Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Angled vs Straight spotter

Which one for my 1st??? Mainly used for identifying deer around my place in the fields during summer and maybe for an upcoming trip or two out west. Which one has most advantages?

I like straight

I find it amounts to viewing pleasure. If laying over a rifle, rotating head slightly, to view angled, may be more efficient than moving your head over, to get behind a straight spotter.

Flip side, if you are not shooting competition, but are glassing, having straight, makes it easier to bring the optic to your line of sight, with everything pointing the same direction. Makes it easier to pick something out, and follow.

I use straight, but if starting over I'd use angled.

Angled has the advantage of glassing from a lower position, and out of the wind better. It's also easier on my neck.

Straight is easier (for me) to get on target quickly.

Lots of people sure like angled, but I've always been happy with straight and don't see that changing .My use is both in the mountains and open rolling/flat country.

Both have their advantages.

Straight is better at the bench looking at targets. It's also more compact for a backpack hunt.

Angled is more comfortable (neck craning) to use glassing game/birds because it uses a lower tripod position, which also makes it more stable.

I only own straight, but I'm of the opinion only owning one it should be angled. I far and away prefer angled.

mine are straight, because I spend a lot of time spotting out the side window of my pickup. The angled don't work very well that way. Sitting on a mountain side with a tripod setup also makes viewing easier because your vision while looking through the spotter allows you to continue to pickup any other movement by simply lifting your eye sight a little.

No one can beat a competent guy with a straight for getting on a new target if he is using angled. The angled is only about comfort.

I prefer straight.

One fewer mirrors in a straight scope.

I've had both. Getting on target is much faster with the straight scope. I currently own an angled and like it because I don't have to adjust it as much for multiple people viewing one object. Finding the target does take some time getting used too.

Mule Deer said it best--straight for hunting, angled for the bench.

Casey

Ive owned a few of both and I much prefer the angled. I use it mostly for sheep and goat hunting and I believe the angled is a lot more versatile and more comfortable. You can change your viewing area easily without having to move your butt and make yourself a new seat in the side of a mountain, and without having to move the tripod as much either. Lots of versatility and comfort by rotating the scope body and adjusting height.
I also prefer angled at the bench as well, easy to have the scope set up beside you with the eyepiece angled toward you for easy view. Also nice for standing at a bench with medium height tripod and comfortably spotting for someone else without having to bend over and kink your neck upward, and without having to have the scope way up at standing height.
I agree it takes a little practice to get quickly on target, but the difference in time isnt even worth considering. When looking at animals through a spotting scope, I've never been in a situation where the slight difference in time it takes to get on target would make any difference to anything.
I'll take the versatility and comfort.

Had both, much prefer angled for field and range.

I own both and prefer the straight for window mount and on a bench. I much prefer angled when sitting in the field and spending hours looking for animals. Far more comfortable for me and more stable as others have stated.

I own and use both extensively. The only time i see any advantage to a straight spotter is when I'm switching back and forth between a spotter and binos on the same tripod.

All other advantages go to the angled version.

The perceived difficulties in finding ones target in an angled scope go away with a days worth of field use.

I'm straight.

LIAR!!!

I own both types. Both are Leicas. I prefer the angled.

I'm 6'5" hard to find tripods that allow me to look through a straight w/o squatting or otherwise contorting if standing up so I'm pretty much an angled user.

I can't remember the last time I carried a spotter while elk hunting....

If a guy doesn't mosey far from the truck, a heavy 80mm is no big deal. But anything over a 65mm for hunting here in the Rockies is a non-stater for me.

Casey