Have spotter, do I need Binoculars?

[dahamp2003]

So I bought a Vortex RAZOR HD 16-48x65mm spotter for long range shooting. I rarely use it, because i just use my other rifle scopes. I feel like binoculars would be much easier to use, and I could trade this spotter for a decent pair of binoculars. Looking into 10x42 for all around east and western hunts. Am I right? Are binos easier to use and I can still throw them on a tripod right? Is this a good trade off and what type of Binos should I expect for trade? Maven C.1's? Vortex Vipers?

 

[mike.adams.467]

In hunting situations you will use binos many times more than you will use a spotting scope. The 10X42s work well, just buy the best you can afford.

 

[jimh406]

I'd keep the spotter unless you can work a great trade. They could be useful if you go West. I'd look at Tract Toric 10x42s. A fair price and good glass. They work well on tripods. They are a lot lighter than even a midsize spotting scope.

Btw, you can do comparisons of different models on Grok.com. It makes easy to understand tables with prices, comparisons of glass, etc.

 

[waspocrew]

I use my binos way more than my spotter.

The spotter is nice for glassing way out there or getting a real good look at an animal once its found. I'd look for a good bino and try to keep your spotter if possible. It's definitely nice to have both, but if I could only have one, it'd be a good set of 10x42s.

 

[Ross]

Get the binos and leave spotter at the rig. Spotters for hunting one of the most overrated items you can pack. A solid set of 10x42 binos will cover 99% of what you need to find huntable animals.

 

[dahamp2003]

Well, what Im reading it seems is a spotter is valuable but Binos are much easier and almost necessary. I think I will trade. Thanks for the help fellas. Are they the kind of thing you'd trust reviews on or only if you can look through them? Some brands like Maven and Tract I can't get my hands on. Vortex/Leupold I can.

 

[Ross]

Decide your budget and do you want to spend/cry once? A large majority of us started with a budget set, then another and eventually coughed up to buy some of the best glass available. Don’t look through a set of Swaros, Leica, etc, unless you always want to be thinking I should have bought them. Glass can be one of your best decisions made and with proper care, almost never replaced. There is quality glass and then there is excellent glass. When I think of glass, I remember this line in Geronimo Geronimo (played by Wes Studi) in the film Geronimo: An American Legend (1993) is: "You have a good long glass, Gatewood. If I scare them off, we trade".

 

[westonadkins]

Give the sig zulus a look. The image stabilization is a huge add compared to other mid tier binos


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[grfox92]

I use my binoculars realistically hundreds of times a day when I'm hunting.

I don't own a spotting scope and never have.

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[Jack321]

For hunting, I use binos 100x more than spotter. In fact, I dont even bring my spotter hunting. My Swaro spotter really only goes to the range.

But I would keep the spotter. Longer distance shooting will be much easier with the spotter. So I'd keep it.

But I'd also then go buy the best bino you can afford. I personally use 10x42s.

LOTS of good binos for any budget and they will all work, from the $3k Swaros all the way down to the $100 Vortex Crossfire HDs.

Just got back from WY for an antelope hunt with my dad and brothers. We had:

Two 10x42 Swaro NL Pure's
Vortex Fury RF 10x42
Redfield Rebel 10x42
Vortex Crossfire HD 10x42


Never had an issue with ANY of these binos and we all saw game just as easy as the next.

 

[dahamp2003]

For hunting, I use binos 100x more than spotter. In fact, I dont even bring my spotter hunting. My Swaro spotter really only goes to the range.

Buy the best bino you can afford. I personally use 10x42s.

LOTS of good binos for any budget and they will all work, from the $3k Swaros all the way down to the $100 Vortex Crossfire HDs.

Just got back from WY for an antelope hunt with my dad and brothers. We had:

Two 10x42 Swaro NL Pure's
Vortex Fury RF 10x42
Redfield Rebel 10x42
Vortex Crossfire HD 10x42


Never had an issue with ANY of these binos and we all saw game just as easy as the next.

Thanks for the honesty. Im definitely not a bottom of the barrel kinda guy, but I also cant justify Swaros. Sounds like the Midtier/budget quality level will work like Maven/Tract/Leupold BX2s and 4s, Vortex Vipers, etc. I know expensive glass is awesome, but in ELR shooting Ive quite literally never had the Arken/Primary Arms/SWFA stuff hold me back out to a mile. Sounds like the Binos are the same deal.

 

[Jack321]

Thanks for the honesty. Im definitely not a bottom of the barrel kinda guy, but I also cant justify Swaros. Sounds like the Midtier/budget quality level will work like Maven/Tract/Leupold BX2s and 4s, Vortex Vipers, etc. I know expensive glass is awesome, but in ELR shooting Ive quite literally never had the Arken/Primary Arms/SWFA stuff hold me back out to a mile. Sounds like the Binos are the same deal.

Yup, you got the right idea.

But I'd also keep the spotter and get binos to have both.

Or just get a window mount for the truck to glass from the road or the trailhead with the spotter.

Sighting in rifles IS easier with a spotter than binos, especially the further out you go.

Any of those Binos you list will work well past "legal shooting light."

Again from the $3k Swaro to the $100 Crossfire HD will get you past legal shooting light.

My elk guide in Montana had $100 Crossfire's, and was able to do his job just fine. (Now granted, I was able to glass up muleys HIGH on a distant peak and see it was a doe and fawn and that the doe was greyer than the fawn. He could only see the deer after I spotted them, lol!) But in all honesty, the glass on the market now is perfectly fine for 90% of the applications guys use need them for.

