Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Big Eyes or a Spotter?

Which would you recommend to a budding mule deer hunter, assuming he could only have one? Whatever it is, it'll compliment my Leupold 8x42s.

My price range is around $600 tops, for the tripod and whole setup. So for big eyes, it'll be the Minox 15x58s. For a spotter, I don't have a clue.

I don't have experience with either, so any recommendations are welcome.

What kind of country and what's his style of hunting (IE can he sit and glass or can he not sit still)?

I'm thinking that as much as I like my Big Eye's there too much of a specialized tool for most places and a good spotter will do him very well. Not totally but for the most part I use the spotter to micro mgt horns at a distance way more than I use it for actually finding game.

Now the big eyes I use for both and totally kick butt excell at finding game in the hands of someone capable.

I'd tell him to find and old Leo 20X for a couple hundred bucks. By my eyes that old scope is still about as good as they come until I get into the really big money glass.

Dober

Thanks Dober,

I can sit and glass for a while, the anticipation of wondering when the bucks will just "pop" into view, where I didn't think there were any, really keeps my attention.

I'm not too concerned about over analyzing horns for now, I just want to find a shooter.

Since I don't know much about spotters, what should I expect to pay for a spotter, similar in quality to the Minox Big Eyes? I'll go look now for a Leupold 20x to get an idea.

I use my Swaro. 15's way more than my spotting scope. I like MD use the spotter only after I find the animal, but even then the 15's on a Bogen tripod can show alot. If I could only have one of the 2 I would keep the 15's.

Mark,

You mentioned that your Big Eyes are "specialized". In what way? In what situations would they be superior to a spotter?

Bluedreaux,

Hate to parrot what has already been said, but I agree with Dober. The old 20x Leupold spotters are fantastic. He gave me the same advice last year as I was entering my first attempt at mulies and Dober steered me right.

I use 8x42's as well and those topped with the 20x Leupold haven't left me wanting much more.

I only have one season in this open country under my belt (I cannot wait for this season) but I do spend a considerable amount of time in the outdoors and in some fantastic mule deer country. The 8x bino and 20x spotter are a great combo. Not to mention that 20x doesn't weigh much and the price should allow you some extra coin for a good tripod.

Just my .02.


Travis

I have always taken a set of big eyes over a spotter.
Yes a spotter has its pro's, but overall, the big eyes has a lot more pro's than the spotter.
My opinion is that if you are trophy hunting for big game. If you can see big with the big eyes, chances are you are gonna want to get closer and kill it. If it gets smaller as you get closer you can second guess it and no harm. A spotter eliminates the getting closer, but at the same time you lose FOV get more eye strain and the list goes on and on.
I have owned or used most big eyes out there and I gotta tell you. If I forget my tripod adaptable binos or my tripod, I might aswell not hunt.

That being said get the big eyes.

If you do a search on here. You will find a few posts I have done on big eyes. I think, if it is still up, on the main page there is a story on big eyes where the owner of the campfire learned and understood using big eyes over compact bins and a spotter.

Good Luck,
Kique

BTW Dober. I got my eyes on a toad of a coues!

I am in a lather for a set of 15x56 Swaro's...unless anybody has anything better in mind.

I have loved those things anytime I have hunted with them.Fabulous!

Enrique, I'm glad you chimed in. I've already read the the article (three times I think) and searched for all of the old Big Eyes threads. That first article got me really thinking about getting some.

A big question I've got is about the Minox 15x58s. If I get them and a tripod, I'll be completely tapped out for money. Do you have any experience with them? Is their quality good enough to serve me better than a similarly priced spotter?

Thanks in advance.

The 15x minox are a good bino. It hangs in there with the other top of the line bino. I think I had them rated about 95 to 97 percent of the Swaro's at the time. So I will say 500 and change for 97 percent of a $1800 bin is a pretty good deal to me.
As far as a spotter goes. You can glass a lot longer with two eyes than you can with one.
If you are gonna use the spotter to basically field judge, and you already have a 10x bin that you can put on a tripod and is good quality, you are good doing the spotter route.

To me:
Nothing really beats a 15x bin of quality glass.
A spotter should only be used to field judge.
Any bin over 7x should be on a tripod.
15x bin for under $600 from doug is a bargain.


I have owned, fujinon, swaro, minox and used docter and zeiss on top of the ones I have owned. Currently my main glass is the 13x Minox. Do I owna spotter. Nope never had a need for one when hunting for big bucks.

With all that said, get the bino's and save up for a spotter later if you are anal about field judging.
The bins are good to use for a few miles. And worst case senerio, you have to get closer No biggie there.


Kique

Very interesting, thanks again Enrique. I'm not too worried about discerning between a big buck and a "really" big buck. Until I get a little more experience in this, I'll just settle for a big one...

