New Binoculars, spotting scope, or both...

[iflyskyhigh]

I'm in the same boat. Just starting to research a good spotter for myself. Buy new or trust used from a respected brand?? That's what I'm looking into.

And in reference to the spotter. I've only spent a little time behind my new Kowa, but the general consensus is that it's one of, if not the best one out there. And so far I'd have to agree. I can't imagine anything else being much better.

 

[ThatsBishop]

I feel like I took my time and made the best decision I could with the available information I had. I looked at, and put my hands on as many of the available options as I could. I shopped around and found what I believe to be very good deals on the optics I decided I wanted. In the end I'll just have to get out there and put them into action and see if they work for me the way I envisioned them working.

I enjoyed following the thread through your process. It helped me with some of my thought processes as well. My next journey will be a spotter. I picked up a gen1 Razor HD for 400 to see if I use a spotter much in my new set up. If I do will be looking to up grade.

 

[iflyskyhigh]

Score!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Del Gue's Mustache]

Seems like Sig is kinda crushing it right meow? I was looking at some of the Revic stuff, but I see a lot of the same complaints with reliability and customer service that I see with the Vectronix stuff. Not quite to the same extent as Vectronix, but in proportionality to their share of the market seems high.

Sig’s move to cover not only the glass but electronics with the Vortex-esqe lifetime no questions asked warranty makes purchasing an expensive temperamental electronic device easier for me.

I haven't seen the QC/CS reports of Vectronix, what have you heard? Is the warranty process a pain because the company is international?

 

[cafemike]

I know you mentioned you were looking to move past Vortex.
However, there is something to be said for the Vortex UHD 18x56 if you are looking at high power binos.
They are alpha and top notch in optic and build quality and have a 3x magnification bump over other 15's.
I'm a big fan of the Japanese made Vortex UHD - it is really good regardless of price.

 

[iflyskyhigh]

I haven't seen the QC/CS reports of Vectronix, what have you heard? Is the warranty process a pain because the company is international?

I've just heard horror stories about the original Vectronix Terrapin Rangefinders. Or I should say read about issues.

I take everything on the internet with a grain of salt, but there a lot of accounts, and all seem to concur.

The Terrapin's fail in one form or fashion, and the end user can't get Vectonrix to do anything about it. Can't even get then to respond.

I guess Eurooptic is the point of contact on the Vector X which is probably a little more reassuring. But still, same company at the end of the day.

If it were me I'd probably wait awhile until people get some field time on them and see how they hold up in real world use. And when, not if, when they have issues how they get resolved. Hard use electro optics are going to have issues. No matter who the producer is. The scale on which it happens and how the issues are resolved is what matters.

They'll probably be great. But I'm not in a rush to be a beta tester.

 

[4863nick]

I'm in the same boat as you. I'm going to spend the money to upgrade glass here in the next few months and have been going back and forth. Most of my time will be glassing 400-2k yards or so. I'm pretty well set on NL14's and an STC. Planning to dual mount them coaligned on a rail so I can easily move back and forth between the two. Currently using 12x50 UHD's and they've been great. As far as FOV goes, I've never felt handicapped by them BUT, the NL14's have nearly the same FOV, so I think that + the extra bit of magnification is only a win. I have some cheaper 10x42's I'll keep for when distances are short and glass quality isn't as important.

Agreed 100%

 

[4863nick]

I know you mentioned you were looking to move past Vortex.
However, there is something to be said for the Vortex UHD 18x56 if you are looking at high power binos.
They are alpha and top notch in optic and build quality and have a 3x magnification bump over other 15's.
I'm a big fan of the Japanese made Vortex UHD - it is really good regardless of price.

UHD is much better than new HD. The Japanese HD of old served me very well, however, the newer HD builds were very disappointing. NL 14 has been a great upgrade

 

[iflyskyhigh]

Unfortunately I don’t have “hunting use” updates. But I have had the opportunity to use the Kowa spotting scope and Swarovski binos for lots of just messing around and long range shooting. And I mean long range shooting.

My buddy who builds customs rifles is looking to compete in the King of 1 Miles and has build several rifles for the endeavor including a 30 XC.

We went out to the far west side of Phoenix last week and shot out to about 2100 yards.

It’s insane how good that TSN-66 is. I mean crystal clear at 60X and 2000+ yards. I can’t say there is no degradation of image at 60X, but it’s so minimal. And it’s just that it’s a tiny tiny bit darker. That’s it. I mean in full daylight it’s almost imperceptible if you aren’t looking for it. And if you back it out just the tiniest bit it goes away.

We had steel targets set up, but were also breaking rocks. The Swaro’s were great for finding the intended target rocks and then switching to the Kowa to call the shots.

Can’t remember if I said it or not, but decided to go with the Sig 8K for the rangefinder. Also very happy with it. The feature where it pairs to the Krestrel is awesome. Love getting range and weather/dope in the push of one button without having to look at multiple devices. Now that I’ve used it a lot I can see the benefit of having the rangefinder built into the binos. But if I went that route I’d want the Vectronix or Sig 10K. And I just don’t think I want those for hunting. And I don’t think I wan’t multiple 10X $2K+ pairs of binos. Maybe I’ll go 12x or 14x on the NL’s at some point and do a pair of the 10x rangefinders?
Really happy with the optics package as a whole. Can’t wait to get drawn and take it hunting. If ever…

I guess nothing is stopping me from just going out and glassing for fun in the meantime…except time.

