Help me improve my spotting scope set up

[Loper]

For the past few years I’ve been using an Athlon Cronus 12-36x50 on a Vortex Summit tripod.

I bought the spotter because it was lightweight, compact and affordable. I bought the tripod, because I really didn’t know much about tripods and it seemed like a good deal and was lightweight.

This is a budget set up and I’ve found myself not using the spotter much or preferring to use my binos instead. Sometimes I don’t even put the spotter and tripod in my pack because I don’t feel like fooling with it. The adapter plate from the tripod to the spotter is finicky and rotating the head isn’t very smooth.

For a long time, I thought I was just impatient and didn’t like to look behind a spotting scope for a long time. However, after upgrading my binos recently, I’ve realized that glassing isn’t as dreadful as I once thought it is.

Now I’m thinking, that upgrading my spotter, tripod, and/or head may help me to actually enjoy glassing.

If you were in my shoes, which would you upgrade first, the spotting scope, the tripod, or the head? My budget for this year is about $1,000-$1,500 and I’m hoping I can find a Black Friday deal to help stretch what I can afford. I’ve noticed the Kowa 553 is 50% off which seems like a pretty good deal. However, I wonder if I should invest in a better tripod and head first, use the spotter I have for next season, and save up some more money and upgrade the spotter after next year

 

[nnmarcher]

The Kowa 553 seems like a screaming deal. There are some great deals in the classifieds for tripods and heads too. I am not affiliated with this seller https://rokslide.com/forums/threads/tricer-bc-tripod-outdoorsman-micro-pan-head.383331/#post-3905499

but you could buy that tripod/head combo and the Kowa and come out ~$75 over budget. You could certainly recover that selling your old scope and tripod.

 

[svivian]

The Kowa 553 seems like a screaming deal. There are some great deals in the classifieds for tripods and heads too. I am not affiliated with this seller https://rokslide.com/forums/threads/tricer-bc-tripod-outdoorsman-micro-pan-head.383331/#post-3905499

but you could buy that tripod/head combo and the Kowa and come out ~$75 over budget. You could certainly recover that selling your old scope and tripod.

I second this advice. This would be hard to beat.

 

[TaperPin]

For the past few years I’ve been using an Athlon Cronus 12-36x50 on a Vortex Summit tripod.

I bought the spotter because it was lightweight, compact and affordable. I bought the tripod, because I really didn’t know much about tripods and it seemed like a good deal and was lightweight.

This is a budget set up and I’ve found myself not using the spotter much or preferring to use my binos instead. Sometimes I don’t even put the spotter and tripod in my pack because I don’t feel like fooling with it. The adapter plate from the tripod to the spotter is finicky and rotating the head isn’t very smooth.

For a long time, I thought I was just impatient and didn’t like to look behind a spotting scope for a long time. However, after upgrading my binos recently, I’ve realized that glassing isn’t as dreadful as I once thought it is.

Now I’m thinking, that upgrading my spotter, tripod, and/or head may help me to actually enjoy glassing.

If you were in my shoes, which would you upgrade first, the spotting scope, the tripod, or the head? My budget for this year is about $1,000-$1,500 and I’m hoping I can find a Black Friday deal to help stretch what I can afford. I’ve noticed the Kowa 553 is 50% off which seems like a pretty good deal. However, I wonder if I should invest in a better tripod and head first, use the spotter I have for next season, and save up some more money and upgrade the spotter after next year

In normal mountain breezy conditions I’ve used a $100 well-used loaner scope not worth hunting with paired with a rock steady tripod and saw numerous hard to pick out animals just as well as my friend with a swaro spotter and cheap tripod. Of course his scope on a good tripod is ideal, but never underestimate how nice a steady image is.

 

[gr8fuldoug]

The best spotter is worth nothing on an unstable tripod. A fair spotter improves on a better tripod.