And my knees are younger than my wallet is fat, so if it's between super expensive glass or a little more hiking, I'll be hoofing it.

The basic difference is that a binocular is for finding game and the spotter is for getting a better look at what you you've found.
I don't care for the tripod mounted binocular setups known as the Big Eyes. I'd much rather use a quality 60mm spotter to get a better look at something. And I refuse to carry all of that weight.
I use either a super sharp 8X, like a Leica or a Nikon LX, 8X or my 12X50 Leicas. My next purchase is going to probably be a 12-4X60 HD spotter with compact tripod.
In other words. it depends on how you use your optics. It is possible, for instance, to see something suspicious with a binocular and by using a spotter, it turns into a buck's antler. You are getting a better look at something you've already seen.
Or, using very powerful binoculars, as long as they are very sharp, you may well be able to find stuff you couldn't see with lessor binoculars.
If you decide to go with the 15X Minox, I'd make sure you got a good tripod and tried them out. E

I am glad this topic came up as I have been thinking about the Big Eyes vs. Spotter comparison off and on for the last year or so since reading the big eye threads on here.

Though not necessarily hunting my preferred combination for glassing large areas is the Zeiss 7x42 FL and the Pentax 65 ED-A/Pentax XW 20 mm eyepiece combination. That particular scope combination yields a superb image which I find ideal for glassing large areas for small objects. The true field of view is over 175 feet at 1000 yards. The image is flat with the best edge sharpness of any optic I have ever owned/handled. Because of the use of ED glass in both the objective and the eyepiece design details are exceptionally easy to pick up on.

With this combination I never feel fatigued and never feel like I am missing anything. What are you folks' thoughts on comparing some of the better "Big Eyes" with this Pentax 65 scope combo? My assumption has always been that the Big Eyes usually win out over scopes because scopes typically have a narrower field of view especially with zoom eyepieces. With the previously mentioned Pentax combo that would not be the case.

I had been using a heavier Bogen/Manfrotto tripod with this scope in the past because of my digiscoping interest but recently purchased a Bogen/Manfrotto 718B as a more lightweight alternative. This combination is exceptionally portable. I hardly know that I am carrying it along and it is reasonably stable unless we are talking full extension in windy conditions.

I have the Minox 13x56's. They are on a tripod next to me as I type; was using them to watch some seals in the Sound.

I find them much, much easier to use than a spotter. But that's coming from a total noob. Spotters give me eye strain and a headache. Perhaps my spotter isn't good enough.. though it's one of those Gold Ring 12-40x Leupolds, so it's certainly pretty good.

Anyway I like the Big Eyes, and I like my Minox.

-jeff

Damn these big eye theads!
Like I don't have enough $$$ wrapped up in optics already!

My vote is Big Eyes and a spotter.

340,
That's what Rick Bin and Blaine said when they hunted with me and learned the big eye set up.

Most people that take a spotter over big eyes have never used or understood the concept of big eyes and a tripod.
When I first learned of Binos on a tripod I thought it was nuts. Then It was proven to me up on the Kaibab and I was sold. One of my first set ups was a loner pair of 10x40 Leupold binos and a cheap bushnell spotter. Then as I moved on, I bought my first pair of bins. 10x50 Bushnells at walmart for 40 bucks. It was all I could afford in High School. I made my first tripod adaptor from a curtain rod (the angled part and the slide part). Then eventually a 16x50 Bushnell from Kmart. As I grew in learning optics, tripods and big deer, I started saving.
my neighbors bought me a velbon tripod for Christmas so that was taken care of. my next purchase was a set of big eyes. That came 3 years later. As I started to guide and make a little money. My first big purchase were my 15x60 fujinon bins. They kicked butt for me at that time. I had my set up. The more and more I used it, the more and more I lost the spotter. Now I don't even own a spotter, but with all the light weight stuff around now, I can make room for one in my pack and at times I wish I had one. I get lazy and hate having to walk say 3 canyons to see if the buck I just found is a 95 inch buck or a 100 inch buck. I know its big, but how big.
So again, a spotter can play a big part in your hunting strategy, but if you are seeking, bins play a bigger part. I choose the bins and a tripod and sometimes walk 3 or 4 miles one way and the load is no issue 'cause its needed. And the not having a spotter has sometimes been a blessing because on my hoof to get closer, I find things that I had missed or were block from view due to the terrain or find a new area all together.
So far that I know of. All the people that I have suggested big eyes to, have got them and loved them over the spotter.

Kique

Enrique,
They sound very nice for the kind of country I hunt.
I wish I would have researched these threads for this topic before I bought my fancy spotter last year.
I think I would have gone with the big-eyes instead!

Heck if you have a small set of optics say 8x42 or 10x42 or bigger, just mount them on the tripod and do what E suggests find something with the smaller bins, then use your spotter to zoom in.