Originally Posted by yobuck
[quote=dennisinaz]Here is the Highlander setup.


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The Highlanders are an excellant setup but arguably at least not
the top of the world for a hunter.
Here in PA we consider our glasses the most important tool we have for long range hunting. You can kill a deer with about any
decent rifle, but finding it is first on the list.
For about 50 years now twin spotters in brackets top the list for choice among hunters here. 80 mm Swaros or Kowas are as common as bs among hunters here. A major advantage of the spotter setup is the advantage of realligning them in the event
they get knocked or blown over. Fifteen minits with an allen wrench and your back glassing whereas with any standard type binnoc. it requires a trip back to the factory for repair. Yes,
the twin setup is bulkier and might be a little heavier as a downside. There are also other excellant choices for a far more
reasonable twin setup. I have a pair of the 15x58 Minox also in
addittion to 5 or 6 different twin setups. Weve done alot of side by side testing with all the others including the 15x56 swaros and the leica 15x56 geovids. As might be expected the owners of the Swaros and leicas think theirs slightly better
than the Minox. Others smile and say give me these and the difference in money. Side by side on the same day looking at the
same object is the only way to see any differences in optics.
On a good day their all good with some good ones a tad better than others. On a bad day their all bad, even the best ones.
And that includes the highlanders and all the others including
my own good ones.
Bogen is very popular here for tripods. The 3031 tripod with the
3030 head is pretty compact for the smaller glass setups. I would be looking a little larger for a highlander or larger glass.






The Swarovski rep told me that over 40% of the 15x56 sold in America are sold in Arizona. I think we pretty much rule the roost when it comes to big eyes.

As far as the twin scopes we tried that and they were quite a hassle as well as heavy, awkward and hard to use. They pale compared to the Highlanders and even the Doctor 30x80s.


Now as to resolution. At a Coueswhitetail.com get together we set up a number of tripods with various quality glass on them, put up a Vortex optic test chart and had about 15 people who regularly use glass compare them all. We noted the finest lines they could resolve on the chart.

I don't remember the numbers, but the Swarovski 15x56s were better than everything else we tested. The second place was the Vortex Kaibabs. They were about tied with the $3000 Leica Duovids.

The Minox were not in the running. We had no glass over 15x in this comparison. The top two results were unanimous and there was a little discussion over the next 2 or 3 places.

This correlates well with what I have seen. I had a demo pair of Kaibabs sent to me when they first came out. I used them, my Swaros and Minox quite a bit.

The new HD Swaros are better yet.

I didn't have the 15x Leica to compare but I have since used them and feel they are not as good as the Swaros either.

They are good mind you but they don't resolve as well nor are they as comfortable to spend hours behind as the SLCs.

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