Give a call and speak with Joel, our resident tripod guru, and he can discuss options and Black Friday deals with you, 516-217-1000

Happy Thanksgiving

 

[Loper]

The Kowa 553 seems like a screaming deal. There are some great deals in the classifieds for tripods and heads too. I am not affiliated with this seller https://rokslide.com/forums/threads/tricer-bc-tripod-outdoorsman-micro-pan-head.383331/#post-3905499

but you could buy that tripod/head combo and the Kowa and come out ~$75 over budget. You could certainly recover that selling your old scope and tripod.

Thank you for this link and the suggestion as I’m not an expert on tripods and just started researching them recently.

How does that Tricer BC tripod compare to the Aziak backcountry lite tripod? It appears that the Tricer (27 oz) is heavier than the Aziak (18.9 oz). It better to have a little heavier tripod for stability?

Backcountry Lite Tripod | Aziak Equipment

The Backcountry Lite Tripod is the quintessential alpine hunters tripod. After years of using sub-par and heavy photography tripods modified to our liking, we decided enough was enough and spec'd out a tripod made for light and fast adventures into the backcountry. Design Points: Weight is...

www.aziakequipment.com

Tricer-BC

The Tricer-BC is a ultralight backcountry hunters dream. If you are someone wants to save weight, have maximum stability, and only sits when you glass – then the BC is for you. Utilizing an inverted leg design the 27oz BC is the the strongest tripod in its class. Long gone are the days of...

tricer.com

 

[Maverick1]

For the past few years I’ve been using an Athlon Cronus 12-36x50 on a Vortex Summit tripod.

I bought the spotter because it was lightweight, compact and affordable. I bought the tripod, because I really didn’t know much about tripods and it seemed like a good deal and was lightweight.

This is a budget set up and I’ve found myself not using the spotter much or preferring to use my binos instead. Sometimes I don’t even put the spotter and tripod in my pack because I don’t feel like fooling with it. The adapter plate from the tripod to the spotter is finicky and rotating the head isn’t very smooth.

For a long time, I thought I was just impatient and didn’t like to look behind a spotting scope for a long time. However, after upgrading my binos recently, I’ve realized that glassing isn’t as dreadful as I once thought it is.

Now I’m thinking, that upgrading my spotter, tripod, and/or head may help me to actually enjoy glassing.

If you were in my shoes, which would you upgrade first, the spotting scope, the tripod, or the head? My budget for this year is about $1,000-$1,500 and I’m hoping I can find a Black Friday deal to help stretch what I can afford. I’ve noticed the Kowa 553 is 50% off which seems like a pretty good deal. However, I wonder if I should invest in a better tripod and head first, use the spotter I have for next season, and save up some more money and upgrade the spotter after next year

I’d suggest ditching the smaller spotting scope and trying binoculars on a tripod.

 

[nnmarcher]

Thank you for this link and the suggestion as I’m not an expert on tripods and just started researching them recently.

How does that Tricer BC tripod compare to the Aziak backcountry lite tripod? It appears that the Tricer (27 oz) is heavier than the Aziak (18.9 oz). It better to have a little heavier tripod for stability?

Backcountry Lite Tripod | Aziak Equipment

The Backcountry Lite Tripod is the quintessential alpine hunters tripod. After years of using sub-par and heavy photography tripods modified to our liking, we decided enough was enough and spec'd out a tripod made for light and fast adventures into the backcountry. Design Points: Weight is...

www.aziakequipment.com

Tricer-BC

The Tricer-BC is a ultralight backcountry hunters dream. If you are someone wants to save weight, have maximum stability, and only sits when you glass – then the BC is for you. Utilizing an inverted leg design the 27oz BC is the the strongest tripod in its class. Long gone are the days of...

tricer.com

I don't have experience with either tripod unfortunately, so I will let others with experience comment on the two. I've seen good reviews for both. I would guess that the Tricer's weight probably helps with better stability.

 

[Loper]

In normal mountain breezy conditions I’ve used a $100 well-used loaner scope not worth hunting with paired with a rock steady tripod and saw numerous hard to pick out animals just as well as my friend with a swaro spotter and cheap tripod. Of course his scope on a good tripod is ideal, but never underestimate how nice a steady image is.

