Swarovski STC Big Eyes vs BTX, By Willam Frye

willfrye027 said:
@robby denning I should probably update some of this now that I’ve had about a year of solid use.

Best to update the thread here or should I send in something more formal?

Spoiler; I don’t miss the BTX 😬
Click to expand...
Hey, just update on this thread, it's linked to the article so those who wanna know will end up on here.

I put a note in post #1 to see updates starting 3/11/25. If I need to change that date, I can.

thanks
 
Update 3/11/24:

Going to take a little while to get all of my thoughts down here so I may have to come back and update this post a few times.

I used the STC big eyes for about 25 hunting days fall of 2024 not including some scouting, winter range deer watching, and starting to use them a bit for shed season.

I ended up with a case from a guy on instagram..I also saw LS wild is making a case for them.

With all of the packing around I never had a screw come loose or the setup lose collimation. The adaptor is very robust and I have zero worries about it falling apart on a hunt.

My first big hunt with them was Idaho OTC, in a unit I had never been to before. My buddy had an elk tag as well so we spent 8 days before deer opener hunting for a bull and also scouting for deer. It was mostly mid elevation, steep mountains with lots and lots of ground to cover. Early October is a difficult time of year to scout and temps were warm. The big eyes helped me very efficiently cover large expanses of country looking for an above average deer.

Two days before opener and after the elk tag was filled I glassed up a good framed buck from about 2.5 miles away. I was looking into the rising sun into shade and could only tell that he had a good frame and was the biggest deer we had seen so far. He was living in a tight, steep little basin that was only visible from long distance or you had to be in the basin with him.

Opening morning it took me about 2 hours in the dark to make it into the basin which was only about a mile from a road but with very steep and thick terrain, it was a pretty safe place to live. At that point I left the STCs in the truck because I knew exactly where I would need to be and didn’t need the extra reach of the STCs. All I had for optics on the actual hunt for him were my 8x32 el range binos which did the trick.

I was able to find and kill the buck about 15 minutes into opening day and was very pleased with him!

IMG_9537.jpeg

The hunt went on and more deer were killed. My buddies buck the STCs came in clutch again. We had been glassing a burned hillside that was shaded and about 1000 yards away. I made several passes with the 12s, my two other buddies had been looking it over with 12s and 18s. Just before we decided to move on I pulled out the STCs and cranked them up to 25x to see through the shadows in more detail…and BAM there were 6 bedded bucks all hidden that we had overlooked. He was able to kill the better one the next morning.



IMG_4665.jpeg



The next big hunt was Arizona OTC in the winter. I ended up in a low desert unit where the big eyes really shined. The deer were mostly living in large flats and travel long distances. It felt like they could be anywhere.

For this hunt the STCs were critical. It’s hard to describe how effective you can cover country quickly changing the magnification. I turned this buck up day one which was very lucky, but it was not until day 7 that everything finally came together on a long stalk and a 23 yard shot.

This deer was also known to another group of hunters who turned out to be great guys. We had sort of a gentleman’s agreement that if the other group spotted him first on any given day, the other guys would not make an attempt or mess up the stalk. I spotted this buck first every morning (three) that he was visible, which I think was largely due to the STC big eyes advantage. I was alone and they had 2-3 guys with 15s and spotters but hard to compete with the efficiency of the big eyes when it came to covering big country.

IMG_4877.png

Mediocre digiscope image from about 1.7 miles with a bit of mirage


IMG_4919.jpeg

Some bedded does at 2 miles under better lighting

IMG_4971.jpeg


On day 5 or 6 I did have a headache that may have been eye strain. This was after being behind the glass for probably 6-7 hours a day. Could also have been dehydration but thought it worth noting. With the big eyes there is potential to induce some eye strain if things are not set on the same exact power, or one eye is out of focus. You start to sense when things are not perfectly aligned after some practice, but overall the setup does have potential to induce some eye strain.

During that whole hunt, I packed my nl 14s once and left them in the truck after that. They just could not compete with the efficiency of the STCs, and I did not really need the extra FOV of the 14x for the longer distances involved.

Hunts where I knew what exact drainage I was planning to hunt, or where glassing distance was more limited, I am leaving the STCs at home. Hunts where I am going in “blind”, the STCs are changing how I approach things and truly are a game changer for my hunting style.

Happy to answer any additional questions. My buddy has a set of the mini kowa big eyes coming and I look forward to comparing those..on paper a great option for guys with more narrow eyes.
 
willfrye027 said:
Update 3/11/24:

Going to take a little while to get all of my thoughts down here so I may have to come back and update this post a few times.

