How to Choose a Spotting Scope

What Is a Spotting Scope Used For?

A spotting scope gives you more magnification than you'd normally want to hold in your hands, making it useful when binoculars can find the subject but can't show you enough detail. Binoculars are excellent searching tools. You can throw them up quickly, scan a hillside and move on. A spotting scope is what you reach for when you find something interesting and want a much closer look.

Hunters use spotting scopes to evaluate game before spending an hour crossing a drainage to discover that the magnificent buck they saw was, in fact, a shrub. Wildlife watchers and birders use them to study distant animals without needing to approach them. Shooters use them to see impacts on targets. Scouts can examine ridgelines, trails and distant terrain. Add a phone or camera adapter and the same optic becomes a platform for digiscoping.

Common uses include:

• Hunting and game observation
• Wildlife and bird watching
• Target spotting at the range
• Scouting and long-distance observation
• Digiscoping with a smartphone or camera

All of those users need slightly different things from the same basic tool, which is why choosing a spotting scope should start with the problem you're trying to solve rather than the biggest number on the box.

Compare the Solitude HD 9–27x56 Micro and Solitude HD 15–45x65 Compact below to see which fits your needs.

What Features Should You Consider When Choosing a Spotting Scope?

Before comparing model numbers, decide where your current optics are failing you. Do you need to see farther? Carry less weight? Find animals faster? Glass comfortably for several hours? Take photos through the eyepiece?

Those answers matter more than simply buying the scope with the largest numbers printed on the side.

Magnification

More magnification lets you see more detail, but there's a price for using it.

At lower magnification, you get a wider view of the landscape. That makes it easier to find an animal, follow something that's moving and keep the image steady. Crank the magnification higher and distant details become easier to inspect, but your field of view gets smaller. Every little tripod shake becomes more obvious, and heat shimmer and atmospheric haze get magnified too.

That's why immediately twisting a variable spotting scope to maximum power is usually the wrong move. Start low, find the subject and then zoom in. A variable-power scope makes this easy because you can scan at one magnification and inspect at another without changing optics.

Objective Lens Size

The objective lens is the big piece of glass at the front of the scope, and bigger objectives give the optical system more light to work with. That can be valuable around dawn and dusk, when wildlife tends to become more active and available light is disappearing at precisely the moment you'd prefer it not to.

The tradeoff is weight. A larger objective generally means a larger body and a heavier scope. That may not matter if the spotting scope lives on a shooting bench. It matters considerably more if you have to carry it six miles uphill along with water, ammunition, clothing and everything else you thought seemed light when you packed it.

Choosing an objective lens is therefore a compromise between optical capability and how much you want to curse your backpack.

Field of View

Field of view determines how much terrain you can see through the scope at once. A wide field of view makes it much easier to search for wildlife and keep moving animals in sight. A narrow field gives you less terrain to work with and demands more precision when aiming the scope.

Magnification and field of view are closely related. As magnification rises, field of view usually gets narrower. That means 45x may be excellent once you're studying an animal on the far side of a canyon, but it can be miserable when you're still trying to figure out where that animal went.

Start wide, find your subject and then zoom in.

Portability and Weight

There's a significant difference between a spotting scope that technically fits in a backpack and one you actually want in your backpack.

If you hunt from a truck, glass from a fixed location or spend most of your time at a range, a few extra ounces may not matter. Backcountry hunters, traveling birders and hikers have a different relationship with weight because they have to physically carry every piece of equipment they bring.

A compact spotting scope gives up some of the size and optical potential of a larger model in exchange for becoming something you're much more likely to bring with you. The finest spotting scope in the world doesn't help very much when you left it at home because it weighs as much as a small artillery piece.

Eye Relief and Eyepiece Design

A good image is useless if getting behind the scope becomes uncomfortable after twenty minutes. Eye relief is the distance between your eye and the eyepiece where you can still see the complete image, and more forgiving eye relief can make extended glassing much more comfortable, particularly if you wear glasses.

The angle of the eyepiece matters too. A 45-degree angled eyepiece lets you look downward into the scope rather than positioning your head directly behind it. That can be particularly comfortable when seated, lying prone or glassing uphill, and it also allows the tripod to remain relatively low.

A straight eyepiece can make it easier to point the scope instinctively at something you've already located with your eyes. Neither design is automatically better. Your neck may have an opinion after several hours.

