Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Compact Spotters - Any worth carrying?

Basically, what Tanner said.

For most backpack applications, I would take a Nikon ED50 with a wide angle fixed eyepiece. Mine shows me 95+% of what my Ziess 65mm Diascope does.

But if you are really needing to count annuli rings on a sheep or judge the difference between a 165 and 180 inch mule deer a mile across a canyon, then you are going to have to carry the bigger scope in my experience. It's resolution and light transmission is just superior enough to make the difference.