Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Spotters- straight or angled?

My only spotter is an inexpensive little Minox 15-30 that I bought to fit in my range bag. It struggles when viewing small bullet holes at 200 except on the blooming targets, so I’m thinking of upgrading a bit. I know that on the bench straight is the way to go after using a borrowed angled model yesterday and having to pop up like a P-dog every time I wanted to look, but what about in the field? I see YouTube hunters using angled scopes, but it seems to force them to expose themselves quite a bit. Are they using angled scopes because they’re easier or more comfortable or are they just adapting to the equipment?

Although angled is far more popular, I've been using my straight swaro 65mm for years out west and don't plan on changing.

Angled

I think it is personal preference. I have had both, and prefer the straight.

Ditto. When critters are on the move, I get the spotter on them quicker with a straight.

Same here, on both responses. Depends on your application and preference. FWIW, I'm retired from hunting, just shoot on the range. Straight works best for me.

Also, don't ignore eye relief. Doesn't get the attention it should.

I prefer straight. I've owned and used both. My primary uses are @ the range on a tripod or from the pickup on a window mount. I find it much faster to both find what I'm looking for in the spotter quickly, as well as reference back to my viewing subject without the spotter using a straight body.

If you're constantly looking "up" with a spotter, say from a valley floor up onto a mountain, I can see the allure to an angled body for some folks depending on the terrain they hunt. The whole unit sits lower which should make it steadier on a tripod. Looking down into your spotter is probably more comfortable than crunching to get "under" it trying to look up.

I haven't employed a spotting scope in the field in ages but rely on one at the range. I preferred a straight for decades but after scoliosis bent my head down a bit I found the angled eyepiece more suitable. Speaks to personal preference effected by physical needs. (At the bench I set it on a stand that puts it down low beside me so all I need to do is lean over a little and look down into it.)

Overall I prefer angled. Only exception is a window mount in a vehicle where straight is the only way to go.

I’ve used had and used both, and am hardover for angled. Far easier in the field, once you are accustomed and figured out how to get the scope where you want. I’ve been using a Leica APO 65 for years, couldn’t be happier.

Totally agree angled is much more user friendly for hours of use.

Straight for me. A lot easier switching between binoculars and spotting scope with a straight. Angled definitely has a few advantages though.

I've only used an angled spotter at the range once and once on the target, it worked okay. When I bought my own spotter, I bought the straight because I thought it was more intuitive and faster sighting over the top to get on target at the 15x setting and then dialing up for better detail. I shot more in my younger days and while that scope still goes to the range, we use it more on a tripod at the cottage for watching other things than targets. Many times I'll have people unfamiliar with good optics looking through it and they adapt better to a straight through optic.

I have angled (Athlon from Doug) and prefer it at the range but in the field it is harder to get on target than a straight so if you are glassing with a binocular on a tripod and then want to check something out with the spotter it is much easier IME to find what you are looking for with the straight.
I don't scan with a spotter though because I find it too tiring to look with one eye for hours at a time.

Straight for me

My preferences are:

Straight for window mount. Straight for shooting, as spotter seated or standing, especially varying target distances.

Angled for spotting from prone (assuming that you can rotate the scope body to allow the shooter to simply switch from riflescope to spotter). Angled for use by different people of various builds and stature, especially standing but the scope body needs to rotate. Angled for long periods of glassing.

I recently sold my last straight scope and went out of my way to buy an angled scope (three actually).

+1

Have always used straight, just got my first angled. To me, there is a learning curve between the 2.

I don't find a straight to ever be better than an angled. Not switching back and forth from binoculars or in a truck with a window mount

Straight. I’ve used an angled eyepiece in competition years ago and it worked ok but overall I prefer a straight eyepiece.

I much prefer straight

You can sit behind an angled spotter for hours without much for neck strain. You also do not have to have a tripod that is as high to work an angled scope. I have premium spotters that are straight and angled and I much prefer angled.

Both work well. Angled ones are easier for groups of different sized people watching animals, or spotting game high above you in mountains or, if turned sideways, from shooting from the bench.

For quickly finding and examining game I prefer straight.

I do too..

It's a preference thing. I definitely like straight spotters better, in general, but find angled scopes to be advantageous in certain scenarios.

458Win;
Good morning to you sir, I hope the weather in your section of Alaska is behaving and you are all well.

This year for the first time in 31 years, I spent some serious time chasing sheep as an old friend and hunting companion was drawn for a next to impossible to get any ram tag on the mountains behind the house.

Since it's such a rarity, a few of us locals who know that area volunteered to help out, but frankly it was selfish for me anyways as it gave me an excuse to look for rams once more.

Anyways sir, all that to say is we found what you've written to be exactly our experience.

All the best to you all on your hunts this fall.