Also shout out to @hereinaz. Great guy. Been really helpful. Helped me finalize my “hunting” tripod decision yesterday. His company LS Wild also makes some cool light weight hunting stuff. I will be getting one of his suppressor covers for my hunting can.

 

[iflyskyhigh]

Also looking for a new chest mounted bino rig. I have one of the old Badlands rigs (it’s magnetic), but I’m not crazy about it.

@Jake Larsen and I had a discussion going about it, and I think he recommended one, but I can’t find out text thread.

I’m sure it’s been discussed ad nauseam here, I’ll go search it out, but if you happen by here and have some thoughts let me know.

 

[Jake Larsen]

Masupial gear, the new version non-magnetic. Takes a little use to break it in, but it’s money. Very fast, one hand operation, quiet, fully enclosed protection.

I think we had that conversation on the phone, which is probably why you can’t find it haha

New No-Mag Enclosed Binocular Pack

The New No-Mag Bino Pack is thoughtfully designed as an alternative to our best-selling Enclosed Bino Pack. This specialized pack is carefully crafted to meet the unique preferences and needs of hunters who prefer gear without magnets. The No Mag is self-contained, eliminating any external...

www.marsupialgear.com

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[elsb0048]

This is a great thread and figured I'd try to tap into the group knowledge as well!

Seeing a lot of laments about rangefinder quality in the swaro EL's (and to lesser extent zeiss/leica)

Are there particular distances or conditions that this is more problematic?

Is it more about the quality of ballistic solution and/or app UI or is it the distance the laser will range as well?

I've been wishing for a quality 8x rangefinding bino for a while but maybe I should just stick with separate units?

 

[iflyskyhigh]

Masupial gear, the new version non-magnetic. Takes a little use to break it in, but it’s money. Very fast, one hand operation, quiet, fully enclosed protection.

I think we had that conversation on the phone, which is probably why you can’t find it haha

New No-Mag Enclosed Binocular Pack

The New No-Mag Bino Pack is thoughtfully designed as an alternative to our best-selling Enclosed Bino Pack. This specialized pack is carefully crafted to meet the unique preferences and needs of hunters who prefer gear without magnets. The No Mag is self-contained, eliminating any external...

www.marsupialgear.com

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Yes! That's it. Thanks Jake.

Yea, we talked several times, but I swear we had a text thread going too? Maybe I'm just getting old. No, I'm sure we did cause we were talking about iPhone mounting options for the Kowa as well and you had sent me a couple links. I had our thread saved, but it's gone now and the option to recover text threads on the iPhone is gone!

 

[Q_Sertorius]

This is a great thread and figured I'd try to tap into the group knowledge as well!

Seeing a lot of laments about rangefinder quality in the swaro EL's (and to lesser extent zeiss/leica)

Are there particular distances or conditions that this is more problematic?

Is it more about the quality of ballistic solution and/or app UI or is it the distance the laser will range as well?

I've been wishing for a quality 8x rangefinding bino for a while but maybe I should just stick with separate units?

I really like the Leica Geovid R 10x42 binoculars. I haven’t have any issues with laser quality. They are a bit heavier than a light pair of binoculars and a little RF, but the functionality is far better.

 

[iflyskyhigh]

This is a great thread and figured I'd try to tap into the group knowledge as well!

Seeing a lot of laments about rangefinder quality in the swaro EL's (and to lesser extent zeiss/leica)

Are there particular distances or conditions that this is more problematic?

Is it more about the quality of ballistic solution and/or app UI or is it the distance the laser will range as well?

I've been wishing for a quality 8x rangefinding bino for a while but maybe I should just stick with separate units?

I looked at the Swaro and Leica range finding bino's but wasn't impressed.

Glass was of course the best, but just not that impressed with the range finding integration. And I'm not talking about the usability, I didn't really get to test it at range much, I'm speaking more to the interface. Maybe if they were just for hunting?

Sig Kilo 10K were really good. Haven't had a chance to look through Vectronix, but everyone says the glass is close to the Swaro and Leica, and rangefinder is top notch.

Rangefinder data from the manufacturer, as I'm sure you are aware, should be taken with a grain of salt. I've easily ranged objects at 3K-4K+ yards...if the object is reflective and the conditions are right. It's fast and works as good or better than anything else I've tried. But out here in the desert in the direct sunlight it can be a real challenger to range anything. At any distance. There are times here when the environmental basically render the range finder useless. It's frustrating.

The guy I bought my Sig Kilo 8K from was selling it because he got a pair of the Swaro EL Range 10X. And he was really happy with them. I think he was up in Idaho? And he was using them for PRS style shooting.

 

[iflyskyhigh]

I really like the Leica Geovid R 10x42 binoculars. I haven’t have any issues with laser quality. They are a bit heavier than a light pair of binoculars and a little RF, but the functionality is far better.

Sorry I'm a little slow on the uptake, what is "a little RF"?

 

[Q_Sertorius]

Sorry I'm a little slow on the uptake, what is "a little RF"?

A light, handheld range finder like the Leupold 1400 or similar.

 

[iflyskyhigh]

A light, handheld range finder like the Leupold 1400 or similar.

Duh. Still learning to read.

 

[Q_Sertorius]

Duh. Still learning to read.

It happens to the best of us.

This past year, to test out what I preferred, I sometimes carried a set of SWFA 12x binoculars and my Leupold 1400s. I really liked the SWFA 12x a lot better than the cheap old 7x or 8x binoculars I used to carry. If I recall correctly, they weigh about 24 ounces. Together, they weighed less than the Leicas (which are 2.5 pounds), but the Leicas are far easier to use.