Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Learned To Glass. Thanks Enrique.

I thought I knew how to glass.

My glassing techniques evolved 8 years ago while deer hunting with my dad, and he saw much more than I did. I spotted something interesting, then put down my binoculars and asked him for his Zeiss 10x40s. This was after telling him that I would never spend $1000 for a pair of binoculars. The next year, I was out there with my own pair of
Classics.
I had really learned how to glass a hillside and look for deer. So I thought. After staring at a deer at 600 yards for half an hour, I finally put a pair of Minox 15x on a tripod to find that the object was a white rock. I would glass a hillside and say �let�s go, there�s nothing here�, to have Enrique ask me if I wanted to shoot the buck that was laying down behind the trees.

That�s when my glassing technique evolved again.

I learned a few things.
1. You glass with 15x on a tripod. You browse with 10x.
2. 10x without a tripod serves a purpose. Easy to travel, easy to carry, quick, noiseless, browse a lot of area.
3. 10x with a tripod serves another purpose. Actually glass, and concentrate on an area without the movement that tires the eyes and keeps you from seeing detail.
4. 15x needs a tripod and serves yet another purpose. You see detail from a long distance without spooking the animals. Your eyes don�t tire. You can cover 4 square miles without taking a step.
5. You don�t substitute one for the other. One supplements the other.
6. One is not better that the other. Both together is best.

I was given this information before, but was never convinced. After using the tripod and the larger binoculars, I only regret not believing and using it sooner. Thanks to Rick, Enrique, and Casey for the fantastic learning experience.

Maestro
<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Mike we had a blast didnt we? i cant wait till guys come back out!

Im still pulling needles out of my....hand. Can you clear the landscape of cactus next time??
...Yes, we had a blast. Next time Im coming with my dad and my brother. Be careful, my bro isnt as serious as I am. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

maestro

so you mean if your brother comes, we might get off the mountian before 830? hahahaha! ill do my best to get all of the stuff that doesnt poke out of there. the only thing that will be left is the cedar trees!

maestro-

How do the Minox 15s compare with the "big name" glass?

Goodnews,

They dont.

These were the older Minox, and Ive heard the newer ones are much better. I really liked the eye piece which adjusted easily and made a good seal around my eye. If fact, I preferred the eyepiece over the Zeiss or the Swarovskis. And the focus was easy also. But when it came to detail, the Swarovskis were dreamy. Until Rick told me how much they were. Then, I went back to the Minox.

My next purchase will most likely be the Minox. I think I need to enter the 15x realm and the other are out of my mind expensive. The Minox, IMO, are 85% of the glass for 50% of the money. In my mind, a better value.

Mike

I'm not maestro, but I did stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night (make that, Fosters Lodge in Mammoth, AZ, with maestro).

My opinion: The Minox 15x58 is optically 98% the glass the Swarovski is for about half the ducats.

It's bigger, heavier, and clunkier than the Swaro, but optically speaking, IMO it is very fine glass. Very fine.

Rick

I agree. The old pair we have sucks. It's the same one Eremicus did not like.

Did you not get to use the new pair??????? Oh my.

Rick

Rick, i didnt get a chance to look through the new pair either. i thought the older pair was not bad, but like you and i talked about, they did not fit my eyes real well

Maestro,

Looking at a 70 pound deer at 600 yards plus will teach you a ton about optics. looking at 70 pound deer in the terrain we were in will teach you about optics.
Like you mentioned, there is a purpose for optics on a tripod and also a purpose for compact (10x42 or less) binoculars. Using both in sync with each other works great.
Just remember when you glass that detail is the most important part to finding a twitching ear or a tongue licking a nose or a antler shining in a bush. I will still say that a pair of optics tripod mounted is the way to go to get full detail. Don't for get to give extra attention to horizontal lines like Darren mentioned.
You can learn a ton by reading about this glassing technique, but to fully understand it, you have to see it first hand and do it. If not, you'll never grasp it. I think you did this weekend.
The new Minox are WAAAAY better than the ones you had. I wish you could have used them. Like Rick said, I think the Minox are 97/98 percent of what the Swaro's are, and I own both. I would not hessitat to use the Minox over my Swaro's if anything were to happen to my Swaro's.
I am glad I could teach a maestro something. That's pretty cool. I look forward to our next adventure out there. i'll bring my dad again.