Dwayne

Thanks Duane, I am still at our Homestead on the Alaskan peninsula finishing up butchering our last moose and cleaning up after the season.

Steep downhill = straight
Slight downhill = straight
Level = straight
Slightly uphill = straight
Steep uphill = angled

These are my preferences
To each, his own.

I would add that for a position target shooter the angled is also best as one inlynhas to move their head a little to see the hit.

Maybe I have limited ability to rotate my neck, but shooting prone or off the bench the angled scopes just don't feel right. I've pondered whether a scope that splits the difference, i.e. a shallower angle, would be ideal. No such animal exists.

Straight is my preference. In the open country that I live in, spotting from the vehicle is where at least 50% of my spotter use occurs. Angled spotters suck from a window mount. I carry my spotter with me almost every time I hunt and have never felt at a disadvantage with a straight spotter. I might feel differently if I were looking upward at a sharp angle on a regular basis.

I have found straight to be the easier use when shifting from binos to spotter on the tripod, as an angled spotter makes me have to lower the tripod to adjust for the different ocular height.

What are they? I have no experience with spotters but I’m interested in getting one as well

I use an angled ATS 65mm Swaro but may go straight if I ever upgrade. I do find I have less neck strain when using an angled for long periods, and having them lower to the ground is nice too for stability, even if it is just a few inches.

One thing I haven’t see mentioned is durability. I feel like I need to be more careful with an angled when cinching down my pack to keep from torquing the eyepiece and damaging it. It seems that a straight eyepiece would be easier to keep ‘in line’ with the pressure when you really torque down pack straps. Hopefully that makes sense.

Maybe it is just me being too cautious and in reality is a non issue…

Phil,

I agree with all you've said, and will add that for practical-style shooting and competition, with multiple targets at different locations, I've found straight to be preferable since it allows the user to switch between targets quickly and easily. If a guy attends some PRS-style matches, the spotters he sees will be almost exclusively straight, IME.

Pretty much just what was mentioned above, IME. If looking at a steep uphill angle, a straight spotter requires you to get lower to see through it. Additionally, if shooting from prone or off a bench, a straight spotter requires you to get off the rifle and move more to look through the scope. Some people prefer angled for truck-mounted use, but I'm not one of them unless looking steeply uphill.

I'm not a short guy, at 6', and I have a he11 of a time getting the window low enough to get my eye above the eyepiece on an angled spotter when using a window mount. Even on a spotter with a rotating eyepiece, you can't cover the same amount of country because you can't look to the extreme right or left as easily. Straight is FAR better from a pickup window.

You're probably right about durability, though I can't speak from experience on that since I've not broken the eyepiece off of either straight or angled scopes. But I do find straight scopes to be more packable, given their profile. Though if OAL is an issue when packing, angled can actually be slightly beneficial since angled scopes are usually a bit shorter in length.

For me the only advantages are tripod can be slightly lower, looking up steep slopes, when multiple people are using the same spotting scope or a person “glasses” with a spotting scope. IMO, glassing with a scope is not as productive and a person misses more so is moot to me.

Straight Swaro spotter works for me.

I was on a Desert Sheep hunt about 10 years ago in Nevada, my client said "If angled spotters are so dam neat why don't we have angled binoculars and angled rifle scopes?????, seems counterintuitive to go from straight binoculars to an angled spotting scope then back to a straight rifle scope"............That's why I'm packing a straight !!!!!!!!!!!!

On a couple hunts I used other guides BTX spotters, If Swaro EVER makes one in a straight I will be the first in line

depends on what you are doing. straight is great if you seated or standing behind the scope, angled is better if you are view at angles or in a variety of positions.

Straight is the best option by far for hunters in most situations.

Blows my mind how many people "glass" with a spotter.

PS - you're missing lots of stuff....

Agreed, makes no sense to me.

Angled for me .
I glass with my 10x42 tracts. But the spotter has its place.
Here is a 1000 yard elk with a spotter
https://imgur.com/a/K6IEjDN
And a zoom on the phone
https://imgur.com/a/K6IEjDN

To be clear, when I said “I do find I have less neck strain when using an angled for long periods” I was referring to staring at a critter for 10 minutes waiting for him to lift his head, or to walk out of the brush, etc.

I can’t think of a single time I have ever looked through my spotter without first seeing something specific that I want to get a better look at.

I hear ya...

I use a straight most of the time as I find it easier to use. However, I do prefer an angled when scouting/hunting mountain sheep and goats. A quality tripod really helps too.

Straight... much faster to get on the object.

For the last several years a huge part of our glassing has been done with Vortex Razor 18x56 bins. great compromise between a bin and a spotter for ease of use and power. It needs a tripod of course. Now I carry two bins and two spotters...