I used the STC big eyes for about 25 hunting days fall of 2024 not including some scouting, winter range deer watching, and starting to use them a bit for shed season.

I ended up with a case from a guy on instagram..I also saw LS wild is making a case for them.

With all of the packing around I never had a screw come loose or the setup lose collimation. The adaptor is very robust and I have zero worries about it falling apart on a hunt.

My first big hunt with them was Idaho OTC, in a unit I had never been to before. My buddy had an elk tag as well so we spent 8 days before deer opener hunting for a bull and also scouting for deer. It was mostly mid elevation, steep mountains with lots and lots of ground to cover. Early October is a difficult time of year to scout and temps were warm. The big eyes helped me very efficiently cover large expanses of country looking for an above average deer.

Two days before opener and after the elk tag was filled I glassed up a good framed buck from about 2.5 miles away. I was looking into the rising sun into shade and could only tell that he had a good frame and was the biggest deer we had seen so far. He was living in a tight, steep little basin that was only visible from long distance or you had to be in the basin with him.

Opening morning it took me about 2 hours in the dark to make it into the basin which was only about a mile from a road but with very steep and thick terrain, it was a pretty safe place to live. At that point I left the STCs in the truck because I knew exactly where I would need to be and didn’t need the extra reach of the STCs. All I had for optics on the actual hunt for him were my 8x32 el range binos which did the trick.

I was able to find and kill the buck about 15 minutes into opening day and was very pleased with him!

View attachment 852093

The hunt went on and more deer were killed. My buddies buck the STCs came in clutch again. We had been glassing a burned hillside that was shaded and about 1000 yards away. I made several passes with the 12s, my two other buddies had been looking it over with 12s and 18s. Just before we decided to move on I pulled out the STCs and cranked them up to 25x to see through the shadows in more detail…and BAM there were 6 bedded bucks all hidden that we had overlooked. He was able to kill the better one the next morning.



View attachment 852094



The next big hunt was Arizona OTC in the winter. I ended up in a low desert unit where the big eyes really shined. The deer were mostly living in large flats and travel long distances. It felt like they could be anywhere.

For this hunt the STCs were critical. It’s hard to describe how effective you can cover country quickly changing the magnification. I turned this buck up day one which was very lucky, but it was not until day 7 that everything finally came together on a long stalk and a 23 yard shot.

This deer was also known to another group of hunters who turned out to be great guys. We had sort of a gentleman’s agreement that if the other group spotted him first on any given day, the other guys would not make an attempt or mess up the stalk. I spotted this buck first every morning (three) that he was visible, which I think was largely due to the STC big eyes advantage. I was alone and they had 2-3 guys with 15s and spotters but hard to compete with the efficiency of the big eyes when it came to covering big country.

View attachment 852095

Mediocre digiscope image from about 1.7 miles with a bit of mirage


View attachment 852096

Some bedded does at 2 miles under better lighting

View attachment 852097


On day 5 or 6 I did have a headache that may have been eye strain. This was after being behind the glass for probably 6-7 hours a day. Could also have been dehydration but thought it worth noting. With the big eyes there is potential to induce some eye strain if things are not set on the same exact power, or one eye is out of focus. You start to sense when things are not perfectly aligned after some practice, but overall the setup does have potential to induce some eye strain.

During that whole hunt, I packed my nl 14s once and left them in the truck after that. They just could not compete with the efficiency of the STCs, and I did not really need the extra FOV of the 14x for the longer distances involved.

Hunts where I knew what exact drainage I was planning to hunt, or where glassing distance was more limited, I am leaving the STCs at home. Hunts where I am going in “blind”, the STCs are changing how I approach things and truly are a game changer for my hunting style.

Happy to answer any additional questions. My buddy has a set of the mini kowa big eyes coming and I look forward to comparing those..on paper a great option for guys with more narrow eyes.
Click to expand...
Have you had the chance to compare to the Kowa 55 big eyes?
 
ThatsBishop said:
Have you had the chance to compare to the Kowa 55 big eyes?
Click to expand...
Very briefly while helping him get them set up. Maybe 2 minutes of side by side use. So not enough to draw major conclusions. I really like the kowa dual focus knobs for getting a perfect fine focus. I also like the kowa glass in terms of the color balance or contrast. Swaro feels slightly washed out or too white..the kowa is ever so slightly warmer or more natural. But I’ve always had a slight preference for kowa over swaro scopes so that could just be my eyes. Both are excellent.