Weather Resistance and Durability

The outdoors has a habit of ignoring what the weather forecast promised you, so a field spotting scope should be prepared for moisture, temperature changes, dust and the occasional indignity of being knocked against something hard.

Nitrogen-purged construction helps prevent internal fogging when temperatures change. Water resistance protects the optic when rain arrives. Rubber armor adds grip and helps protect the body from the normal abuse of being carried in a pack.

If your spotting scope never leaves a covered shooting bench, ruggedness may not be your highest priority. If it's going into the mountains, woods or marshes with you, it should be.

Digiscoping Compatibility

You've finally found the animal, it's beautifully framed against the horizon and naturally this is when you discover that holding a phone vaguely behind the eyepiece produces a video that looks like it was filmed during an earthquake.

Digiscoping fixes that problem by using an adapter to hold a smartphone or camera in the proper position behind the optic. A spotting scope for digiscoping uses an eyepiece that can work with compatible smartphone or camera adapters so the scope itself becomes the long-range lens.

Hunters can document game while scouting. Birders can record sightings. Wildlife photographers can capture distant animals without carrying a conventional telephoto lens of similar reach. If taking photos or video is part of the plan, check compatibility before buying the scope rather than improvising after the fact.

What Spotting Scope Magnification Do You Need?

The right spotting scope magnification depends less on bragging rights and more on what you're actually trying to see.

Lower Magnification

Lower power is best when you're still searching because it gives you a wider field of view, makes the image easier to stabilize and helps you follow moving wildlife. This is particularly useful in wooded country, broken terrain or at closer distances where extreme magnification would only give you a spectacular view of one very small section of forest.

Mid-Range Magnification

Mid-range power is the workhorse for general hunting and wildlife observation. You have enough magnification to inspect an animal while retaining enough field of view to keep track of it, which is why this is where many hunters spend most of their glassing time.

Higher Magnification

Higher power becomes useful when the subject is genuinely far away or when very small details matter. Open country is an obvious example. So is range use, where the question may not be “What is that?” but “Where exactly did that bullet hit?”

Increasing magnification doesn't improve the atmosphere between you and your target. Heat shimmer, haze and vibration all become more obvious at high power. On a hot day, you may discover that the atmosphere itself has decided 45x is none of your business.

Variable Magnification

Variable magnification lets you change strategy without changing optics. Scan at low power, locate the subject, increase magnification and inspect the detail you actually care about.

For hunters and wildlife observers who move between different terrain throughout the day, that flexibility is hard to beat.

Compact Spotting Scope vs. High-Magnification Spotting Scope

Choosing between compactness and additional magnification becomes much easier when you ask which problem annoys you more.

If your problem is carrying too much equipment, prioritize a compact spotting scope. If your problem is finding something with binoculars and then still being unable to tell what you're looking at, prioritize magnification and objective size.

A smaller spotting scope makes sense for backcountry hunting, travel, hiking and mobile wildlife observation. It occupies less space, weighs less and usually pairs well with a smaller tripod. A larger spotting scope makes more sense when you expect to spend more time stationary and want additional reach. Open-country hunters, range shooters and wildlife watchers glassing over large distances may find the extra weight worthwhile.

Variable magnification gives both types of users some flexibility, but physics remains physics. More glass and more optical system generally mean more scope to carry.

Sightmark's two Solitude HD models make that tradeoff fairly straightforward: one leans hard toward portability, while the other gives you more reach.

Comparing the Sightmark Solitude HD Spotting Scopes

The Sightmark Solitude HD 9–27x56 Micro and Solitude HD 15–45x65 Compact are designed for people who need dedicated long-range observation without hauling a huge spotting scope into the field.

The difference is emphasis. The Micro is the choice for somebody asking, “How small can I make this without giving up serious spotting capability?” The Compact is for somebody asking, “How much more reach can I get while still keeping the scope field-portable?”

Sightmark Solitude HD 9–27x56 Micro

If your hesitation about carrying a spotting scope begins with the words “I already have enough stuff in my pack,” the Solitude HD 9–27x56 Micro was built around that problem.

It measures only 7.7 inches long and weighs 21.6 ounces, making it small enough to disappear into a daypack without demanding a major reorganization of everything else you brought. Despite the size, you still get a 9–27x variable magnification range and a 56mm objective. The lower end gives you enough field of view to search efficiently, while 27x lets you move in for a closer look once you find what you're after.

