New Binoculars, spotting scope, or both...

[iflyskyhigh]

Been in the process of upgrading glass for awhile now on my rifles, and starting to look at my other optics.

Committed to buying only quality optics going forward.

I have a Vortex Viper 65MM 15-40 angled spotter and a pair of Nikon Monarch 10X42's that I purchased in 2012 for my first elk hunt. They have served me well, but it's time to upgrade.

I haven't been hunting the past few years as much as I did back then, but this season of life too shall pass and plan to hunt again more in the coming years. All of my hunting is western states. I live in AZ, but will go to CO, and NM.

I'm currently doing a lot of long rang tactical shooting and would like to try a PRS, NRL match here in 2025.

Done the obligatory YouTube deep dive, but most people on there are trying to sell me something. Which is fine, but I'd like to hear from people who are using these items that they paid for with their own money and are using regularly.

So, recap. I"ll be using for long range PRS style rifle shooting, a little hunting now, and probably more hunting int he near future.

Do I still need binoculars and a spotting scope? Can I just get away with binoculars? What size? I know 10X42's are the standard for western hunting, but is there a better option with the increase in technology over the past decade and a half?

If you do both what size binoculars and what size spotting scope?

I understand a lot of it is personal preference, just wondering why you prefer what you prefer?

I'm looking at Swarovski and Kowa.

Appreciate the input

 

[hereinaz]

Start with a pair of 15x55 SLC or 12x50 EL. Almost every one I know that glasses here in AZ runs them on their tripods, or now the NL Pure 12 or 14. Alternatives I have seen personally are Leica, Vortex Razor UHD. They are very serviceable.

Both these pics are from archery deer with used 15x56 SLC picked up last fall before season.

You can find lots of used glass on a local forum, coueswhitetail.com and look through them before you buy. It’s better to buy a used Swaro than new Vortex for $1500. Prices are good cause people are upgrading.

Also, if you have limited budget, buying used Vortex is the best way into good glass. Either the Razor 12 or 18 UHD will work great. You can also sell later and break even.

Spotters get used to identify size of game, but I hardly use one. They are nice for filming. The Kowa Prominar Flourite lenses are Swaro level and tend to be lighter.

If you don’t spend the money on spotters, they become unusable in the mirage. A cheap spotter is a paperweight. They are serviceable, and I picked up a used Vortex HD spotter tonight for $450 bucks, but I wouldn’t spend more than that. I just wanted something useful at the range out to 1000 yards.

Glassing for game or watching for prolonged periods of time sucks with one eye, unless you are a pirate. Two eyes are better for spotting movement and depth of field, which is important for finding parts of deer.

If you had to spend $3000 on glass, I personally would buy the 14 NL Pure before I bought even a nice bino and spotter.

PM, we can meet up and play with binos, shoot guns, and talk hunting.

I would suggest you try the local one day PRS matches. They are cheaper and quicker to come to speed. I can talk more about that too.

Glassing 20 minutes before sunrise until 2:00 is normal. Get a quick nap and start up at 3:30 until dark. That’s why two eyes with binos is the way to go. On Friday, my buddy glassed for javelina for hours until I finally killed one at 1:30.

 

[Scoutfan]

I don't think anything will compare to a set of 10,12,or 14 power nl pures for glassing. I recently got a pair of revics. I would say glass quality is about half way between my old Nikon monarchs and the nl pure. I get some eye strain if glassing for to long. My budget just couldn't justify paying about double for the Leica ab+ or Zeiss. My choice for hunting was to pair them with a Swaroski atc.
My biggest reason for the compact spotter was to see more detail on individual animals at distance, otherwise I would have gone with 10x revics and 14x nl pures. Hopefully I can add the pures next year.
I would take hereinaz up on his offer and glass through everything I could. He spends way more time behind glass than I do.

 

[iflyskyhigh]

Start with a pair of 15x55 SLC or 12x50 EL. Almost every one I know that glasses here in AZ runs them on their tripods, or now the NL Pure 12 or 14. Alternatives I have seen personally are Leica, Vortex Razor UHD. They are very serviceable.

Both these pics are from archery deer with used 15x56 SLC picked up last fall before season.

You can find lots of used glass on a local forum, coueswhitetail.com and look through them before you buy. It’s better to buy a used Swaro than new Vortex for $1500. Prices are good cause people are upgrading.

Also, if you have limited budget, buying used Vortex is the best way into good glass. Either the Razor 12 or 18 UHD will work great. You can also sell later and break even.

Spotters get used to identify size of game, but I hardly use one. They are nice for filming. The Kowa Prominar Flourite lenses are Swaro level and tend to be lighter.

If you don’t spend the money on spotters, they become unusable in the mirage. A cheap spotter is a paperweight. They are serviceable, and I picked up a used Vortex HD spotter tonight for $450 bucks, but I wouldn’t spend more than that. I just wanted something useful at the range out to 1000 yards.