Only downside I felt on the kowa was the way the eyepiece is at an angle, it’s not as sleek of an overall package compared to the two tubes of the swaro.

Someone did a full review on the mini kowa vs mini swaro and basically it’s going to be the same with the big eye setup, except the kowa can go to a narrower IPD.
 
Got another season under my belt with the big eyes. Few things thoughts/things to add here.

For tripod and head, I’m still really liking my RRS ascend with the tricer BP panhead. A couple buddies are using the medium weight tricer tripod (can’t recall the specific model) and tricer heads (not the mini one). The big eyes balance really well on the adaptor so a massive leg/head combo is not needed.

3/4 of my buddies who spend time next to me with the big eyes have now bought them. They continue to find tons of animals and can really change the outcome of a hunt.

The biggest use case for these is scouting, or “going in blind” to a new unit where you need to quickly cover country with the glass at prime time.

Collimation was lost one time when my big eyes fell out to the car onto one side. Luckily I brought the right sized Allen key!

June scouting turned up the blacktail buck I would eventually kill. Spotted at 2.5 miles.IMG_6152.jpeg

Late June scouting trip for my buddies tag in Utah, new unit for us. Covered a lot of ground mostly glassing from/near the road. Looked over around 50 bucks, found a couple decent ones including the one below. Took some decent video from 1.5 miles. We hunted for him and couldn’t turn him up so my buddy shot a smaller 4pt.

IMG_6451.png

Helped a buddy scout on a sheep hunt and found some sheep.

Used them in Idaho in a new to me unit. Didn’t find any good bucks, wished I had been able to scout it before hand.

Used them for elk and deer in Montana. From the road was able to find elk the evening before from about 4 miles away. Planned my route for the morning and killed a bull straight away.

Later in the week was hunting with my wife and 2 year old, warm and tough conditions for deer but spotted a little buck at about 2 miles from the road and went up and shot him.


IMG_6378.jpegIMG_2474.jpegIMG_6449.jpeg

Overall I’m still very happy with the big investment that these are. Have not wished for more magnification for field judging. It is nice to have something smaller to pack like 15s or a smaller spotter for long hikes as I don’t love packing them on every day hunt.
 
willfrye027 said:
Got another season under my belt with the big eyes. Few things thoughts/things to add here.

For tripod and head, I’m still really liking my RRS ascend with the tricer BP panhead. A couple buddies are using the medium weight tricer tripod (can’t recall the specific model) and tricer heads (not the mini one). The big eyes balance really well on the adaptor so a massive leg/head combo is not needed.

3/4 of my buddies who spend time next to me with the big eyes have now bought them. They continue to find tons of animals and can really change the outcome of a hunt.

The biggest use case for these is scouting, or “going in blind” to a new unit where you need to quickly cover country with the glass at prime time.

Collimation was lost one time when my big eyes fell out to the car onto one side. Luckily I brought the right sized Allen key!

June scouting turned up the blacktail buck I would eventually kill. Spotted at 2.5 miles.View attachment 961970

Late June scouting trip for my buddies tag in Utah, new unit for us. Covered a lot of ground mostly glassing from/near the road. Looked over around 50 bucks, found a couple decent ones including the one below. Took some decent video from 1.5 miles. We hunted for him and couldn’t turn him up so my buddy shot a smaller 4pt.

View attachment 961980

Helped a buddy scout on a sheep hunt and found some sheep.

Used them in Idaho in a new to me unit. Didn’t find any good bucks, wished I had been able to scout it before hand.

Used them for elk and deer in Montana. From the road was able to find elk the evening before from about 4 miles away. Planned my route for the morning and killed a bull straight away.

Later in the week was hunting with my wife and 2 year old, warm and tough conditions for deer but spotted a little buck at about 2 miles from the road and went up and shot him.


View attachment 961993View attachment 961992View attachment 961991

Overall I’m still very happy with the big investment that these are. Have not wished for more magnification for field judging. It is nice to have something smaller to pack like 15s or a smaller spotter for long hikes as I don’t love packing them on every day hunt.
Click to expand...


That's a great follow-up, definitely appreciated the detail.

If you had to go only with 8s/10s on the chest and just these, for western big game, would you feel at a loss at all without a big spotter or 15/18 binos? This seems like it covers everything without the need for those two - any circumstances that might warrant either of those other two optics?
 
willfrye027 said:
Got another season under my belt with the big eyes. Few things thoughts/things to add here.

For tripod and head, I’m still really liking my RRS ascend with the tricer BP panhead. A couple buddies are using the medium weight tricer tripod (can’t recall the specific model) and tricer heads (not the mini one). The big eyes balance really well on the adaptor so a massive leg/head combo is not needed.

