tripod clicked for me. Problem being my binos, tripod, and tripod head are "budget" to say the least. I've got a decent spotter (SX-4) which will get the job done that I need it to do, but with the addition of glassing more off a tripod do I keep the craptastic 10x binos for hiking around, close archery work, then have a pair of 12x AND the spotter in the pack, or do I drop the 10x all together, put the 12x in my bino harness and move on.
Upgrades to tripod head and tripod are also in the works, but that all depends on room in the budget.
Right now I'm thinking NL Pure 12x42, keep the SX-4 (15-45x) for closer verification work, and maybe keep the craptastic 10x Vortex for a back up pair or in the bino harness for archery season. But when I think about shelling out $3k for a pair of binos I get nauseous.
undercover
Well-known member
I run leupolds 12x50. Love em. In fact I was at Yellowstone last week looking at a pack of wolves around 2 miles out. Gentleman next me had a smaller Swaro spotting scope and I did not see any difference in clarity. An hour later we found a group looking at a black bear in a den at 250 yds or so. Again my leupolds were just as good as the KOWA next to me, kowa at short range seemed grainy? Maybe both scopes were set differently for the owner eye. Now, here is where I wanted a spotter. There is a yellowstone guide service called wolf trackers or something. They had two really big swaros looking a group of elk around 3 miles plus. I could see the bull and new he was big but when I looked through her spotter I could count points. That was awesome.
TheGrayRider
Well-known member
Swaro - Buy once, cry once!
Elkmagnet
Well-known member
From a guy with mid grade glass. Ziess conquest/ (Nikon fieldscope ED) Who spends most hunting days behind it.
I'll summarize my thoughts after reading many of these threads.
Guys who have $500- $1000 spotters often leave them at home, in the truck or when they do get them out of the backpack only glass for short periods.
Guys with $1500+ spotters carry and use them wherever possible.
I offer a question for your consideration.
Why?
My opinion is that a spotters and tripod are heavy and if after a few hunts you don't feel like it is improving your success it will start to be left out of your pack.
Somewhere around $1000 people seem to find it worth the extra weight to continue carrying their spotters.
I understand a budget but I would say I would rather keep saving than have a $500 scope sitting under the seat of the truck not being used.
Can you swing a $1500 scope in a year or two?
I'll summarize my thoughts after reading many of these threads.
Guys who have $500- $1000 spotters often leave them at home, in the truck or when they do get them out of the backpack only glass for short periods.
Guys with $1500+ spotters carry and use them wherever possible.
I offer a question for your consideration.
Why?
My opinion is that a spotters and tripod are heavy and if after a few hunts you don't feel like it is improving your success it will start to be left out of your pack.
Somewhere around $1000 people seem to find it worth the extra weight to continue carrying their spotters.
I understand a budget but I would say I would rather keep saving than have a $500 scope sitting under the seat of the truck not being used.
Can you swing a $1500 scope in a year or two?
Last edited:
Elkmagnet
Well-known member
Imo your best budget spotter is the fieldscope ed but its heavy and old so not popular anymore.
I'm not sure what to think about the flood of cheep used nikon's from overseas. Does anyone know if they are genuine?? If so I'd buy a second for these prices.
I'm not sure what to think about the flood of cheep used nikon's from overseas. Does anyone know if they are genuine?? If so I'd buy a second for these prices.
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Johnny Bravo
Well-known member
- Joined
- Feb 15, 2022
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- 1,079
Exactly why I mentioned the Vanguard with ED glass....Very much like the Nikon and newer. The issue with picking a spotter is there is no one place to try them all. I believe you are spot on with why they get left in the truck no matter which one you have, if it does not improve your success why carry it
I think you hit it, kinda the summation of a lot of opinion in this thread. Budget spotters have a tendency to be left at home.
I’m upgrading the binos instead now.
I think yeah, like anything, if it’s prioritized I could drop 2500 on a spotter in a few years. But based on some of the answers I’m less inclined to make that a priority. Better binos seems to be the ticket.
Putting aside money for a 2500 dollar purchase means tags, other items, and also time itself would likely be sacrificed over that time period. I’d rather have more tags and more time, which inevitably leads to fuller freezers. Ive now decided I don’t think a spotter will change the success (in terms of filling tags) calculation at all. I guess I never felt that it would, but I’m now even more heavily leaning that they’re practically irrelevant to success, they’re just a pretty nice thing to have on some hints.
Elkmagnet
Well-known member
I like the plan but don't necessarily agree with your thoughts. About a spotter not improving success. I can think of many times I have spotted an animal that I couldn't have spotted with anything shy of thse Swaroi binos Greenhorn has.
I also find a ridiculous amount of sheds with a spotter after glassing the same area with my binos first.
I once found a batchler group of bulls at over 8 air mi away across a river canyon they were just blury yellow ants but they were walking around and one was noticeably whiter than the others. We had to literally drive into the next state and back into our unit to access them a 6hr drive later they feed out on a ridge and my buddy took a light colored 340" bull in that exact spot.
Another time @fowladdict and I were glassing a sage flat on the edge of some ag and spotted a herd way off (5 or so mi?) That we could only see on hi power. He killed a big bull out of that herd.
I'll photo dump one of my wife.
She killed a bull out of this bachelor group. It was beded at mid day when she spotted it on a general Idaho rifle hunt. The road we were on was covered with guys glassing right over these bulls. The spotter picked just enough antler flash.
That evening she killed one of them
Some random pics.
6pt elk shed
165" muley
Mountain lion
170 buck I killed with a bow
185 buck
I would counter in that you can be >95% as successful in putting animals on the ground with solid boots, solid legs, patience, and pair of $800 binos on a tripod.
Though you’re not wrong. A good spitter and good strategy will always turn up more animals. But I think you can fill the freezer every fall without one.
Elkmagnet
Well-known member
Absolutely. Especially if you aren't worried about antler size.
It also depends on what type of hunting you want to do. Some guys hate glassing all day.
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