Image stabilizing/no tripod or tripod and big alpha-ish bino combo

[lefthandedasian]

I've been toying with the idea of getting some image stabilizing binos in lieu of my current tripod and maven 18x56 combo for backpacking. I'm not a huge fan of looking through spotters and at least one guy in our group has one which is why I opted to go with big binos.

Does the glass quality matter that much that it offsets the weight penalty enough to where you'll find more game and have less eye strain with the better glass? Or are the image stabilizing binos close enough in glass quality that shedding the weight of the tripod would be more beneficial?

Obviously this is person and place dependant, but I'd love to hear people's experiences with both and whether or not the image quality outweighs (pun in tended) the weight penalty of the combo.

For reference, I've only been hunting for a little over 4 years so my field experience is still pretty minimal compared to most. I live and hunt in the PNW where we do the high buck hunt and our group usually tries for one out of state hunt per season in the neighboring Idaho, Montana, Wyoming areas where we usually backpack in a few miles.

Thanks in advance

 

[hereinaz]

The IS binos are not clear enough for hunting and glassing I do in AZ and other places where we are looking for parts of deer/game.

I liked them, but they just didn’t do it for me. I would carry a pair in AK hunting caribou though.

 

[Marshfly]

I agree with hereinaz. I just bought a pair of 16x42. They are going to be awesome for elk, antelope, and bear. Not so much for deer, especially finding bedded deer.

For antelope and elk the best use will be are they there, is there a bull/buck there, is that bull/buck one I want to go after. Bears stand out so that is what it is. Overall they will be a great addition to my optics arsenal but won't replace anything. They will save a lot of time over pulling out a spotter or dropping the binos on a tripod for a closer look though.

 

[hereinaz]

I agree with hereinaz. I just bought a pair of 16x42. They are going to be awesome for elk, antelope, and bear. Not so much for deer, especially finding bedded deer.

For antelope and elk the best use will be are they there, is there a bull/buck there, is that bull/buck one I want to go after. Bears stand out so that is what it is. Overall they will be a great addition to my optics arsenal but won't replace anything. They will save a lot of time over pulling out a spotter or dropping the binos on a tripod for a closer look though.

That’s the use case… quick scan when you are looking for whole animals while packing/hiking.

I don’t think they replace excellent binos you plop down and glass off a tripod.

And, I still want 14/15x binos on a tripod for elk in AZ and CO. Might be different elsewhere.

 

[lefthandedasian]

Thank you guys for the insight. Sounds like I'll just stick with my current setup. I can't justify spending the money for a set of IS binos in addition to what I currently have. The new gadgets always have me rethinking my kit, but sometimes sticking with the tried and true might be my best option ha.

 

[MtnsWinAgain]

I think everyone has a good point on IS being animal and hunt specific. I think if you haven’t looked through some sig zulus, it will be eye opening. I run the 12x42s and they are amazing. They have a double stabilization mode that I now use all the time, and though I rigged a connector to my tripod, I found it just as effective to lay back on the pack and glass. We mainly hunt elk, mulies, whiteys and antelope. Bow season is long distance open country glassing for most hours of the day. Also run a kowa 66 to zoom in. Way less eye fatigue with IS glass. My buddy used to run swaro nl pure 10x42 on a tripod, and sold them once trying IS glass. May sound weird, but 12x42s IS in the chest pack with high powered 18s on a tripod could be a sweet combo. Spotter if you’re counting inches, points, or verifying brow tines for long distance rifle.

 

[KevinInID]

I find long glassing sessions for me require a tripod. I can't hold IS binos very long, arms and hands fatigue. So if I'm going to carry a tripod for long glassing sessions, might as well bring the alpha glass. Also, my 10x IS field of view is much smaller than the 10x NL's.

That said, I like the IS for when I am hunting on the move and not expecting long glassing sessions.

 

[SquirrelyDan]

I agree with the concensus of this being a use case scenario. I only bowhunt hunt pigs and axis deer, which doesn’t require too much glass. I sold a pair NL’s for the 1st gen Sig’s and wouldn’t go back. Have you looked through a set of IS binos?