I often chuckle that there should be a show that gives a pro hunter only $800 to outfit himself by going to Walmart and buy gun, ammo, clothes, gear to hunt a week long trip and 10 outa 10x the guy would tag out:

$300 Savage Axis
$50 Bushnell scope
$60 two boxes of ammo
$100 in clothes, baselayers
$35 hat/gloves/socks/blaze orange
$50 Bushnell Binos
$50-$75 Boots

And theyd be better than hunters in the 80s cuz the gear is just so much better now.

 

[TradLife406]

I scan with the binos then use a 85mm Zeiss for variation.
I can pick out a lot of stuff with 10x binos off a tripod.

 

[betelgeuse]

I have been impressed with some of the lower tier binos. I bought my niece some Vortex Vipers and they seem just as good as my 20 yo Kahles and Swaro SLC.

Heck, I was impressed with the 6x Vortex Bantams I bought my nephews. The can be had for around 50 bucks. But that's just me.

I think having both is good. Spotter and Binos. 10x42 does most things. I use them a lot.

 

[jimh406]

I have been impressed with some of the lower tier binos.

I don't know what conditions you were under. My wife's aunt and uncle thought their binoculars and spotting scope were just as good as mine at Yellowstone and my house until it got a bit closer to dark and until we were looking at wildlife farther away.

You'll also notice the difference edge to edge, but maybe that won't matter for you or maybe your eyes are great. YMMV.

 

[betelgeuse]

I don't know what conditions you were under. My wife's aunt and uncle thought their binoculars and spotting scope were just as good as mine at Yellowstone and my house until it got a bit closer to dark and until we were looking at wildlife farther away.

You'll also notice the difference edge to edge, but maybe that won't matter for you or maybe your eyes are great. YMMV.

I hear you. Sure, you are correct. That's why I am still using 20 yo binos. They were expensive and last. Everyone has different, needs, budget and taste. You don't have to have all the latest and greatest to be successful hunting and shooting.

 

[betelgeuse]

Yup, you got the right idea.

But I'd also keep the spotter and get binos to have both.

Or just get a window mount for the truck to glass from the road or the trailhead with the spotter.

Sighting in rifles IS easier with a spotter than binos, especially the further out you go.

Any of those Binos you list will work well past "legal shooting light."

Again from the $3k Swaro to the $100 Crossfire HD will get you past legal shooting light.

My elk guide in Montana had $100 Crossfire's, and was able to do his job just fine. (Now granted, I was able to glass up muleys HIGH on a distant peak and see it was a doe and fawn and that the doe was greyer than the fawn. He could only see the deer after I spotted them, lol!) But in all honesty, the glass on the market now is perfectly fine for 90% of the applications guys use need them for.

I often chuckle that there should be a show that gives a pro hunter only $800 to outfit himself by going to Walmart and buy gun, ammo, clothes, gear to hunt a week long trip and 10 outa 10x the guy would tag out:

$300 Savage Axis
$50 Bushnell scope
$60 two boxes of ammo
$100 in clothes, baselayers
$35 hat/gloves/socks/blaze orange
$50 Bushnell Binos
$50-$75 Boots

And theyd be better than hunters in the 80s cuz the gear is just so much better now.

Well said. Taste, budget, and needs are all different. I've seen guys with super expensive gear that are terrible hunters.

 

[Jack321]

I have been impressed with some of the lower tier binos. I bought my niece some Vortex Vipers and they seem just as good as my 20 yo Kahles and Swaro SLC.

Heck, I was impressed with the 6x Vortex Bantams I bought my nephews. The can be had for around 50 bucks. But that's just me.

I think having both is good. Spotter and Binos. 10x42 does most things. I use them a lot.

While my dad and youngest bro were on a stalk for a goat. Me and my two other brothers watched them from the truck.

I had my NL Pures and my 2nd oldest brother had a pair of $100 Crossfire HDs. I looked through them Crossfires and was legit impressed! I mean they aren't $3k Swaro's, but they were legit!

A coupe years back, I was able to go to the Vortex Factory in Madison WI, and they had every optic in their lineups. Their full HD lineups had just come out and I was able to take all their rangefinders and put em on tripods and compare them between the non-HD versions.

The HD versions BLEW AWAY the non-HDs.

Meaning, I would rather have an HD Crossfire rangefinder over a non-HD Razor. Now this was RANGEFINDERS.

When I was looking at binos, it became less apparent.

But as an example I'd take an HD Crossfire bino over a non-HD Diamondback bino.

Overall, I was impressed with my brothers HD Crossfire binos, for only $100

I'd also say I like my Vortex Ranger 3000 Rangefinder binos over the Fury's. The last two years I borrowed a buddys Fury's for Prairie Dog hunting in S. Dakota.

And I had every intention to buy a pair of Fury's on my own for this upcoming summer. (I was exclusively looking at Vortex because they warranty the glass AND the electronics--a lot of other companies only warranty the glass.)

Well I came across the Ranger 3000s and they ARE brighter than the Fury's.

I also find that in the Fury's if both sides of the glass are clear, the yardage numbers are fuzzy. If the numbers are clear, then the clarity on the right optic is fuzzy. So I have to kind of keep them half fuzzy to see both the numbers and whatever I'm looking at.

With my Ranger 3000s, I dont have that problem at all.

AND they're cheaper than the Fury's.

I got my Ranger 3000s NEW from EuroOptic on Veterans day for 25% off + free shipping for $600 + tax as opposed to AAoptics Refurbished Fury's for $750 + tax + shipping. $300 Bino and $300 Rangefinder is about right. So $600 seems perfect to me in a RF bino!

So in my mind I got a brighter and clearer optic for less $$. What's not to like?

 

[HilltopHitman]

Sell. Buy yourself some used swaros 8x, 10x, or 12x depending where you live/hunt. If you can’t save over the next year for swaros buy razor UHD off of sierra. If you can’t afford those get mavens.

 

[digger]

If I forget the binos,I come home