It all matters how much you glass. I see a lot of people buying cheap spotting scopes. I am thinking great for the range but not so much for hunting. These same guys buy cheap tripods. For working stiffs who don't have much much spend as much on optics as you can and learn what the best tripods are and how to use them. A very good tripod might cost you $300 or more for legs and panhead. Binoculars should be first in quality, then tripod then spotter. But.... You would be better off as a hunter with a Ruger American in 308 winchester and a Burris FF2 3X9 and a pair of SLC HD 8X42 binoculars mounted on a Slik 634SVH tripod with a UTA than you would with $3000 dollar custom 6.5 Creedmoor ELR with a Z5 scope and a pair of Vortex diamondback 12X50s. You have a lot less money in the first option.