Enrique

Enrique,
Hanging out with your dad was worth the trip. He had us laughing the whole time. And no made up stories either, his were real. And your mom cooks out of this world. Now that was a meal.

Casey,
Interesting you say about the fit to the eyes on the minox. I felt your zeiss 15x60 were brighter and showed more detail than the minox, but they were less comfortable to my eyes. The minox allowed me to rest my eyes on the eye piece, seal the light out, and look for a look time tirelessly. For you, it seems, the ziess fit better.
If I had your glass, I would put a rubber eyepiece on them to contour my eyesocket better. To each his own.
I thought you had the best tripod/binocular combo. You hung the 15s around your neck at all times, then clipped them onto the tripod, without removing the straps. I thought that was the most efficient set up.

Again,
What a learning experience.

Maestro.
Ps. Rick, I liked the Holiday Inn. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Mike and Rick, did you all happen to see my Holiday Inn suite? it was awesome! ( the shower came to about chest area haha) i love my Zeiss, but after looking through Ricks Swarovski's i think they are clearer, but, on my wage and college student standing, the Zeiss will have to work. plus, i got them for dirt cheap, didnt i Rick <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

UPDATE ON THE ZEISS: remember how they fell and that piece broke? i called Zeiss and they are sending me another piece.... for $22!!!

Casey,
Theres no doubt, the zeiss were brighter than the minox. The Swarovskis were brighter than the zeiss.

But for me, and Im not paying college tuition any more, if my choice was to pay $1900 for the swarovs or nothing, I would choose nothing. IMO. For me, the minox allows me to enter the ballgame.

Who knows, maybe later I wll find the value and purchase the swarovs, but for now, I dont see it. However, they are sweeeeet to look thru. I guess I will live with my envy.

Mike

I DONT AGREE. I GUESS "SUCKS" IS A RELATIVE TERM. I THOUGHT THEY WERE VERY GOOD. ON A TRIPOD, MUCH BETTER THAN MY 10X.






SOMEONE HOLDING OUT ON ME???? CASEY, YOU GETTIN ALL OF THIS?


IN ALL SERIOUSNESS RICK, I WOULD LIKE TO SEE THE NEW MINOX. I AM SOLD ON THE IDEA OF 15X WITH A TRIPOD, AND THE MINOX IS MY PORT OF ENTRY.

MAESTRO

Maestro,

I held out. My friend Steve was using them on this hunt. He didn't part with them either. If you get a chance to come out here again we'll use them and spend some more time glassing.
Interested in coming out archery hunting?

Enrique

Interested??? Hell yes. I have to see if the stars can align for me. Especially since Ive never shot a bow. Id have better luck with a stone. I'll send you a pm and ask you a few questions. Id assume its during the rut. Dec/Jan??

Maestro:

I have an archery range 1 mile from my house we can practice all we want for free. About 20 different stations with yardages mapped out and everything. I usually go after work.

I know a good archery shop, or maybe you can pick up a cheap starter bow around here.

I'd be excited to see you try bowhunting!!

Rick

Rick & friends,

I talked to an engineer in the Minox booth at SHOT. His take was they were building a glass within a few percent of the name marks for a lot less money.

jim

Jim,
Excuse the question, for I know squat about optics. But I was using the "Older" Minox. Enrique has a pair of "Newer" minox that are much better than the older. Have you heard that Minox will be coming out with an "Improved" version?

And am I correct when saying that only Swarovski and Minox make a new 15x binocular? Since Zeiss discontinued theirs, only two options remain?

Thanks.

Maestro

Mike, another binocular that you did nt get a chance to look through that is in the same ballpark as the Minox is the Docters. they are very respectable glass and if you come out here again, i can make it happen so that we can look through them. (my dad has a pair). if you and Rick come out here quail hunting, we can spend some evening after we get our limit to glass and compare binos.