 

[lefthandedasian]

I agree with the concensus of this being a use case scenario. I only bowhunt hunt pigs and axis deer, which doesn’t require too much glass. I sold a pair NL’s for the 1st gen Sig’s and wouldn’t go back. Have you looked through a set of IS binos?

A buddy let me look through some at our local range. It's only 100 yards so I wasn't able to check them out at any real distance, but holy moly were they cool.

The points y'all have brought up so far helps me decide just based on my hunting style. I mostly backpack into places and sit and glass off my tripod so my use case scenario I think lends itself better to a tripod and alpha glass. I'm worried eye fatigue from the not so stellar glass and arm fatigue from holding them for long glassing sessions will eventually wear on me. Replacing my 18x and tripod might not be the way to go but a set of chest IS bino paired with the 18x tripod actually might be a great idea.

This off-season though I opted to delete my handheld range finder and invest in a set of range finding binos to help drop weight and speed up the find/range/shoot process. I gotta give this setup a season before I decide to try IS binos on the chest or not lol. For sure IS binos are on my radar to purchase one day when funds are available, but like others said it'll have to be in addition-to my tripod setup.

 

[Time2fish]

I don’t enjoy looking thru a spotter so I decided to run a decent pair of 8x42 on my chest, and the newer hdx pro 16x50 in the pack. No tripod at all. I’m trying to force myself to do all my rifle hunts this year with that setup to save weight. I used if for a mountain WT hunt last November and my spring bear hunt. liked it a lot. Spotted lots of game leaning back on my pack with the 16’s. Very mobile without the tripod. I can look 360 degrees if my spot allows all while being comfortable. That being said, I’m not counting antlers, just looking for reps since I too am fairly new to big game hunting. Most zones I hunt I’m not glassing much further than a mile maybe a bit further.
That being said, a solid tripod and a pair of 15’s or 18’s is a fun way to glass.
T2F

 

[Marshfly]

Got a chance to use the HDX 16x42 on a bear hunt the last few days. I'm really impressed. Still pretty disappointed at the image quality being used to Swaro Els and a Kowa 77 spotter but being able to offhand glass at distance is amazing. I was able to easily glass up deer bedded in the trees at a mile handheld. Not doing that with any normal binos not on a tripod. Driving the roads and quickly glassing timber cuts...wow. Game changer.
The narrow FOV is kind of annoying as you get closer and I found myself wishing I had the Swaros for quick ,what is that, looks closer in.

I do have to twist in the eye cups to get them to fit in my Kuiu Pro harness. That's a PITA.

As said above, they do get tiring to hold on longer sessions and I find myself putting them down way more than I would if they were on a tripod. Overall, I continue to think they are phenomenal for a lot of scenarios but definitely don't replace anything everywhere.

I really don't know what I'm going to carry this fall for my archery elk hunt. Probably go back and forth depending on the day. Rifle elk, stabilized, hands down.

 

[lefthandedasian]

I don’t enjoy looking thru a spotter so I decided to run a decent pair of 8x42 on my chest, and the newer hdx pro 16x50 in the pack. No tripod at all. I’m trying to force myself to do all my rifle hunts this year with that setup to save weight. I used if for a mountain WT hunt last November and my spring bear hunt. liked it a lot. Spotted lots of game leaning back on my pack with the 16’s. Very mobile without the tripod. I can look 360 degrees if my spot allows all while being comfortable. That being said, I’m not counting antlers, just looking for reps since I too am fairly new to big game hunting. Most zones I hunt I’m not glassing much further than a mile maybe a bit further.
That being said, a solid tripod and a pair of 15’s or 18’s is a fun way to glass.
T2F

This is exactly what I was hoping my setup would look like too and I'm glad to hear you are having good results! I'm also not counting antlers and would be just looking for something legal. What kind of terrain are you hunting in? I find myself shooting off my tripod due to the brush I've encountered so far and the shooting angles I could experience. I don't know if I mentioned that earlier but the tripod is a dual purpose item that I don't know if I would compromise on yet.

