What is your preferred Optics Combination? (Range Finder, Binos, Rifle Optic, & Spotting Scope?

[THE1LAF]

I've been out of the game for a while now, & trying to get back in.

Growing up hunting Mule deer in central MT I didn't go out with more than my rifle, knife & granola bar. Binos stayed in the truck and all glassing was done with my 3x10 rifle scope. I found a Nikon Monarch Gold 1200 rangefinder on public land back in the early 2000's and still use it to date.. Man, ignorance is bliss.

I've spent the last ~18 months in podcast & youtube land, taking in everything with a grain of salt. It's a completely new world in ~15 years.
Now the standard optics list includes a spotting scope, binoculars, rangefinder, and rifle optic.
Eventually I'm looking to replace everything, I already downsized from my 300 WinMag and to a proper LH rifle, I have no regrets so far!
It's interesting to hear so many different perspectives from PRS & NRL Hunter competitors, long range hunting schools like Barbour Creek, optics mfg's, and smooth salesmen like the Gunwerks guys.

I fall back to an old default asking why I need a spotting scope when I have a 28x rifle optic, but I have never used one outside of a range setting in the past.
I understand the need for binos & range finder, but listen to glass compromises & expenses when trying to combine them & Gunwerks guys talk about beam divergence from the reticle the complications that can cause.

All my mental gymnastics lead me to think a quality set of 10x binos, Weapon mounted LRF zero'd to rifle optic(Vortex Impact 4000), & my March 4.5-28x52 Highmaster should cover all the bases..

Seeing as this is all from my desk at work, What have I failed to consider?
What is your preferred optics combination & why?

Thanks everyone.

 

[Rick Richard]

3-18 or 4-20 scope, 10X Bino and a RF that is capable within your intended shooting distance. Cost is what you are willing to part with.

 

[Mickp7]

Archery elk- Cabelas 12x32 pocket size binoculars, Leupold Full Draw RF (for angle compensation)
Rifle elk- Vortex 12x50 Razor HD, Sig Kilo 2400ABS RF (with ballistic software dialed in for the rifle), Nightforce NX8 4-32 rifle optic
Easter deer- 10x42 bino, misc rifle optics (shots are all under 200 yards so doesn't matter

I do not carry a spotting scope hunting.

 

[quandary]

3-18 or 4-20 scope, 10X Bino and a RF that is capable within your intended shooting distance. Cost is what you are willing to part with.

I would add a spotter and tripod to this list. Spotter would come along depending on hunting situation. In addition my personal preference is dialing scopes with a ballistic solver RF, I use the Revic BR4. Alternatively you can eliminate one item by using binos with a RF and ballistic solver built in.

 

[crazymonkey]

20x60x85 spotting scope, 10 x50 binos, and rifle scopes are all over the place depending on caliber and intended use from 3x9 x40 to 5x25x56. I really like my 5x25x56 atacr and love my tangent 315m. As for range finder it's a vortex 3 or 4k I can't remember exactly.

 

[Greyfox]

My favorite LRH optics combo… Scope:ZCO420, RF:Revic BR4, Bino:Leica 8x40 Geovid, Spotting scope: Leupold 12x40x60 Roof prism. Honorable mentions for scopes: Nightforce ATACR 5x25, S&B 5x25x56.

 

[BrentM]

My current set up is Leica 3200 (lrf/bino) 10x42, 3-18x50 scope. That is my field choice on any given day. After having a LRF in a bino combo I will likely never go back, except for bow hunting. Bow hunting I need a single one handed quick range often. In that case a super cheap LRF works amazing. That leica set up has been very good and I cannot complain about much. The ballistics program works as it should but it is not feature rich. I doubt 99% of the people would even notice a concern in the field. We are just to programmed to think we need a whole host of crap that we don't need, never will need, that we get lost in the process.

Spotting scopes are extremely valuable if glassing for trophy level animals. Yes a high mag range scope can be ok for that but its not a replacement. If you spend a fair bit of time glassing and scoring animals with a spotter, you'll instantly know what I mean. In open country a 12 or 15x bino works very well as most glassing FOV issues are not a problem due to distance. However, still not a replacement for scoring etc.

Quality of glass is going to get you much further over just power too. Brand doesn't always mean better either. The coatings may not be your preference but generally in the glass world, Swarovski is king, then leica..... so on. Lots of good choices but if you can afford high end, do it, you'll never regret it.

 

[JAYgs8163]

Rifle hunt.

NF NX8 2.5-20x50 rifle scope
Sig Kilo 8k RF with their ballistic software
Swarovski 15x56 Bino
Kowa TSN553 15-45 spotter
Sometimes I carry a small Swaro set of 8 or 10 Binos depending on the terrain.

Sometimes I leave the Sig RF behind and take the Sig RF Binos with same software instead.

 

[JAYgs8163]

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