At $700, what spotter?

[nksmfamjp]

….for western deer and elk hunting. I'm a day hiker, but still am not sure a spotter needs to be 5lbs.

What is out there? What do you like? At $700 budget is it better to stick with bino's only?

How about

LEUPOLD - SX-4 PRO GUIDE 15-45X65MM HD SPOTTING SCOPE

at $699?

 

[Reelamin]

All about how much weight you want to pack around. When I'm hiking in I know what I'm going to shoot. I don't need a spotter to tell me if I want to shoot it. Binos can show me everything I need to see.

If I had to pack a spotter and tripod the spotter would be a Vortex Viper 11-33.

 

[Recon$$]

I run the razor 11-33. Gets the job done. Right at your price point and it's small and light.

 

[Lowedown]

you can find the razors lightly used for $700ish in the 16-48x65, and the 11-33 for $500 or sometimes less if you look around i have the 20-60x80 and its stellar for the money. (im talking the gen 1s with the dual focus knob)

 

[nksmfamjp]

So, the Vortex is better glass?

 

[257 STW]

So, the Vortex is better glass?

I have the Leupold SX-4 Pro Guide HD 20-60. When I bought it I compared it side by side with the Vortex Razor, and for MY eyes the SX-4 was better. That said the 20-60 is a bit big to pack, but doable in my Badlands. my .02

 

[Recon$$]

You'll have to look yourself. I find the little razor is good enough for me to decide if an animal is worth the hike. I'm not doing hard core studying and scoring.

 

[KU_Geo]

I'd look for a used leupold 12-40x60 HD. Should be able to find one in the $700-800 range. Fantastic lightweight, compact spotter. It's no swaro, but for less than 1/2 of the cost it's a great all around western spotter.

 

[Wyo37]

I would save an extra 300 bucks and buy a kowa 663 or 664.

 

[JPatzig]

Athlon Ares G2 15-45x65mm UHD is newer to the scene, but rates pretty high for it's price bracket. Also compact and fairly light weight.

 

[PAGSDIII701]

Used, or New…I'd go with a Maven CS.1 15-45x65…Used it'll be in the $700-ish range, New it's $800

 

[chav0_12]

That SX-4 would probably be good enough. I have buddy that's going to get himself the SX-4 before fall. Also remember that having a good tripod is a must, it's hard to keep a spotter steady on a cheap tripod. It's always a good idea to save as much money as possible for optics though. I've had cheaper spotters and was considering getting the SX-4 because of the size, otherwise it would've been the SX-5. I ended up buying an ATX.

 

[eric1115]

Do you have good to great binos that you can mount to a good tripod? If no, I would put the money into getting to that point first. Many people think they need more magnification when what most of us really need is more resolution. A smaller sharper image is better than a larger blurrier one. Even if a mid range spotter can show a bit more detail than a high-end pair of binoculars, the great binos will be helpful 100% of the time that you're glassing instead of the 10 to 20% that most people use a spotting scope for.

A pair of SLC, Kowa BD, Nikon HG, Maven B series, Leica Trinovid, etc on a good tripod are amazingly good. If you're hand holding a pair of Vipers or Leupold binos, that setup will blow your mind. Bino upgrade is also much lighter in the pack than adding a spotter.

If you have a top shelf pair of binoculars and a good tripod already, then the spotter could be worth it. I would do everything I could to stretch the budget a little bit and look at a used leica 62, or Kowa 663/664. If the budget is the budget, a Nikon ED50 or the Athlon Ares 65 are fantastic compact spotters for the money. A used Kowa 662 would be a good option as well. I would for sure recommend 30x fixed eyepiece for it instead of a zoom. Having looked through most of these side-by-side by side against various Swaro, Maven, Vortex, Leupold, etc it's what I would pick for myself.

 

[GunHawk]

To what degree is objective size more (or less) important than lens coatings or other image quality variables?