schiffer99
FNG
After some years of hunting with an old pair of Leupold green rings on my chest and 15x kaibabs on a vortex GT tripod, I've sold them off and want to build a new glassing setup from the ground up. I've always been the opposite of a glass snob and thought spending money for alpha glass was silly; then I was required to get a Leupold MK5 for a scoped carbine course. Oh... turns out maybe I was the one who was silly.
I live in Arizona and will be doing deer/elk hunting in Arizona and New Mexico, with future plans for antelope in one of the northern states like Idaho.
My budget is 3,000 ish and I am thinking I will get small glass (binocs on my chest) and large glass (either a 15 set of bincos or a spotter.) Having trouble deciding for small glass whether I would be better with 10x42 or 8x42, both have positive/negatives, though I am leaning 10x in case I ever end up with a hunt where I can't bring big glass. I was also leaning 15x (or maybe 18x in the Vortex UHD's) over a spotter, but I have also never spent time with a spotter so I could be missing out.
I've been to sportsman's wharehouse and checked out a couple different levels of glass. The Swaro EL's and the Zeiss victory (especially the Victory) stood out as the best to my eye. The vortex UHD's weren't as good, but I liked them better than the leica trinovids. I would go with the victory's for my small glass, but they dang near eat up my entire budget, so wondering if maybe I should settle on the conquests. (Side question, if my eye prefers a certain brand, will that carry over to the rest of their line? So if my eyes like zeiss, would like their glass better than the equivalent level glass from other manufactureres?)
Here is what I've been looking at for small glass: Zeiss victory, conquest, Vortex UHD, Swaro SLC's or EL's (haven't actually seen the SLC's but I assume they are similar to the EL's? Also, I really like the look of the Khales Helia S, but I think that might just be wanting something unique), Vortex UHD's, Leupold BX5. I hear good things about Leica, but I was not impressed with the trinovid and I've haven't been able to get my hands on a set of ultravid or geovids.
For big glass: front runner is 15x56 SLC's--though again that puts a hurt on the budget, 18x56 Vortex UHD's, 15x56 Zeiss conquest (have not been able to see these in person yet), Vortex Razor spotter, Leupold BX5 spotter, Kowa compact spotter.
Any thoughts, suggestions or experience is really appreciated. I am new to this so the more education I can get the better; including advice like just blow my entire budget on the Vitory's and then save up for a spotter/15x when I can. I did buy a refurbished Vortex carbon tripod that is incoming, just need to decide what I will be putting on top of it.
I live in Arizona and will be doing deer/elk hunting in Arizona and New Mexico, with future plans for antelope in one of the northern states like Idaho.
My budget is 3,000 ish and I am thinking I will get small glass (binocs on my chest) and large glass (either a 15 set of bincos or a spotter.) Having trouble deciding for small glass whether I would be better with 10x42 or 8x42, both have positive/negatives, though I am leaning 10x in case I ever end up with a hunt where I can't bring big glass. I was also leaning 15x (or maybe 18x in the Vortex UHD's) over a spotter, but I have also never spent time with a spotter so I could be missing out.
I've been to sportsman's wharehouse and checked out a couple different levels of glass. The Swaro EL's and the Zeiss victory (especially the Victory) stood out as the best to my eye. The vortex UHD's weren't as good, but I liked them better than the leica trinovids. I would go with the victory's for my small glass, but they dang near eat up my entire budget, so wondering if maybe I should settle on the conquests. (Side question, if my eye prefers a certain brand, will that carry over to the rest of their line? So if my eyes like zeiss, would like their glass better than the equivalent level glass from other manufactureres?)
Here is what I've been looking at for small glass: Zeiss victory, conquest, Vortex UHD, Swaro SLC's or EL's (haven't actually seen the SLC's but I assume they are similar to the EL's? Also, I really like the look of the Khales Helia S, but I think that might just be wanting something unique), Vortex UHD's, Leupold BX5. I hear good things about Leica, but I was not impressed with the trinovid and I've haven't been able to get my hands on a set of ultravid or geovids.
For big glass: front runner is 15x56 SLC's--though again that puts a hurt on the budget, 18x56 Vortex UHD's, 15x56 Zeiss conquest (have not been able to see these in person yet), Vortex Razor spotter, Leupold BX5 spotter, Kowa compact spotter.
Any thoughts, suggestions or experience is really appreciated. I am new to this so the more education I can get the better; including advice like just blow my entire budget on the Vitory's and then save up for a spotter/15x when I can. I did buy a refurbished Vortex carbon tripod that is incoming, just need to decide what I will be putting on top of it.
