Athlon Cronus 15x Binos for Arizona Mule Deer

[ZMT]

Hi all, I'll be headed out to Arizona for my first Western hunt this year. I've only ever hunted Whitetail before and would consider just seeing a Mulie a success. I had some great help on this forum verifying some spots I scouted on OnX, but had a quick question about optics. Given most of my time will be spent glassing, will 15x binos be sufficient? Or will I have a more enjoyable experience with a 20-60 spotting scope given the fact I'll likely just be seeing deer and not get a shot at them?

 

[Weldor]

15's for me.

 

[AZ_Hunter_2000]

Few people actually can effectively glass with a spotting scope. They're lucky SOBs. For the rest of, we tend to be better served with binoculars on a tripod.

The more time you spend in the glass, the greater the odds of finding game. Typically lower quality glass will produce more eye fatigue, headaches, etc which will pull you away from the glass. There is a reason SLC 15s were the kings of glassing for a long time.

Clarity of glass trumps magnification.

 

[ZMT]

15's for me.

Few people actually can effectively glass with a spotting scope. They're lucky SOBs. For the rest of, we tend to be better served with binoculars on a tripod.

The more time you spend in the glass, the greater the odds of finding game. Typically lower quality glass will produce more eye fatigue, headaches, etc which will pull you away from the glass. There is a reason SLC 15s were the kings of glassing for a long time.

Clarity of glass trumps magnification.

Thank you guys. I'll stick with the Cronus's then and not worry about trying to find an affordable spotting scope. Most of the places I'm looking at are valleys that are at most 2 miles apart, so the binos would probably be best. I couldn't care less about what a deer scores at this point so a spotting scope would probably be unnecessary. Just want to find them and get some experience stalking

 

[chrism07]

15s are definitely the best way to go overall when hunting in AZ. You'll get the most versatility out of them compared to a spotter.