Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Big Eyes for the working man, revisited

I agree completely. BTDT. But the question is do you want to put up with carrying a tripod and can you get the job done w/o one ? E

Sure! When I don't need more than standard 7-8x bins.

If the bigger bins (for me anything 12x+) go, the tripod goes, one does not go without the other, period. If I'm going to go to the trouble of taking the bigger bins then I want to get 100% effectiveness out of them, which can only be done with a tripod. Although the end of a monopod isn't to bad.

You would think tripods now-a-days weigh twelve pounds the way you whine about having to carry one.

Give it up E, it was a noble effort, but like I said before, you will not convince me otherwise.

Bill

You'd really have to compare them sode-by-side. I bought mine when I was living in AZ based on the experiences Rick Bin and I had when hunting with Enrique in the Sonoran desert. I had Leica 10x50s and Rick had Zeiss 10x, both of which signficantly superior optically to Enriques 15x Fujinons. However, all of us could spot game better with the 15X binocs.

But crud, after E's comments, maybe we should all get 7x50s and be happy...............

I bought the Minox 15-58's and really like them. We bought them before we went back to Yellowstone this past May and spent 9 days looking thru them. I as well as everyone who looked thru them was very impressed with the clarity.

Foxtrot, did you compare them with the 13's by chance?

Jeff,

Have Doug send you both and decide which you want and send the other back. Only you can decide which is better for your needs.

Neither is a bad choice.

Bill

tx270, I am kind of thinking that's the clearest path forward...

No, but I was pretty stuck on wanting 15's and don't regret it for the money. I also bought a midrange spotter at the same time but sent it back, the Minox binos were that good. I will buy a spotter for the next trip and hunting season, just need to save a few more $$.

I have my Swaro 8x30's, and a Leupold 12-40 spotter...

Optics/glassing are NOT my strong suit. Sneaking around in the jungle killing deer up close is more like it. I use my Swaro's to look through brush, not to spot deer a long ways away..

But, I am hunting much more open terrain this fall (in Colorado), and plus I intend to hunt mule deer and elk in more open terrain in the years to come... so I dunno, I treat myself to something with every commission, it's either some Big Eyes or a .223 bolt gun this time <G>.

Jeff, I've hunted all sorts of wide open country of the west for about 52 yrs. The only guys I know who use a tripod mounted binocular are the Coues Deer hunters or guys like Dober who learned it from them. They need to pick out deer that are blended in to their background or grass stands from great distances.
The vast majority of the guys I know who are good at getting nice deer and elk don't use a tripod mounted big eye setup. It's either some super high quality 10X or a lighter smaller 8X. Some use a spotting scope, some don't. But the point is that they get the job done and done quite well. So do the vast majority of the guides who I'm familar with. I do know lots of guys that glass with bins close to the road then use a spotting scope to get a better look. That works really well in wide open country. A few do take a light spotter, like your's, into the field.
In your shoes, I'd save up for a good quality, heavy 10X like the Meopta, and try that first. If you decide that you want to go to a Big Eyes rig later, fine. While you are looking for a good 10X bin, try to find one that will work with your spotter's tripod. Shouldn't be too tough to find. E

Jeff,

Big Eyes, as you propably already know are best suited for the desert or open plains area. They can be effective in timbered areas of the west, but for those area your 8x30 Swaro's and your little spotter will work fine.

The areas I use my big eyes are BIG OPEN country like the trans pecos of TX and desert NM, CO. I hunt these type areas every year for mulies and auadads. If you hunt these type areas with regularity then I would say get some Big Eyes, but if its just going to be a once every few years thing then I would say spend your money elsewhere.

Big Eyes work great for Mulies, Antelope, Audad, and of course Coues Deer. Big Eyes are not species specific, more landscape or terrain specific. They can save you a ton of foot work.

Bill

This is a picture of part of the ranch that I will be mule deer/ elk hunting on this fall:

Clearcuts in Western Washington and Western Oregon with replanted trees no more than five years old are great places to glass from a rest. Doggone little blacktails will be bedded a couple hundred yards away and just stay still watching you. I know I don't spot but a small percentage of the deer out there but it sure is fun to locate them now and then.

Jeff,

I tell you what for a place like that, "big eyez" can really be put to good work. If it were me and my moolah I'd find a way to pony up and go Swaro. While I've not seen the 13 Minox as of yet I honestly don't feel that they're gonna cut the biscuit when it comes to the 15's. Heck if you look around you may even find a set of good used 15 Swaro's.

I've compared em to the 15 Minox and for my eyes the Min's aren't even on the same playing field.

I learned the hard way to not cut corners when it comes to glass, one never regrets getting good glass!

Back about 4 or so years ago I had some time away from guiding and was on a hunt with a couple of buds who liked to give me a hard time about my "big eyez". So after they had spent an hour picking apart a canyon and they were happy that they knew most of what was in the canyon they invited me to bring out the B E's. So, I did and I found 4 bucks they hadn't including one total corker.

I am telling you with the right conditions nothing will stay with a fella who has some Big E's and knows how to use them. One thing about this stuff, is that you have to pick your spotting platform well and then you have to stay behind those bins a fair time and have a method to your madness when it comes to working it. Back when I guided in Sonora I learned a ton from the Mex guides just watching how they took a hill apart as well as how often they had their glass glued to their heads.

Oh and about a tripod, it is an absolute must! The one I use is the Slik 444 Sport 2 and it weighs 3 lbs and 14 oz's if I recall right. Add the glass and a couple of doublers and one has a bit of glass he's toting around...but then hey you're a realtor so you're in excellent shape right, I mean we do more than go to meets and eat right...right

Good luck to you in your decision

Dober

Dober,
Question:
Can a guy get by with a good spotter(Leica 62mm Televid in my case) in lieu of big eyes in your opinion??

Tim,

IMO yes you can get by, but for serious glassing, especially in big country the Big E's are just unbeatable. If you hunt the kind of country where they are useable once you go to using them then you'll never go back. You stick a good man with a spotter against a good one with Big E's and the guy with the Big E's is gonna totally thrash the spotter guy and I mean totally!

Now for serious micro mgt of horns, IE exactly how long is that G1, how big is that H2 at long range and or for serious work on goat hunts then the spotter is king.

Make sense?

Dober

Mark,
That is very interesting!

What does a set of the Swarovski 15X bino. go for these days, $3K or so??

Honestly, I have no idea I am just glad that I bought them when I did. I have given up more than a fair bit to have my 2 sets of Swaro's and have never regretted it one bit!

Dober

I would be curious as to how the meopta 15 and 13 compare against the new viper vortex 15x50 and the nikon 15x50. Based on how well it did here it sounds like it would blow them out of the water but would be nice to see how they compare.

I wasn't impressed with the 15x50 Vipers....