Thanks. This is good to know. I definitely will be upgrading my tripod.

 

[Loper]

I’d suggest ditching the smaller spotting scope and trying binoculars on a tripod.

Are you suggesting I ditch my current spotting scope and use binos on the tripod, or ditch a small spotter all together? If the latter, can you provide some additional info why you suggest not having a small spotting scope? Thanks.

 

[Maverick1]

Are you suggesting I ditch my current spotting scope and use binos on the tripod, or ditch a small spotter all together? If the latter, can you provide some additional info why you suggest not having a small spotting scope? Thanks.

Ditch the small spotting scope setup all together. I use 10x42 and 12x50 binoculars on a tripod and find that setup to more effective and enjoyable than the two small spotting scopes I once owned (brand of small spotters is irrelevant, they were of medium and high quality; sold both.) Can use the small binos on a chest harness (or handhold) - while hunting - and on the tripod - while glassing. At longer distances, the small spotter was not giving me much more information than the binoculars were, and using just one eye at a time was a bit fatiguing. Found the binos to be more valuable, and less weight to carry around. (If you are counting rings on an animal, or breaking down the potential scope of a specific animal from a long distance, that might be a different story, but I was not - and will not - be doing those types of things from a distance.)

 

[Loper]

Ditch the small spotting scope setup all together. I use 10x42 and 12x50 binoculars on a tripod and find that setup to more effective and enjoyable than the two small spotting scopes I once owned (brand of small spotters is irrelevant, they were of medium and high quality; sold both.) Can use the small binos on a chest harness (or handhold) - while hunting - and on the tripod - while glassing. At longer distances, the small spotter was not giving me much more information than the binoculars were, and using just one eye at a time was a bit fatiguing. Found the binos to be more valuable, and less weight to carry around. (If you are counting rings on an animal, or breaking down the potential scope of a specific animal from a long distance, that might be a different story, but I was not - and will not - be doing those types of things from a distance.)

Not a terrible idea. Perhaps I’ll get a better, more stable tripod and use it with my existing spotter any binos and then determine if I want to keep the spotter, upgrade it, or get rid of the spotter all together.

 

[Maverick1]

Not a terrible idea. Perhaps I’ll get a better, more stable tripod and use it with my existing spotter any binos and then determine if I want to keep the spotter, upgrade it, or get rid of the spotter all together.

There’s been a couple of threads on this over the years. Here is one of them.

 

[Maverick1]

A couple of others:

https://rokslide.com/forums/threads/high-power-binos-vs-spotting-scope.149675/

 

[Maverick1]

Spotting Scope or High Power Bino?

If you guys had to choose, would you rather have a spotting scope or a high power (15x) binocular on a western hunt? Or even for scouting? What are you gaining and giving up choosing one over the other? Just curious about the pros and cons.

rokslide.com

 

[Maverick1]

Binos vs Spotting Scope

Hello all, I was hoping this thread answered the question, but not really since the OP already owned some really good Swarovski Binos I don't own binos or a spotting scope. I am hoping to not have to buy both. I will primarily use it to "spot" out to a maximum of 1100 yards. I have a...

rokslide.com

 

[Maverick1]

Binos or Spotter

Hey guys I work on a large farm and as I’m driving around I see deer coyotes ect. I carry my Vortex Diamond back 10x42 in my truck all the time but sometimes there’s hills 1 mile away I would like to glass without driving over there. Would a pair of 15 binos be better or a small spotter? I was...

rokslide.com

 

[Maverick1]

@Loper - some light reading above! Enjoy the journey! Good luck this season and next!

 

[Loper]

@Loper - some light reading above! Enjoy the journey! Good luck this season and next!

Thank you for this! It will help me get through Thanksgiving at my in-laws.

 

[NickyD]

What are you hunting for? Are you counting points? That could impact a suggestion. Definitely suggest a tripod/head upgrade but not sure if a spotter upgrade would be worth it. I haven’t used your tripod setup in particular but this year I made a major upgrade to my tripod setup and realized low quality tripods don’t even support binos well compared to good ones