Glassing for game or watching for prolonged periods of time sucks with one eye, unless you are a pirate. Two eyes are better for spotting movement and depth of field, which is important for finding parts of deer.

If you had to spend $3000 on glass, I personally would buy the 14 NL Pure before I bought even a nice bino and spotter.

PM, we can meet up and play with binos, shoot guns, and talk hunting.

I would suggest you try the local one day PRS matches. They are cheaper and quicker to come to speed. I can talk more about that too.

Glassing 20 minutes before sunrise until 2:00 is normal. Get a quick nap and start up at 3:30 until dark. That’s why two eyes with binos is the way to go. On Friday, my buddy glassed for javelina for hours until I finally killed one at 1:30.

Great info! Thank you.

Gonna try and take it one piece at a time and ask some follow up.

I can start by saying there will be no more Vortex in my life. At least not in this arena. I appreciate it for what it is still and still own many vortex products, but for rifle scopes, binoculars, and spotters I'm at a point in my life where I can afford better quality glass. I intend to buy once cry once going forward.

It's funny. When I started accumulating all my "stuff" back in the early 2000's, I bought the most "expensive" cheap stuff I could afford. News flash. I was broke and couldn't afford the cheap stuff any more than I could have afford the expensive stuff. Since I was too broke to be buying anything, If I'd just splurged and bought the nice stuff back then that I couldn't afford, 20+ years on everything would have worked out fine, and I'd be so much further ahead now. Anyway.

The Swaro 12X50's along with the 10X42's were one of the pair I was looking at. Hadn't looked at the 15X55's but I will.

Think I have a pretty good hold on when to use which optic and why. Completely get the 1 eye vs 2 debate now. Wish I would have thought of that back in the day. Spent way to much time looking through a crappy spotting scope.

I'm also inline with the school of thought on straight vs angled spotter. If I do get another spotter it will be straight.The not changing position argument just makes more sense to me.

I think what you're telling me is that you can get away with just bino's? If you're just going to get one thing get a good set of binoculars?

The 12X50's or 15X55's will get the job done whether it's glassing up animals or spotting hits and misses on steel out ot 1100ish yards?

Binoculars with that magnification are too big to handhold I'd assume? Are there hunting situations where that's gonna be a hinderance?

I'd love to meet up and look at a bunch of stuff before I buy something.

I don't have access to PM's yet. Been on here for years, but never had the occasion to post anything. I may just pay for the access to PM's and classifieds. I've been perusing the snipers hide, and I'll check out cousewhitetail. I'm on there as well, but haven't been on much in the past couple years.

 

[iflyskyhigh]

I don't think anything will compare to a set of 10,12,or 14 power nl pures for glassing. I recently got a pair of revics. I would say glass quality is about half way between my old Nikon monarchs and the nl pure. I get some eye strain if glassing for to long. My budget just couldn't justify paying about double for the Leica ab+ or Zeiss. My choice for hunting was to pair them with a Swaroski atc.
My biggest reason for the compact spotter was to see more detail on individual animals at distance, otherwise I would have gone with 10x revics and 14x nl pures. Hopefully I can add the pures next year.
I would take hereinaz up on his offer and glass through everything I could. He spends way more time behind glass than I do.

Sorry, little confused by what you're telling me. So you went with the Revic binoculars because the other's were cost prohibitive?

You wanted 2 pair of binoculars, but for now just bought the Revic's? Or you bought the Revic's now and plan on purchasing the NL Pures down the road?

You mention "pairing with a Swarovski" and a compact spotting scope, but I didn't see where you mention which one. So you purchased the Revic's and a Swarovski compact spotter?

Or it was you wanted a pair of the NL Pures, and a compact spotter, but for now you just went with the Revic's?

I've seen the Revic name but not familiar. They sell scopes with range finding? Right? Gunwerks sells or is associated with them?

I'm pretty set on Swarovski's for bino's. And if I do end up with a spotter it seems Kowa might be the choice. I really like the dual focus knobs on my Vortex and I know know the Kowa's have that as well.

Thanks for the time. Appreciate it.

 

[hereinaz]

Great info! Thank you.

Gonna try and take it one piece at a time and ask some follow up.

I can start by saying there will be no more Vortex in my life. At least not in this arena. I appreciate it for what it is still and still own many vortex products, but for rifle scopes, binoculars, and spotters I'm at a point in my life where I can afford better quality glass. I intend to buy once cry once going forward.

It's funny. When I started accumulating all my "stuff" back in the early 2000's, I bought the most "expensive" cheap stuff I could afford. News flash. I was broke and couldn't afford the cheap stuff any more than I could have afford the expensive stuff. Since I was too broke to be buying anything, If I'd just splurged and bought the nice stuff back then that I couldn't afford, 20+ years on everything would have worked out fine, and I'd be so much further ahead now. Anyway.