3/4 of my buddies who spend time next to me with the big eyes have now bought them. They continue to find tons of animals and can really change the outcome of a hunt.

The biggest use case for these is scouting, or “going in blind” to a new unit where you need to quickly cover country with the glass at prime time.

Collimation was lost one time when my big eyes fell out to the car onto one side. Luckily I brought the right sized Allen key!

June scouting turned up the blacktail buck I would eventually kill. Spotted at 2.5 miles.View attachment 961970

Late June scouting trip for my buddies tag in Utah, new unit for us. Covered a lot of ground mostly glassing from/near the road. Looked over around 50 bucks, found a couple decent ones including the one below. Took some decent video from 1.5 miles. We hunted for him and couldn’t turn him up so my buddy shot a smaller 4pt.

View attachment 961980

Helped a buddy scout on a sheep hunt and found some sheep.

Used them in Idaho in a new to me unit. Didn’t find any good bucks, wished I had been able to scout it before hand.

Used them for elk and deer in Montana. From the road was able to find elk the evening before from about 4 miles away. Planned my route for the morning and killed a bull straight away.

Later in the week was hunting with my wife and 2 year old, warm and tough conditions for deer but spotted a little buck at about 2 miles from the road and went up and shot him.


View attachment 961993View attachment 961992View attachment 961991

Overall I’m still very happy with the big investment that these are. Have not wished for more magnification for field judging. It is nice to have something smaller to pack like 15s or a smaller spotter for long hikes as I don’t love packing them on every day hunt.
Click to expand...
great follow up! I agree with everything. I feel they are great for 1.25ish miles plus. Anything inside of that my 12s are fine. I either bring my 12s and the stc big eyes or spotter (never both). I'd say the only con to the stcs big eyes over btx is collimation it can be a pain in the butt, but the pros of them defiantly outweigh the cons. I run a gen 1 outdoorsmans tripod when i use my stcs. Plenty stable on those.
 
RockAndSage said:
That's a great follow-up, definitely appreciated the detail.

If you had to go only with 8s/10s on the chest and just these, for western big game, would you feel at a loss at all without a big spotter or 15/18 binos? This seems like it covers everything without the need for those two - any circumstances that might warrant either of those other two optics?
Click to expand...
I’ve been using 8x32 el range on the chest, and about 50/50 big eyes or 15s depending on how far I’m hiking.

I don’t feel at a loss without a dedicated spotter. I’ve been able to look through a buddies spotter a couple times side by side and it didn’t really change anything for me. The blacktail we were glassing him a longgg ways off in the shade and with heat waves. The view was no better/more defining with a kowa 774. We could tell he was freakishly tall and really narrow and had a mature deer look to his body. Maybe sometimes in clear conditions the spotter would show more detail… but I prefer to be watching with both eyes as they move their head around etc and get a better idea of the trophy potential. Also, for deer I’m not going to turn my nose up at a solid framed 170 deer because he’s not 180…so YMMV in terms of trophy judging etc.

Overall if I had to pick I’d choose my 8s and big eyes and just suck up the weight on certain hunts. Weight is the only downside to me. When I shot that last Montana buck I just left the big eyes in the truck, done that a few times when I already have an animal in mind.

It does cover just about everything for me..the 15s are nice to have as well but they can’t do what the big eyes can.
 
willfrye027 said:
I’ve been using 8x32 el range on the chest, and about 50/50 big eyes or 15s depending on how far I’m hiking.

I don’t feel at a loss without a dedicated spotter. I’ve been able to look through a buddies spotter a couple times side by side and it didn’t really change anything for me. The blacktail we were glassing him a longgg ways off in the shade and with heat waves. The view was no better/more defining with a kowa 774. We could tell he was freakishly tall and really narrow and had a mature deer look to his body. Maybe sometimes in clear conditions the spotter would show more detail… but I prefer to be watching with both eyes as they move their head around etc and get a better idea of the trophy potential. Also, for deer I’m not going to turn my nose up at a solid framed 170 deer because he’s not 180…so YMMV in terms of trophy judging etc.

Overall if I had to pick I’d choose my 8s and big eyes and just suck up the weight on certain hunts. Weight is the only downside to me. When I shot that last Montana buck I just left the big eyes in the truck, done that a few times when I already have an animal in mind.

It does cover just about everything for me..the 15s are nice to have as well but they can’t do what the big eyes can.
Click to expand...

Exactly the kind of insights I was hoping for, thanks for going into the details.
 
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