The angle eyepiece is much more useful once you get used to it. It is like backing up with mirrors, it takes practice, but once you have gotten used to it, you see the advantage…

This is always an interesting topic, and comes up every few years. To add a different perspective, I'd be curious about those that prefer one vs. the other in terms of their brain dominance. Ie, are those that are left-brain dominant are more comfortable with a straight tube, and those that are right-brained are more comfortable with angled? I think an angled scope takes a bit more "spacial sense" than a straight tube which is more in line with a right-brain dominant person.

Dunno - just an observation having read these threads for years. And of course, there is no "right" answer to the question of straight vs.. angled. You've got to know that for yourself.

That has been my experience as well, at least for the type of hunting I do.



I had a pair of 15x Vortex's that I ended up selling. Found they did not do anything a pair of 10x42's couldn't do, Except take up space and weight. Still ended up setting up the spotter for a closer look. This was for sheep, antelope, and mule deer.

I use straight line for window mounts and angled for tripods.

I agree there might be something else to this preference. I’ve owned and used both and I definitely prefer angled in all uses for me, although I never use with a window mount so I can’t comment on that use.

The preference for angled over straight just seems obvious to me, but the opposite is true for others. No right or wrong answer here.
You may be on to something that better makes sense of it.

Do you glass with binoculars from a tripod? That is where I in general see the line.

I can't think of a single instance where a straight shooter is ever more comfortable to use than an angled.

Ya I do, and I agree some situations favor one over the other. But for me the angled is still preferred for overall use. But I guess not easy to make sense of the reasons why.

I just bought a compact straight scope to go with my bigger angled scope. I’ll have to use it for awhile and see how I feel about it.

At the bench I prefer angled. For all other uses, I prefer straight.

blood stains on them jeans?

I have an older Leupold compact 25x50 for hunting in the field or a window mt straight eye piece . For black powder target shooting to 1000yds it's damn hard to beat the angled eye piece on my Kowa TSN 821 because you need the steadiness of sitting if you expect to see bullet impact at 1000yds....mb

I'm definitely more right-brained. I'm an artist/craftsman/creative person, and have always had good spacial sense - I'm not an engineer or uber-linear thinker (but very few people are all left or all right brained obviously). I'd always owned a straight spotter, then in 2010 I started working on a remote ranch here in MT that had nothing but angled spotters. I started using them and instantly liked them better, and nothing over the following 2+ years I used them changed that opinion. I still only own a straight tube, but my preference is absolutely angled for 90%+ of what I use a spotter for.

Over the years from the bench to the mountains and the truck window, I just bring whatever is going to be more productive with the activity. If hard pressed to pick one, it would be the straight spotter. Options are good to have.

Whacking pigs and aoudad is lots of fun! Near Fluvanna if you know where that is.

Is that by Covidville?....

Not sure I know where Covidville is.

Covidville is a suburb of fluvanna of course…

I put together this bino/spotter device. Makes it handy to use by looking through the binoculars, then turn your head to use the angled spotter to look more closely at the animal. The spotter looks at about the exact same location the binoculars is aimed at.

Been using it for 15 years now.

I reckon angled is viable inside a fence on Blue Bird Days,but we've a thing called "weather" and another called "gravity",which fuels same as a minimum. Hint.

The LAST fhuqking thing I want is a Riflescope,Bino,LRF,Camera Lens or Spotter defaulting to a position to collect water. Hint.

Not that the Pavement Pounding Fair Weather Chronicles ain't a fhuqking HOOT ladies. Hint.

Fhuqking LAUGHING!.....................

Absolutely! Scurry county-south and a bit west of Post TX-See the sign when we go that way to Dallas from time to time. Pigs everywhere these days! Didn't know about the aoudad though...they eat well? or trophy?

Pigs and Meskins have taken over texas

Thanks for all the info. A number of thoughts hadn’t occurred to me. I’m thinking for my primary use, straight is the best option.

No pigs just Meskins have taken over Utah

Good choice IMO, just buy the best one you can afford so you don't go through this again down the road.

The 15x Vortex, diamondback? (now discontinued IIRC) was not the same grade as the 18x56, nor even close.

Make mine straight 👊🏻

Just a heads up, we have the Kowa TSN-883's and 884's with the TE11WZ 25-60 Wide Eyepiece on sale for only $2,499.99. If you're looking for an alpha quality scope then look no more

I just spent a week on my first backpack mule deer hunt. It was pretty big country, with fairly big mountains and pretty deep drainages (i.e. looking way up, and way down). I used an angled scope and binoculars on my tripod. My buddy had a straight scope. It was a good opportunity to see if my opinions would change. I normally hunt from a basecamp and view out to moderate ranges. And also do a fair amount of target shooting in the field on the Oregon coast with extremely steep angles.

I still like both, angled and straight. As some others previously mentioned, going from binoculars on the tripod to angled spotting scope is not ideal. So in the heat of the moment, when an animal was located, it took extra time to get back on it with the scope to confirm if it was worth pursuing. Straight scope being quicker.

