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Everyone's likes and experiences are different I'll share mine.
I bought my Swaro 15x56's 10 seasons ago and purchased the tripod adapter at the same time, both still work like new and yes I use them a lot.

I have tried many tripod and head set-ups over that 10 years and for me I will never own another pistol grip head they seem to last a year or two then they are shot. For bino glassing I much prefer a ball head over anything else (currently using a Manfrotto 486 rc2). I can glass for hours fatigue free with this combo, only downside is that if you want to switch to a spotting scope then a ball head absolutely sucks.
I have a seperate tripod and head for my spotter (Manfrotto 701RC2 pan head) that also works for bino's.

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If anyone has a Swaro adapter they aren't using, or any other that will work, I would be interested. I just purchased the 15x56's and they don't come with an adapter. Let me know. Thanks.



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[quote=dennisinaz]Here is the Highlander setup.


[Linked Image]
The Highlanders are an excellant setup but arguably at least not
the top of the world for a hunter.
Here in PA we consider our glasses the most important tool we have for long range hunting. You can kill a deer with about any
decent rifle, but finding it is first on the list.
For about 50 years now twin spotters in brackets top the list for choice among hunters here. 80 mm Swaros or Kowas are as common as bs among hunters here. A major advantage of the spotter setup is the advantage of realligning them in the event
they get knocked or blown over. Fifteen minits with an allen wrench and your back glassing whereas with any standard type binnoc. it requires a trip back to the factory for repair. Yes,
the twin setup is bulkier and might be a little heavier as a downside. There are also other excellant choices for a far more
reasonable twin setup. I have a pair of the 15x58 Minox also in
addittion to 5 or 6 different twin setups. Weve done alot of side by side testing with all the others including the 15x56 swaros and the leica 15x56 geovids. As might be expected the owners of the Swaros and leicas think theirs slightly better
than the Minox. Others smile and say give me these and the difference in money. Side by side on the same day looking at the
same object is the only way to see any differences in optics.
On a good day their all good with some good ones a tad better than others. On a bad day their all bad, even the best ones.
And that includes the highlanders and all the others including
my own good ones.
Bogen is very popular here for tripods. The 3031 tripod with the
3030 head is pretty compact for the smaller glass setups. I would be looking a little larger for a highlander or larger glass.



Last edited by yobuck; 10/02/14.
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What company makes a bracket for the twin spotters?? And can ya get them for all different spotters?? Are they truly adjustable for eye width??



Take care, Willie


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Eric,

I have the center post extension on my medium tripod for added height, but I almost never use it standing up. Even when I do, the medium is tall enough for my use with an angled spotter, but I'm short.



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EricM Offline OP
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Kilmer,

Thanks! I'm going to stick with the taller size and see how I like it. I'm 6'1. Thanks for the input!

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Some nice set ups boys.


Last edited by Walleyes; 10/02/14.
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Originally Posted by wdenike
What company makes a bracket for the twin spotters?? And can ya get them for all different spotters?? Are they truly adjustable for eye width??



Take care, Willie


Im not aware of any company per/se currently making brackets for twin spotter setups. Most im familiar with are made by machinists who are also hunters. They are fully adjustable for
inter eye relief as well as for allignment. The design can vary
somewhat and can influence the size, weight,and cost. The angled
eyepiece scopes wont work in brackets. Reason being the scopes
are rotated in the bracket to allow for inter eye adjustment. Id
say most scope brands could be used in a bracket designed for it. Some however make for a pretty funky setup. Leica for example requires one scope to be mounted upside down in the bracket. Most scope makers today only offer zoom eyepieces for
their scopes. Kowa is an exception to that and still offers various power eyepieces. Most zooms dont work well in twin setups due to the difficulty in matching the power of each exactly. Im told Swarovski is an exception but i havent seen that first hand. Good eyepieces can vastly improve the scope
quality. Years back, probably in the 60s, Bausch&lomb marketed
their still excellant balscope as a twin setup and it was a
cataloug item. It was also offered with a rotating 3 eyepiece
turret. We still have several sets of those here in this camp.
The brackets and turrets were made for them by the Frank Meischner co. in Boston. He also sold them to the general public. When B&L discontinued the balscope, Meischner discontinued making brackets and turrets.

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Originally Posted by yobuck
[quote=dennisinaz]Here is the Highlander setup.


