Opinion on what I'm thinking, first purchases

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I talked to my veteran buddy up in Oregon and he kind of pointed me in this direction. I'm new to backpack hunting and hunting out west. What are your thoughts on Leupold 10x50 binos and a smaller Leupold spotting scope 65mm? I've been reading about weight issues with larger spotting scopes. My rationale is to carry a lighter spotting scope because the last thing I want is to buy a big one and hate how heavy it is and not use it. My future states to hunt will be Idaho, Arizona, South Dakota, Colorado if that helps. All opinions welcome as this is not my area of expertise, I'm used to not being able to see 30 feet in front of my face hunting the thick shit in South Carolina. Thank you.
 
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If your set on 10’s, get some good 10x42’s. And as far as spotter, do a ton of research. Play with as many as you can before buying. Don’t limit yourself to Leupold.
I wish I could but how do I even go about playing with them? haha. I feel like such a noob. Thanks man.
 

RS3579

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Go to a bass pro, sportsman’s, or cabelas and look at all the products that have. My personal opinion is 10x50 are a little heavy. I like the 10x42.
 
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Go to a bass pro, sportsman’s, or cabelas and look at all the products that have. My personal opinion is 10x50 are a little heavy. I like the 10x42.

Ok, that's a good start and I'm already with you on 10x42, I just for some reason thought the 10x50 were better after reading threads but I know nothing haha.
 
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Usually if you ask, the folks running the optics counters will let you try a few right outside the store doors to test in natural light and at farther distance.

If your conscience allows it, Cabela's has a great return policy. If you can narrow it down to a 2-3, you could put them on the credit card, gently test out in the field, and return the one(s) you don't like.

Edit to add: People's eyes are not the same. Take what you read as 'superior' with a healthy grain of salt. Test out comparable binos from several reputable companies to see which ones your eyes prefer.
 
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Usually if you ask, the folks running the optics counters will let you try a few right outside the store doors to test in natural light and at farther distance.

If your conscience allows it, Cabela's has a great return policy. If you can narrow it down to a 2-3, you could put them on the credit card, gently test out in the field, and return the one(s) you don't like.

Edit to add: People's eyes are not the same. Take what you read as 'superior' with a healthy grain of salt. Test out comparable binos from several reputable companies to see which ones your eyes prefer.

Oh, that would be cool and I see what you're saying with other's opinions. More than anything I'm just wading through all this information which is overwhelming I think. So I'll take the advice and go to the closest shop and see if I can test them outside to get a feel for them. As far as buying and testing them out that kind of scares me haha.
 
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Don't buy new, it's a waste of money when it comes to optics on the higher end. You'd be surprised on the deals that can be had if you are patient and know what you want.

With that being said comes down to budget. You can easily get by with a 12x50 bino instead of lower end binos and a spotter, that's the route I went because laying out $6k+ for a full setup is daunting. Additionally as others have mentioned what works for me won't work for you. I prefer Swarovski, my buddy prefers the colors in the Kowa spotter, and another buddy prefers Zeiss. All will get the job done and experience behind glass trumps all.
 
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When you look up Cabelas and the closest one you have is in Arizona, could the signs for me living in the wrong state be any clearer, haha.
 
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Don't buy new, it's a waste of money when it comes to optics on the higher end. You'd be surprised on the deals that can be had if you are patient and know what you want.

With that being said comes down to budget. You can easily get by with a 12x50 bino instead of lower end binos and a spotter, that's the route I went because laying out $6k+ for a full setup is daunting. Additionally as others have mentioned what works for me won't work for you. I prefer Swarovski, my buddy prefers the colors in the Kowa spotter, and another buddy prefers Zeiss. All will get the job done and experience behind glass trumps all.

I'd love to know what I'm looking at to be able to see a deal when it comes, I can't really hunt until next year anyway as I have to invest in all backpack gear, etc. So you're saying you just run the 12x50 swaros ? I need to get my hands on them and see what's up. I just want to hunt, didn't think it would be such a process to figure it all out but man it's daunting trying to wrap my head around everything from packs to gear, boots, etc.
 

