If they had 15s there would be no deer left today in AZ.
Optics are more important than rifles….change my mind
- Thread starter TRICER
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How about change my mind? I know the glass I use sucks but is something that is 10-20x the cost really that much better? Some of the Swaros start at 2.5K That's a ton of money to spend without even being able to have the option to look though them in even remotely realistic conditions. I know you guys are probably right but that's such a big price tag for somebody who literally hasn't seen the difference.
Good glass pays off in the field for sure. Unfortunately there is not "one glass does it all". And there is a ton of good experience based opinions on this forum.
One thing for sure is we all see glass through our own eyes. We also have different hunting styles. With that, I like having two optics with me. A high power set of bino's of good quality on a tripod and another set of lighter (8x or 10x) binos carried on a harness.
There is a ton of glass to choose from, and the better glass you can afford should be what you get. Good glass used under hunting conditions when game is most active does make a difference. What's more, good glass fatigues your eyes less allowing you to be in the glass longer and with more efficiency. Just how it is.
Hope this helps...
One thing for sure is we all see glass through our own eyes. We also have different hunting styles. With that, I like having two optics with me. A high power set of bino's of good quality on a tripod and another set of lighter (8x or 10x) binos carried on a harness.
There is a ton of glass to choose from, and the better glass you can afford should be what you get. Good glass used under hunting conditions when game is most active does make a difference. What's more, good glass fatigues your eyes less allowing you to be in the glass longer and with more efficiency. Just how it is.
Hope this helps...
Used glass is the way to go on a budget. You can get nearly new EL's for $1600 or so.
"Beta" glass is still good stuff, it will just be not as crisp and require more fiddling with the focus knob. Honest truth is that you don't know what you are missing and I wish I didn't stick my eye balls through NL Pures for hours...now my SLC's are not crisp.
I would add that we see through our brains as well. Eyes pick up signals and our brains interpret them...just like how I can be looking at a ketchup bottle in the fridge and not see it for minutes.
Mental side is just as important.
@Truduct I would say that the importance of glass varies with your hunting style / methods. Spot and stalk magnifies the importance of glass, but if you are doing deer drives on the east coast glass is not even needed. Go out with a 30-30 lever action and call it a day.
Hard to beat the 15s and 10s combo. I almost never use a spotter anymore. They are nice if you are trying to judge size but with the 15's on a tripod not to hard to tell what an animal is.
I just got my NL Pures and they make my Vortex UHD’s look like Barskas. They are amazing.
So right at legal shooting light start looking for game through your glass at 500 yards, real hard to see, alpha glass will find game before legal shooting light
Us birders up here in Montana glass A LOT too....I have both my 10x42 Swarvo EL's and 15x56 Vortex Diamondbacks with me....To be honest, there doesn't seem to be much difference power wise (10's versus 15's)....Meaning with the superior glass in the Swarvo's, I see little difference at looking for a rooster from a mile away....Maybe looking at a different terrain would make the 15's shine more.
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I could barely ID a deer as a buck in the open when it was closing in on dusk at that distance. I got close enough to ID it as a least a decent size forkie but it could of been better for all I know. I don't know I guess I need to go out with somebody that has good glass to really see the difference. Right now the way I'm hunting is structured knowing I'm missing out in this area.
Steve,
A little short story and probably not all that significant....But one evening, my SIL Jacob was over and were talking about this exact subject....He owned 10X42 Vortex Crossfires...I said look down at the lower lawn and tell me how many rabbits you see....It was a little after legal shoot time (1/2hour after sundown)....He responded with it was too dark to see anything....I then said look thru these 10x42 EL's....He saw 4 rabbits....In a nutshell, that's the difference....
ps....I have since bought him 10x42 Swarvo's..........
Snake Charmer
Happiness is a warm gut pile
Good analogy Steve....Steve,
A little short story and probably not all that significant....But one evening, my SIL Jacob was over and were talking about this exact subject....He owned 10X42 Vortex Crossfires...I said look down at the lower lawn and tell me how many rabbits you see....It was a little after legal shoot time (1/2hour after sundown)....He responded with it was too dark to see anything....I then said, look thru these 10x42 EL's....He saw 4 rabbits....In a nutshell, that's the difference....
ps....I have since bought him 10x42 Swarvo's..........
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I'm usually placing them on my shooting sticks. It's not perfect but much better than just trying to hold them.
That's kind of what I was suspecting would be the difference. And those are the times you really want to be able to see stuff. I guess I need to tag along with somebody that has good glass and look though it like that to really be able to see it. I do know that I've yet to use anything I enjoyed during low light. I also used my friends Vortex the other day in low light and they really were not much better, just magnified slightly more.Steve,
A little short story and probably not all that significant....But one evening, my SIL Jacob was over and were talking about this exact subject....He owned 10X42 Vortex Crossfires...I said look down at the lower lawn and tell me how many rabbits you see....It was a little after legal shoot time (1/2hour after sundown)....He responded with it was too dark to see anything....I then said look thru these 10x42 EL's....He saw 4 rabbits....In a nutshell, that's the difference....
ps....I have since bought him 10x42 Swarvo's..........
Snake Charmer
Happiness is a warm gut pile
Color seperation and light gathering ability is where modern glass excel's. Extreme's are where good glass shows it's merits and with big game early and late in the day is when that happens. I have been around long enough to have glass from the 70's up until now and I can honestly say the old stuff/old technology does not hold up to what is produced today. I'll say it again buy once cry once and buy the best that you can afford.
Snake Charmer
Happiness is a warm gut pile
Steve, Buy a set of Swaro 15's with tripod and you will sell the Vortex stuff in a heartbeat..
Big difference between then and now, for one they had an abundance of Game animals and little to no regulations on how to hunt them.
Two, you were not shooting at 200 plus yards with a ball and powder.
Spot some game out at 300 yards Great you have a shot but that Coleman 760 BB rifle sure isn't going to get the job done, so have all the optics you want, it takes a equality quality barrel to get the distance and accuracy. So i believe this is Kinda a symbiotic relation ship, granted it not little birds pecking Tics out of a rhinos ass, but they are dependent on each other
Two, you were not shooting at 200 plus yards with a ball and powder.
Spot some game out at 300 yards Great you have a shot but that Coleman 760 BB rifle sure isn't going to get the job done, so have all the optics you want, it takes a equality quality barrel to get the distance and accuracy. So i believe this is Kinda a symbiotic relation ship, granted it not little birds pecking Tics out of a rhinos ass, but they are dependent on each other