What Are the Benefits of Using Spotting Scopes?

Spotting scopes are a type of telescope that can offer high magnification. They are used for various outdoor activities, including bird watching, hunting, and observing celestial objects.

Distinguishing between look-alike wildlife species can be difficult, particularly in poor lighting. A spotting scope can help you see differences even at long distances without disturbing the animals.

Increased Visibility

Spotting scopes Canada have much larger objective lenses than standard binoculars, which allow them to collect more light for higher magnifications and provide sharper images. These units can be used for bird watching, nature observation, and spotting animals from long distances. They also have the advantage of being handheld or mountable on a tripod.

Using a spotting scope allows hunters to watch the movements of the game from an extended range without disturbing them. It can also help them locate trophy antelope or deer hiding in the brush.

Some spotting scopes offer digital imaging capability to record and save high-quality images for later viewing. This is known as digiscoping and can be very useful for recording lists of birds or tracking that trophy buck you’ve been trying to find.

Increased Magnification

Hunters, bird watchers, and wildlife enthusiasts can benefit from the increased magnification that spotting scopes offer over binoculars. This extra magnification allows them to get a closer look at the animal without getting too close to scare it away or risking their safety.

Many spotting scopes have a wide range of magnification levels, from low to high. Often, these scopes will have a number followed by two numbers, such as ’40 x 62′, which means that the first figure is the magnification and the second is the lens size in millimeters.

Some spotting scopes use special quality glass in their objective lenses (abbreviated as ED, HD, or Fluoride glass) to achieve superior image quality at higher magnifications. This is generally more expensive but significantly improves contrast and color accuracy at high magnifications.

Increased Comfort

When hunting situations call for prolonged glassing sessions, spotting scopes help make it more comfortable. Unlike binoculars, spotting scopes look like small telescopes and require a tripod to be set up. This allows users to swivel the eyepiece to a more convenient angle for their viewing needs.

For example, angled spotting scopes are more accessible when lying on the ground or sitting. They also provide neck relief, allowing hunters of different heights to easily share the same scope without bending their necks.

Additionally, spotting scopes with larger objective lenses offers better image quality at high magnification ranges. This is especially important as atmospheric conditions such as heat waves, dust, humidity, and glare can significantly impact your scope’s performance.

Increased Accuracy

For birding, spotting scopes are often better than binoculars because of their greater magnifications. They also have larger objective lenses, which allow them to gather more light for a brighter image. When selecting a spotting scope, it is essential to consider the requirements and specifications of the user.

Whether trying to distinguish between look-alike wildlife species or using your spotting scope to identify rings around ram horns or tines on an antler, you will want to ensure that your scope has high-quality, multi-coated lenses for maximum brightness and clarity. It would help if you also looked for models with ED or HD glass (fluorite lens) to minimize color fringing, which appears as a fuzzy halo around the edges of contrast-rich objects like animal feathers and sky.

Increased Safety

When hunting or glassing in the field, a spotting scope allows you to observe the game from a safe distance and prevents you from disturbing animals with your presence. This is a huge benefit when spotting elusive birds of prey or shed-hunting for that special boar.

Invest in a spotting scope with ED and HD lenses made from fluorite crystals to reduce color fringing. This distracting phenomenon rears its fuzzy head in high magnification ranges. It appears as a purple, yellow, or red halo around the edge of contrasting objects like elk antlers against the sky.

The quality of a spotting scope is often overlooked when shopping for one. Many buyers will sacrifice performance to stay within a specific price range when buying a spotting scope, which is a mistake.