A few buddies and I have some plans to hit the mountains for an extended weekend and do some longer range shooting and practice field positions and shooting off a pack or bipod etc. I'm hoping after a little more field experience I'll be proficient enough to leave my safety blanket (tripod) at home

 

[lefthandedasian]

Got a chance to use the HDX 16x42 on a bear hunt the last few days. I'm really impressed. Still pretty disappointed at the image quality being used to Swaro Els and a Kowa 77 spotter but being able to offhand glass at distance is amazing. I was able to easily glass up deer bedded in the trees at a mile handheld. Not doing that with any normal binos not on a tripod. Driving the roads and quickly glassing timber cuts...wow. Game changer.
The narrow FOV is kind of annoying as you get closer and I found myself wishing I had the Swaros for quick ,what is that, looks closer in.

I do have to twist in the eye cups to get them to fit in my Kuiu Pro harness. That's a PITA.

As said above, they do get tiring to hold on longer sessions and I find myself putting them down way more than I would if they were on a tripod. Overall, I continue to think they are phenomenal for a lot of scenarios but definitely don't replace anything everywhere.

I really don't know what I'm going to carry this fall for my archery elk hunt. Probably go back and forth depending on the day. Rifle elk, stabilized, hands down.

Were you using the 16x exclusively for the bear hunt or were you running some 8x or 10x when glassing closer? I found my 10x we're still too zoomed in for me personally at ranges between 200 and 500. I could only imagine how annoyed 16x would be for me at those distances lol

 

[Time2fish]

This is exactly what I was hoping my setup would look like too and I'm glad to hear you are having good results! I'm also not counting antlers and would be just looking for something legal. What kind of terrain are you hunting in? I find myself shooting off my tripod due to the brush I've encountered so far and the shooting angles I could experience. I don't know if I mentioned that earlier but the tripod is a dual purpose item that I don't know if I would compromise on yet.

A few buddies and I have some plans to hit the mountains for an extended weekend and do some longer range shooting and practice field positions and shooting off a pack or bipod etc. I'm hoping after a little more field experience I'll be proficient enough to leave my safety blanket (tripod) at home

Rifle hunting I prefer to hunt mixed terrain, with open pockets, or timber I can glass into. Generally looking for medium sized basins, places I can glass but still cut the distance too in under 2 hours. I also hunt western clear cuts, but have yet to have success on Blacktails. I will be hopefully headed back to Colorado this November, which is a bit more open.
I like to shoot of a tripod, but about half the time or more when an animal I want to shoot is present, it’s go time. I personally can’t fiddle with three legs, and the noise of arca attachment. I am super slow at setting up though.
I practice more off of logs, stumps, trekking poles, and my pack, for spotting impact or animal reaction.
I don’t shoot past 350yrds, which means I usually have to be quiet and not freak out.
If you have trekking poles then that’s something to practice to get you above the brush.
Haven’t missed the tripod yet, and enjoy the weight savings/extra shit in my bag.
That being said I did by the Aziak tripod mount for the Zulu pros and it’s pretty cool. I will still be using the tripod for scouting this year.
T2F

 

[Marshfly]

Were you using the 16x exclusively for the bear hunt or were you running some 8x or 10x when glassing closer? I found my 10x we're still too zoomed in for me personally at ranges between 200 and 500. I could only imagine how annoyed 16x would be for me at those distances lol

My Swaro EL 10x42s are currently at Swaro getting some work done. Actually got the shipping confirmation back to me Friday. I normally have zero issues using those at the distances you state and also love using them in deep timber. But, no. I didn't have them. I could have brought my wife's binos but really wanted to give the Sigs a good workout this trip so find the shortfalls and find out where they shined. I have a set of Kowa 6.5x32 BDII that I use for turkey that I never pulled out of the glovebox.

If you are looking to add the Sig's to your mix, a great companion would probably be the Swaro EL 8.5x42s. I will probably buy a set of those to compare to my 10x set at some point.