The Swaro 12X50's along with the 10X42's were one of the pair I was looking at. Hadn't looked at the 15X55's but I will.

Think I have a pretty good hold on when to use which optic and why. Completely get the 1 eye vs 2 debate now. Wish I would have thought of that back in the day. Spent way to much time looking through a crappy spotting scope.

I'm also inline with the school of thought on straight vs angled spotter. If I do get another spotter it will be straight.The not changing position argument just makes more sense to me.

I think what you're telling me is that you can get away with just bino's? If you're just going to get one thing get a good set of binoculars?

The 12X50's or 15X55's will get the job done whether it's glassing up animals or spotting hits and misses on steel out ot 1100ish yards?

Binoculars with that magnification are too big to handhold I'd assume? Are there hunting situations where that's gonna be a hinderance?

I'd love to meet up and look at a bunch of stuff before I buy something.

I don't have access to PM's yet. Been on here for years, but never had the occasion to post anything. I may just pay for the access to PM's and classifieds. I've been perusing the snipers hide, and I'll check out cousewhitetail. I'm on there as well, but haven't been on much in the past couple years.

Just make the posts and get access…

Anyhow, other guys and I wear some 10x on our chest for quick scanning with the field of view. For me an 10x32 sig rangefinder bino works.

Otherwise I glass off a tripod with my 15s. Tripod is key for anyone I hunt with.

It is quick to set up an a million times more effective off a tripod. It takes seconds to take off my pack and be glassing. I often leave glass on my tripod and strap it to my pack. Deploy the legs and pull the cover and I am in business.

We made an awesome case to make it quick and protect the glass the way we glass and move. https://www.lswild.com/store/p115/15_x_56_Optic_Armor.html

Many glass snob guys wear 10x42 EL or similar on the chest for quick glassing and a separate small rangefinder.

The Swaro 10x EL Range works for some, but their rangefinder is not as good as it should be. Swaro released the 12x EL Range which would be a one bino solution for me, but the rangefinder…

Some choose clarity over magnification with 12 EL over the 15 SLC. The weight savings works to then carry a baby spotter.

Many times we will pack into a glassing knob for the day, so weight isn’t a big deal. If I had to pick a combo, it would be the 14s and the new Kowa 66a as my ideal set.

We can glass deer very, very far away and tell they are bucks, but don’t know the size. Someone I am with usually has a spotter. That’s when it gets pulled out. But, mirage can make it impossible at times on Coues bucks. I am not a point counter, I just like to hunt and get a good buck/bull.

An extreme alternative is to build a set of big eyes with dual baby spotters or get the Swaro with BTX if you are a hardcore Coues hunter. The BTX eyepiece makes the spotters something to glass behind for a long time.

The 14 NL Pures with the clarity, magnification, and field of view are near perfect for the glassing we do in AZ and SW Colorado hunts. I may just sell even more personal stuff to have one perfect set up with the 14s. Already liquidated lots of rifles and shotguns to upgrade other pieces of kit.

If you have the money, you should be looking at the 14 NL Pures, and Kowa’s Prominar or Swaro Spotter in 65/66. You can bump up the spotter if you want mag and don’t mind the extra weight. If weight is an issue, I really like Kowa’s 554.

Figure out what you want to carry on your chest for a rangefinder and 10x.

 

[jimh406]

If money is no object, update both to the most expensive alpha brands. But, I think the biggest bang for hunting is binoculars, and biggest for long range shooting is probably spotting scope. Occasionally, the best glass out there is demo or used which reduces the price a bit. Of course, it would be several thousand dollars to update both.

I went from Nikon Monarch 7 10x42s to Tract Toric 10x42s with Schott glass. The difference is significant, but they are about 1/3-1/5 the cost of alpha glass still.

Tract also makes spotting scopes with good glass. They sell direct which radically reduces their price, and that's a big difference in price. But if money is no object or you want to make sure you buy the "best", you'll have to spend several times as much.

If you are interested in an intermediate step, I'd consider Toric brand. I have 10x42, 12x50, and 15x56. They are quite a lot different. I find the 12x50s the most universal. I got the 15x56 on ebay at a reduced price. The 10x42s are obviously a lot lighter/smaller. My 12x50s or 15x56s can't replace my spotting scopes.

 

[hereinaz]

Forgot to mention that 12s to 15s were common for spotting at matches when I went. Almost never saw spotting scopes.

NRL hunter, it’s 10x binos with rangefinder and ballistics.

 

[Thinkingman]

High powered binos aren't too big to hold, their extreme magnification makes them impossible to hold steady.
You will need a tripod.