Glassing Questions

[rfroese]

Anyone ever used a low power, wide FOV bino setup when glassing to check out the stuff closer to you when glassing longer distances?

At one of my glassing spots this weekend, I could actually see around 270 degrees around me. I had a great view of the canyon I was hunting and I also sat in between two draws going into a canyon toward a creek bottom. The far hillsides that I assumed the deer would be bedding in and we were looking into were all between 1200 yards to a mile away. My 10x42 binos on a tripod helped me to find a few deer on those hillsides. I even spotted 3 mule deer on a far off ridge that I used GPS for and they were about 1.5 miles away. The problem is, I want to be able to get a better look at the stuff closer to me and it takes forever look at the closer stuff with my 10x binos and I end up not looking at it as often as I know I need to.

As I sat on this glassing knob I found myself wishing I had a small pair of 4x binos with a wide FOV to take time looking into the draws beside me as the sun came up. I am sure some deer made their way through those drainages and trails into the thicker creek bottom under my nose because it was a pain to look into with my binos.

 

[Indian Summer]

4X? Can’t say I ever wished I had those. Maybe eight power but for the most part my tens are versatile enough to get the job done.

 

[Hoodie]

I think you might be better off switching to a good 8x42. For me the increase in brightness and FOV more than makes up for the minor difference in magnification. I use them still-hunting timber and don't find them overpowered.

I like a low power wide FOV bino on the chest and a high magnification (15x or 18x) bino for tripod work. If you were set on something lower than 8 you could look at the 6.5x32 Kowa BDII or the 6x30 Maven B3.

 

[RockAndSage]

I think you might be better of switching to a good 8x42. For me the increase in brightness and FOV more than makes up for the minor difference in magnification. I use them still-hunting timber and don't find them overpowered.

I like a low power wide FOV bino on the chest and a high magnification (15x or 18x) bino for tripod work. If you were set on something lower than 8 you could look at the 6.5x32 Kowa BDII or the 6x30 Maven B3.

Best combo I've come up with so far is similar, just for functionality and capability. It's 8x42s on the chest for glassing on the go and first cursory search of an area, 18s on the tripod for 80% of my glassing, lightweight spotter for deeper dives on something I think I see with the 18s, or just can't get to with them from that spot.

Giving some serious consideration to upgrading to a Big Eyes setup with a pair of Kowa 55s's, to replace the 18s and the spotter. They go down to 17x, and up to 40x. But I'd still keep the 8s on my chest, or possibly a 10x NL Pure.

But yes, OP, 8s are for wide FOV. They're especially helpful in picking up movement in that first cursory scan of an area, before breaking out the tripod. The tripod-mounted optics are for very carefully picking apart a hillside, looking for ears, tines, hooves, etc, slowly and carefully. "Gridding" it off, line by line in the glass. I'm out west in a lot of open country though, and wouldn't want to go down at all in magnification. That said, Swarovski's NL Pures have such a wide FOV, that you can go up 2x over other brands/models and still have as good or better FOV. So, 8s would be like 6s. It is some really primo glass.

 

[Jtb.kfd]

Best combo I've come up with so far is similar, just for functionality and capability. It's 8x42s on the chest for glassing on the go and first cursory search of an area, 18s on the tripod for 80% of my glassing, lightweight spotter for deeper dives on something I think I see with the 18s, or just can't get to with them from that spot.

Giving some serious consideration to upgrading to a Big Eyes setup with a pair of Kowa 55s's, to replace the 18s and the spotter. They go down to 17x, and up to 40x. But I'd still keep the 8s on my chest, or possibly a 10x NL Pure.

But yes, OP, 8s are for wide FOV. They're especially helpful in picking up movement in that first cursory scan of an area, before breaking out the tripod. The tripod-mounted optics are for very carefully picking apart a hillside, looking for ears, tines, hooves, etc, slowly and carefully. "Gridding" it off, line by line in the glass. I'm out west in a lot of open country though, and wouldn't want to go down at all in magnification. That said, Swarovski's NL Pures have such a wide FOV, that you can go up 2x over other brands/models and still have as good or better FOV. So, 8s would be like 6s. It is some really primo glass.

This has been the best combo for me as well. I landed on this combo 15 years ago for mule deer and haven’t had any situations needing something different. I use 15’s (18’s would be better) and the added weight sucks on backcountry hunts going in, but they are worth their weight in gold once you are glassing. The 8’s are great going in the timber or glassing close. The spotter is needed for longer range confirmation.

 

[ScreamingPotato]

I've used my rangefinder when the binos are a little too much.