ChrisAU

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When you look up Cabelas and the closest one you have is in Arizona, could the signs for me living in the wrong state be any clearer, haha.

I also dont have a Cabelas/BPS within more than 3-4 hours from me. I did not take a spotter on my first two western hunts, this year will be the first and it’s almost more for digiscoping than it is for finding game. Are you deer or elk hunting? I can tell you with binos only I haven’t struggled finding elk optically, but with deer I have stared at an area for minutes and then been given a heart attack when a deer moved. That’s with low budget optics. My first two years I carried 10x42 Diamondbacks, and never spotted an elk through them before I saw them with the naked eye. But as I said, deer surprised me often. This year I’ll have 12x50 Vipers and a 20-40x50 Kowa spotter, but I’m just along for the ride as I punched my tag last year and my buddy is up this year.
 
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I'd love to know what I'm looking at to be able to see a deal when it comes, I can't really hunt until next year anyway as I have to invest in all backpack gear, etc. So you're saying you just run the 12x50 swaros ? I need to get my hands on them and see what's up. I just want to hunt, didn't think it would be such a process to figure it all out but man it's daunting trying to wrap my head around everything from packs to gear, boots, etc.

Honestly you don't need them to go hunting, tags > gear. Can't buy experience. The gear I had when my buddy and I first went hunting out west, is vastly different than what I have now. If you can tag along with your friend that is willing to teach, cuts alot of the pain of learning how to hunt out west and that's also with gear. IMHO, there's no night answer, comes down to the type of hunting you want to do and will enjoy but that comes after you go hunting
 
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I also dont have a Cabelas/BPS within more than 3-4 hours from me. I did not take a spotter on my first two western hunts, this year will be the first and it’s almost more for digiscoping than it is for finding game. Are you deer or elk hunting? I can tell you with binos only I haven’t struggled finding elk optically, but with deer I have stared at an area for minutes and then been given a heart attack when a deer moved. That’s with low budget optics. My first two years I carried 10x42 Diamondbacks, and never spotted an elk through them before I saw them with the naked eye. But as I said, deer surprised me often. This year I’ll have 12x50 Vipers and a 20-40x50 Kowa spotter, but I’m just along for the ride as I punched my tag last year and my buddy is up this year.

I am more interested in mule deer than anything out west. I'll prob get to elk, I'm just a deer guy for now. I just want to make the right purchase the first time, even if it cry a little doing it haha. I know that I'm going to be a muley hunter for the foreseeable future and I'd rather not upgrade, more so just get the good shit the first go around. My buddy was just kind of leading to the Leupold's cause he gets it done with them, obviously, I like to stack that with everyone's opinion here as well.
 
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Honestly you don't need them to go hunting, tags > gear. Can't buy experience. The gear I had when my buddy and I first went hunting out west, is vastly different than what I have now. If you can tag along with your friend that is willing to teach, cuts alot of the pain of learning how to hunt out west and that's also with gear. IMHO, there's no night answer, comes down to the type of hunting you want to do and will enjoy.

Yeah, that's another slope I'm trying to figure out, preference point strategy/tag strategy. Unfortunately, I'm not connected out here in the west so until I come across some fellow hunters I'm a little SOL. I will be able to tag along with my buddy up in Oregon some time and help him scout so I'm trying to make that happen. I know for a fact I'm going to use guides for a bit, then maybe venture into some DIY hunts along the way, it all comes down to time. How much time will I have for a DIY hunt vs. using a guide to help shave off not being able to scout, etc. I get caught up in having the best shit sometimes so I'm trying to do some due diligence and make smart moves.
 

Ross

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Buy really good binos as noted 10x42 will cover most scenarios and they will last decades IIMO spotters unless only trophy hunting down the big list of importance on top gear purchases
 
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Buy really good binos as noted 10x42 will cover most scenarios and they will last decades IIMO spotters unless only trophy hunting down the big list of importance on top gear purchases

I was kinda leaning towards this, buy a badass pair of high-quality binos and later on make a spotter purchase, being me I was thinking I need to get everything at once to be set for all scenarios.
 
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