Spotter?

[Brandon Pattison]

I've never owned one. I bought my son one at Menards for $30 and its a pos. My question is what is the minimum grade worth hauling in say a Vortex or better and what's a fair price?

 

[pyroducksx3]

Depends a lot on what you are using it for. The Minox md50 is great if all you need is 30x but without knowing your expectations of the spotter its hard to say

 

[Muledeernv]

Depends on the terrain that you will be hunting. A lot of tree and no vantage points and if you are not to concerned about how how many inches or how old the animal is then binos are fine. If the is a lot of open areas and you can glass a long ways off then spotter is the way to go. As to price that really depends on you but always get the best glass that you can afford. There are a lot of good spotters out there vortex is a good place to start,price is up to you and how often you are going to use it. Pm Paul aka elknut he has really good deals on vortex products. If you decide after using the spotter that you don't need you can usually resell for close to original price on quality glass. My 2 cents. Hope this helps.

 

[16Bore]

I picked up a Vortex Nomad for a little bit of nothing last year. Its not bad for under $300. Wouldn't make me cry if it got dropped like a Zeiss would.

 

[Brandon Pattison]

All i care about right now is if a bull elk is legal or not.

 

[5MilesBack]

All i care about right now is if a bull elk is legal or not.

Binos should be able to tell you that. Define "legal".

In over 30 years of elk hunting I have never even once taken a spotter while hunting them. Scouting yes, but never hunting. Maybe if I was chasing a monster in a wide-open terrain trophy unit.

 

[Brandon Pattison]

Good enough for me!

 

[slim9300]

Binos should be able to tell you that. Define "legal".

In over 30 years of elk hunting I have never even once taken a spotter while hunting them. Scouting yes, but never hunting. Maybe if I was chasing a monster in a wide-open terrain trophy unit.

Agreed. If I ever draw a sheep, goat or trophy mule deer tag, I may consider hunting with a spotter. When I do draw a tag I will be buying a 60mm Razor HD. I currently own a Nikon Prostaff. It's a piece of crap and I wouldn't recommend buying one. It's like looking through a coke bottle.

 

[bobhunts]

Look at one of the older Vortex Scopes or a newer Vanguard. I do not have one of the Vanguard scopes but guys keep posting good results with them for the money.My first Spotter was a Vortex and it is pretty darn good for the money. I have since upgraded to a Meopta. Bob.

 

[ScottR_EHJ]

i bring my spotter with me on every trip.

 

[MuleyFever]

Had a 60mm Nikon and rarely took it out. I took it with a few times but not worth the bulk and weight to me. I took it scouting but not hunting. I don't need to know what an animal scores to know if I want to go after it. I have been able to know what I need to know with binos. That said I did sell the Nikon and buy a 50mm Vortex to try. I will see if the smaller scope is worth carrying.

 

[flatlander51]

I like the Leupold gold ring for a small compact spotter. But for a little more zoom I really like my vortex 15x45x65hd. I think both are more then you'll ever need and you can't beet the price. Keep an eye out for a used one. The vortex has a life time warranty. So I wouldn't be scared to buy it used.

 

[Mtnboy]

I always take a spotter with me. Have a Vortex nomad right now and it's decent if you don't go over 30x.

If I was 100% focused on elk only, I'd probably leave it, but I always have a deer tag as well so I like to have my spotter. Plus let's face it, sometimes it's cool just to get a closer look at animals hanging out.

I'm REALLY hoping to upgrade to a Swaro or Razor HD in the next month or 2 and I'm excited to start digiscoping more.

I've thought about trying just binos and a tripod for some trips, but I figure if I'm gonna be packing the tripod anyway, might as well throw in the spotter.

 

[mcseal2]

I pack in a Nikon ED50 with a cheap Slikk Compact II tripod. The scope is great for elk, like was mentioned earlier the 30x gives you all you'd ever need to judge them unless you are really counting inches for a record book. The tripod isn't wonderful but is lightweight and good enough. I have a much better tripod, but it also weighs 3lbs with it's head where this one weighs 20oz. I primarily use the spotter for judging elk not finding them or I'd pack the better tripod. For my limited use it is fine.

I hunt the end of season when the snow sometimes has the bulls pushed into real nasty pockets by themselves or in bachelor groups. Before hiking into these pockets I like to put the spotter on a bull and make sure he is good enough and not broke up. That late in the season it is very common for tines to be broken off that it's hard to spot with binos from a long distance.

 

[Brandon Pattison]

So if a guy was going to get a Razor HD for everything and anything, what size objective would be best; 50, 65 or 85mm?

 

[Hardstalk]

So if a guy was going to get a Razor HD for everything and anything, what size objective would be best; 50, 65 or 85mm?

Personal preference. They all offer different magnification. I think a 65 is great for all around. It's the happy medium in size and weight for all spotters regardless of manufacturer. If you have an 80/85 your thinking "man could I have gone lighter?" If you have a 50 you sometimes think "a bit more weight would be doable? And a ill extra magnification would be useful.." It's quite a predicament. But a fun one to solve!

 

[[email protected]]

Just ordered a 65mm Razor the other day. Gonna run the Summit SS with it. I went back and forth and read all the forums. In the end it will come down to whatever you decide and hopefully you'll be happy. The 85 was gonna be to much weight for my backcountry stuff, and the 50 might not be enough magnification. I went to the local sporting goods one late afternoon, and took the 50 and 65 outside to look through. That helped me make the decision. In a perfect world I'd own all three. That would really solve the problem.

 

[BigDog00]

Personally, I had originally purchased the 65mm Razor and it left me wanting more. It was a really nice spotter but I felt the added weight was worth the extra magnification and bigger objective. I sold it and bought an 85mm, so far so good. I haven't packed it yet, but I haven't regretted buying it. I think if you mainly hunt timber and "may" sheep/goat hunt then a 65mm would probably work. For me, hunting in Wyoming, in most cases I have unrestricted view and can see for miles. Thats not all cases but quite a few.