Also, as Stick mentioned, I have preferred a straight scope when hunting or shooting on the Oregon coast. The ocular is less likely to collect water and can stay surprisingly dry without much effort with the light rain and mist.

I did have the opportunity to observe out to two miles and beyond on this hunt. At those distances, my 8x binoculars were not of much use. At least for deer, but I could certainly spot goats with their white coats on occasion. So it wasn't like I was switching from tripod mounted binoculars to spotting scope in those situations.

At those extreme distances, and spending long periods of time behind the scope, I much preferred the angled scope. Way more comfortable to me, plus I could keep the tripod lower which was helpful in the wind and the high magnification using a light duty tripod and head. I also rotated the angled scope body countless times to fine tune the viewing orientation and essentially expand the viewable area without having to move the tripod or reposition myself. With a straight scope, I would have had to physically reset the tripod, and reposition my body, all those times. Not a deal breaker, but I appreciate less movement and less fiddling especially when whooped from climbing or dropping elevation. Nice to be able to just sit and relax, and "peak around the corners"!

Only rained a coupla inches here yesterday,but the forecast is stellar. Hint.



Straight glass does a better job,of defeating wet gravity and only by Light Years. Might be a pun intended. Hint.(grin)





It was 70 a coupla days ago. Hint.

Reupold if only as per always,fhuqks easy schit up and my MK4 FFP Mil Spotter didn't have an OEM rain shade,so I made one. Now it's Super Fhuqking Custom. Hint. LAUGHING!






An external frame pack,makes a nice weather shield and a right proper shooting rest. I'll happily take a splayed tripod across my lap,rather than Monkey Fhuqking around. Hint..............

I wasn't going to bite on this thread but I can't help myself....

There was a time I said straight for the field and angled for the range, but after using a couple angled spotters in the field I prefer angled. Fourth point mentions about rain/snow on the ocular of the angled and that is a consideration. Angled are easier on the neck and can be lower on the tripod (or in my case the monopod) and finding a critter with the angled isn't as hard as I thought it would be.

Scanning. There have been plenty of times when 8x or 10x binos don't cut it and a proper, versatile spotter is necessary. Big eye binos have their place in some types of hunting but in mountains they are like carrying a folding lawn chair, and don't cut it when a guy ends up back in the timber. And still a guy still has to carry a spotter to zoom in to get a good look.

The problem with most spotters is the manufacturers insist on eyepieces that start at 20x or 25x. Too much magnified movement when when moving the spotter around and too much magnified tremor. A versatile spotter should start at 15x or lower and it needs excellent eye relief and a decently wide FOV to be versatile and scan with. Plus I have yet to meet a spotter 65mm or less that doesn't start losing resolution beyond 45x or 50x. Even my Swaro or other alpha spotters of that size. Eyepieces should start at 12x or 15x and end at 40x or 45x and then it would be easier to have a wider FOV. But alas, magnification sells just like magnum rifles used to sell.

Having said all this, I'm giving serious consideration to sell my Kowa 553 and buying the Leupold 60mm, even though the Leupold is straight.

It's kind've hard to argue with Mule Deer's duovids though..........

10-4 on those duovids. I'd like to have some myself.

Hey little buddy. I hope you are well. Here in Montana, we too get "weather" and have "gravity". Oh, I'm sure you have more weather and more gravity than we do; but, there is an occasional day or two where we do have both.

Anyway, people here, at least the ones who are smarter than a small soap dish, turn their angled spotter 90 degrees so that rain and or snow won't just drip into it. It is actually much more preferred to your suggested method of finding one's self sitting their scratching one's head, staring at the overly confusing situation and complaining about the eyepiece pointing skyward and filling with rain/snow.

Have a great day little buddy.

TheBigcry,

Your first hand Reporting from your Jerry Lewis Telethon,is never not funnier than fhuqk...you "lucky" kchunt. Hint. Congratulations?!?

Keep waxing eloquent on your exceedingly WELL founded Insecurities. Hint.

Fhuqking LAUGHING!...............

I'm glad I could help little buddy.

I'm with you on the usefulness of 15x on the lower end of the magnification range. I recently sold a straight 60mm that was 15-45x and I used 15x a lot especially for spotting impacts at medium range. And when 8x and 10x binoculars were insufficient for hunting.

I would have kept that scope but the image quality degraded noticeably at higher magnification. I just bought another straight 60mm to replace it which has 20x on the bottom end.

Just not sure how many people agree with us. I suspect that a lot of birders want much more magnification (i.e. 3x or 4x more) than their binoculars. They probably far outnumber hunters, but I could be wrong.

And I always keep my eyes peeled for a used Leupold FLP. Some good deals out there.