Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting Packing a 65 vs 85 Spotter

In one of the other optics threads there was a post commenting on the carrying of a 65 vs an 85 spotter. Went something like this:



I've always wondered about this as the above quote seems to be the overwhelming consensus on spotters. Pack a 60-65 and leave the 80-85's at home. Usually stepping up to an 85mm only adds 1-2 lbs to your overall spotter/tripod weight. At that weight in hunting when we're talking about carrying out 70-100lb loads of meat and antlers and carrying in packs that weight 35-65lbs, why is the popular thought that an 80-85 is such a huge increase in weight? Even if it was a 3lb gain, going from a 58lb pack to a 61lb pack doesn't seem to matter much in the grand scheme of things - I'm still going to be tired after hauling it!

I'm not puffing my chest here...just curious as I'm faced with this dilemma this year. Take my smaller Minox 62 or the Vortex Razor. I love the Razor and think I'm going to pack it in. When I think about the options it's not smaller spotter to save a pound or two but take the spotter or leave it at home all together.

For reference my minox with case weighs in at 43 oz, my tripod with a better grip head 49.4 oz (could save about 1lb and go with a lesser ball head but the grip head is so nice), and my Razor with snug fit case weighs in at 75.60 oz (spotter difference comes to 32.6 oz or basically 2lbs). So really as I think of carrying in a spotter that is galaxies better than the Minox my perceived penalty is 2lbs - not much when I'll be packing back 10 days worth of provisions. If I were to ditch the entire rig, then I'd save 7.81 lbs and that is quite a bit of weight to cut... but as of now I'm leaning towards taking it.

Would love to hear others thoughts on this....

have you packed for 10 days before? ounces matter. pounds are huge.

to clarify, i pack in quite a distance and set base camp. Move if needed, but i'm not carrying everything on my back for 10 days. Going out with a day load on a daily basis.

I get that pounds are huge, the reason why I'd consider completely leaving the whole tripod spotter rig in the truck. Just doesn't seem (based on my experience of 10 days back at a time) that the 2lbs is that big of a ball buster once you've decided to bring a whole tripod spotter back... Now if we were talking about taking something like a Nikon 50 ED and using our pack as a rest, that's a huge savings I think that thing comes in near a pound... but I'm referencing those that say they'll take a 65 but never an 85.

For me, in the past I've always elected to leave the spotter at the truck... may end up doing it again this year.

gotcha. the entire gear load won't be on your back the whole ten days.

i'd have both on hand when you load your pack and make up your mind then.

It is space as well as weight. Toad has the right idea.........pack up and choose. I even do that with food and clothes for a 12 or 14 day trip. Carrying any extra weight needs to be justified to yourself and if it doesn't fit the pack, it is easy to leave it behind in my experience.

I'd pack a Nikon ED 50mm

Not as good as an 85 for sure, but for me plenty good.

I've never found any spotter to be worth the weight. A good pair of binocs is more than enough.

Put me down for an 80mm. Worth the weight for me.

If it is the "overwhelming concensus", there must be a good reason why. On backpack hunts, I invariably tote my 60mm B&L. When in a truck or deer stand, I carry my 82mm Kowa.

And a Slik Sprint Mini tripod.

I have an 80 mm ED spotter as well as a 50 mm spotter. But my 65 mm spotter gets the nod for my backpack hunts. Not so much because the weight is so much less but because the volume it takes up as well. Rarely is lighting an issue for most of my hunts so the added 80mm is usually a non-issue. But just like everything else its all personal preference.

Thanks for the thoughts... all good points. alaksa-lanche... if size weren't an issue would you step up to the 80 for 2lbs?

Size isn't a huge issue for me if I do end up taking it -

I either lash the scope and tripod to the sides of my pack or lately for the pack in, after my main bag is full I squeeze the assembled rig, tripod first into my drawcorded bag. Then lay the spotter across that and secure with my pack hood. Nothing's in this space currently and a spotter is a spotter with regards to size in this spot. Thoughts?

As with most things in the optics world the laws of diminishing returns takes effect weather it be price (going from a $1K spotter to a $3K spotter) or size and weight (65mm to 80-85mm). Yeah the $1K spotter likely won't be quite as clear as the $3K one but man $2K will pay for a lot of extra leave with out pay to have the time to get out and use the $1K spotter vs. having to stay and work to pay off that $3K one and the difference between the mid rang optics and the top tier is ever closing.

Same with the size. The main difference of the larger objective is light gathering. With good light the difference between the big Swaro objective and my 65mm was nil in good light...at dusk/dawn there was a couple extra minutes of light which could have made or broke the hunt on an animal I suppose. However, if in the morning generally by the time you spot them at dawn light IME the animals I hunt up here they hang around long enough to allow enough light for my 65mm to look them over pretty good before ducking into the woods if they do. And at dusk if its too dark to judge them at a distance with a 65mm you ain't getting over there that day anyways to kill it.

So no for me the 2 lbs is not worth it. Haven't had an instance in hunting where I found me longing for the objective spotter where I thought it would make a difference in any of my hunts as of yet. I'll take the smaller, lighter spotter of the 65mm and "make due"

Awesome and thanks. My big dilemma is I don't consider my 62 a top quality spotter. It's okay, but I feel pretty beige about it.

I really love my 85, the Razor, but it is a tank and thus why I'm asking and trying to rationalize. As Toad pointed out pounds are pounds...

Just did a 10 day Alaskan trip, lighter and smaller are better. The 62mm obj worked fine even in late evening. (lecia)

LC

It also depends on what you are using the spotter for. When you are trying to decide if a ram is full curl before burning a day and several thousand feet trying to get a closer look, 2lbs might be well worth it.

If you aren't looking long distances, and don't have to be "exactly" right, leaving the spotter at home might make a lot of sense.

As others have mentioned, it's a space issue. I have a Swaro 20x60x80 that I carry around but the biggest pain in the butt is the space that it takes up in the pack. It's pretty huge and annoying to carry. Nice once you get to where you're going, though. I suppose someday I'll be able to afford two and I'll buy a smaller one. I just don't want to give up the big one to do it. Once you use one you get spoiled.

Bigger does not always mean better. My 62mm Lecia outperforms many (most) larger scopes.

2 lbs on a extended backpack trip is a lot IMOP.

Lefty C

After humping a Zeiss 65mm and tripod back in for 12 miles earlier this month, I'd have say a 50mm scope would be better. I've heard the Nikon is a decent scope.

I'm not completely convinced that scopes are even worth bringing, at least for us.

Like someone said earlier, "Ounces matter".

Thanks again for all the thoughts and all good points. I think I'm going to downsize my spotter for the backcountry trip but that leads me to think what tripod head is everyone using? I've got the tripod covered with a carbon Promaster that weighs in at just under 2.3 lbs. If I'm counting ounces I want to make sure I'm doing it everywhere - including tripod head. I have a great Manfrotto pistol grip ball head but that weighs in a 1.5lbs, a basic promaster pan head at 11 oz (I would bring this but I'm a little iffy on the quick release plate connection to the head - seems a bit jinky and doesn't seat in with out some minor jiggle), and a vortex ball head that came with my old High Country tripod at 5 oz... Thoughts? Right now it's between the promaster and Vortex head. I guess what I'm asking is the 6 oz difference worth the pan head or go ball for weight savings?