[Linked Image]
The Highlanders are an excellant setup but arguably at least not
the top of the world for a hunter.
Here in PA we consider our glasses the most important tool we have for long range hunting. You can kill a deer with about any
decent rifle, but finding it is first on the list.
For about 50 years now twin spotters in brackets top the list for choice among hunters here. 80 mm Swaros or Kowas are as common as bs among hunters here. A major advantage of the spotter setup is the advantage of realligning them in the event
they get knocked or blown over. Fifteen minits with an allen wrench and your back glassing whereas with any standard type binnoc. it requires a trip back to the factory for repair. Yes,
the twin setup is bulkier and might be a little heavier as a downside. There are also other excellant choices for a far more
reasonable twin setup. I have a pair of the 15x58 Minox also in
addittion to 5 or 6 different twin setups. Weve done alot of side by side testing with all the others including the 15x56 swaros and the leica 15x56 geovids. As might be expected the owners of the Swaros and leicas think theirs slightly better
than the Minox. Others smile and say give me these and the difference in money. Side by side on the same day looking at the
same object is the only way to see any differences in optics.
On a good day their all good with some good ones a tad better than others. On a bad day their all bad, even the best ones.
And that includes the highlanders and all the others including
my own good ones.
Bogen is very popular here for tripods. The 3031 tripod with the
3030 head is pretty compact for the smaller glass setups. I would be looking a little larger for a highlander or larger glass.






The Swarovski rep told me that over 40% of the 15x56 sold in America are sold in Arizona. I think we pretty much rule the roost when it comes to big eyes.

As far as the twin scopes we tried that and they were quite a hassle as well as heavy, awkward and hard to use. They pale compared to the Highlanders and even the Doctor 30x80s.


Now as to resolution. At a Coueswhitetail.com get together we set up a number of tripods with various quality glass on them, put up a Vortex optic test chart and had about 15 people who regularly use glass compare them all. We noted the finest lines they could resolve on the chart.

I don't remember the numbers, but the Swarovski 15x56s were better than everything else we tested. The second place was the Vortex Kaibabs. They were about tied with the $3000 Leica Duovids.

The Minox were not in the running. We had no glass over 15x in this comparison. The top two results were unanimous and there was a little discussion over the next 2 or 3 places.

This correlates well with what I have seen. I had a demo pair of Kaibabs sent to me when they first came out. I used them, my Swaros and Minox quite a bit.

The new HD Swaros are better yet.

I didn't have the 15x Leica to compare but I have since used them and feel they are not as good as the Swaros either.

They are good mind you but they don't resolve as well nor are they as comfortable to spend hours behind as the SLCs.


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We rule the roost for extremely small bulls too. grin




Take care, Willie


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well the rep might be correct in that statement, but what does it prove? Maybe that more people in Arizona can afford expensive glasses? Will sheep follow others over a cliff?
Your Kowa Highlanders are 14 lb for one reason, that being the housings are made of in plain words plastic. Is (any) set of glasses worth $5000 with plastic type housings? Ive spent many
hours glassing with highlanders. A very old and close friend who
hunted from this camp was a Kowa dealer. I recently sold his personal highlanders for his wife.$3200 with the flurite glass
and a pelican case. I could have owned them for about any price i offered. As for brackets, there are for sure good and not so good ones just like pizza shops and everything else. People in
every state are willing to spend their hard earned cash for quality, not just in Arizona. Also remember this, long range
hunting as we know it today started here in PA, and spread west.
The early choice in optics were the various large military glasses primarily German and Jap. They have lossed popularity
because it's not practicle to own and use them for hunting.
I could change the minds of most hunters in 5 minits
regarding their 15x56 swarovskis with a $500 set of spotting scopes. Anyone within reach of me is welcome to come see for themselves. I can have the Swaro and Leicas here also. I'll even include a good deal on my junk swaro rangefinder.

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Yobuck- I have used the double spotting scope setup. David Miller in Tucson is the one who pioneered that technology back when he was on his coues deer quest. We all abandoned them for a reason. You keep using them and telling yourself that long range hunting started in PA.

I have hunting in PA and none of the places I have been could you even see 500 yards. It's thick out there. I'm sure there are places you can see far but they are not the norm.

As far as the proliferation of good optics in Arizona it is because of coues deer hunting. You won't do well unless you bait or glass. Period. Now that baiting has been banned we are back to glassing.

Using high power binoculars on a tripod is the norm here, not the exception. I don't think that is the case in PA. You guys do have far more long range target shooting competitions than we do, however.


The Highlanders have a die cast aluminum body, they are not plastic. Guess you don't know as much as you think.

I am done on this subject. I don't need to prove to anyone, anything. I know what works and what doesn't.

Oh, I don't like Swarovski scopes either- just their binoculars. I don't like their rangefinder either- especially the new ranging binoculars.


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Not that I have much to add, but on my recent trip to ID my par had a pair of Swaro 15X mounted on a tripod. It made spotting game almost too easy. Hella useful.

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Hey guys, I received my big eyes setup over the holidays and am super stoked on the purchase. I can't wait to do some field testing. The Outdoorsmans tall tripod with pan head is smooth as hell, and solid. The Swaro 12x50's click into the bino adapter in one quick motion and easily detach. The panning is just awesome. I'm going to use this on a West TX Aoudad hunt in Oct. and will report back once I have more time with the system.

Happy New Year!

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You'll wonder how you've hunted without them.

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Used a 15x56 SLC HD this year--not a lot but enough apparently for the Swaro adapter to go from snug to moving freely laterally--is that typical?

Great glass BTW. Also worked well hand-held for looking over WT racks at 200-350yds on CRP.


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