The optical system uses fully multi-coated ED glass designed to control chromatic aberration and maintain accurate color, with roughly 85 percent light transmission.

The 45-degree angled eyepiece gives you a more relaxed viewing position during extended glassing, and its consistent 18mm eye relief keeps the complete field available whether or not you wear glasses. A twist-up eyecup, diopter adjustment and helical focus let you tune the view to your eyes.

The Micro is also built with digiscoping in mind. Its eyepiece works with popular smartphone and DSLR adapters, giving hunters, birders and wildlife watchers a way to record what they're seeing rather than trying to convince everyone later that, yes, the animal really was that big.

An 8.2-foot close focus gives the Micro some unexpected short-range usefulness as well. The scope is nitrogen-purged and fogproof with an IPX5 water-resistant, rubber-armored body for field use.

The included Arca-Swiss adapter plate and 1/4-20 interface also mean you don't need to begin your new-spotting-scope ownership experience by discovering that you bought the wrong tripod hardware.

Explore the Solitude HD 9–27x56 Micro

Sightmark Solitude HD 15–45x65 Compact

The Solitude HD 15–45x65 Compact is for the person who has already spotted something and is now muttering, “I need to see that better.”

Its 15–45x magnification provides significantly more reach than the Micro, while the 65mm objective gives the optical system a larger front lens to work with. The 3x zoom range lets you begin at 15x to find your subject before closing in to 45x for finer details.

The optical system uses fully multi-coated HD glass along with AR-coated Porro and Half-Penta prisms. Sightmark rates light transmission at roughly 80 percent.

Like the Micro, the Compact uses a 45-degree angled eyepiece. It adds an adjustable twist-up eyecup, diopter adjustment and up to 19.2mm of eye relief to keep longer observation sessions comfortable.

The scope body also sits in a rotating collar with a locking knob. That allows a second observer to rotate the eyepiece toward himself without forcing everyone to rearrange the tripod. A hunter using the spotting scope alongside a rifle can also rotate the eyepiece out of the way when it's time to transition from observing to shooting.

The built-in ARCA-Swiss foot mounts directly to compatible tripod heads, and the eyepiece is optimized for use with popular smartphone and DSLR digiscoping adapters. A built-in extendable sunshade helps control glare and keeps rain and stray light away from the objective, while the rubber-armored polymer body is nitrogen-purged, fogproof and IPX5-rated for outdoor use.

There is a weight penalty for all that additional reach. At 13.4 inches and 55.9 ounces, the 15–45x65 is much larger than the Micro. The decision is whether you'd rather carry less scope or have more magnification when the thing you want to inspect is a very long way away.

Explore the Solitude HD 15–45x65 Compact

Which Solitude HD Spotting Scope Is Right for You?

Choose the Solitude HD 9–27x56 Micro if the biggest obstacle between you and owning a spotting scope is having to carry the spotting scope. At 21.6 ounces, it makes particular sense for backcountry hunters, travelers and anyone building a lightweight observation kit. Its 9x low end also gives it plenty of flexibility for searching before zooming in.

Choose the Solitude HD 15–45x65 Compact if your bigger problem is distance. Its magnification reaches 45x and its objective increases to 65mm, making it the stronger choice for users who routinely glass large stretches of open country or need to study small details farther away.

If you're still undecided, think about your normal day rather than your most extreme hypothetical situation. How far do you actually walk? How far away are the animals or targets you normally observe? How much tripod are you willing to carry? How often will you genuinely use 45x?

Those questions will usually tell you more than a spec sheet alone.

How Do You Get the Best Image From a Spotting Scope?

Better glass helps, but technique still matters. Start with a stable tripod because magnification makes every movement easier to see.

Yes, technically you may be able to point a small spotting scope at something without one. You can also technically drink soup with a fork. There are better tools available.

Start at lower magnification and locate your subject before zooming in. Trying to find one deer somewhere on a hillside while already at maximum magnification is an excellent way to spend several minutes studying individual rocks.

Let the scope acclimate when moving between significantly different temperatures. Keep lenses free from dust and grit, and use proper lens-cleaning materials rather than the nearest available shirt sleeve.

Pay attention to the air between you and the subject too. On hot days, warm air rising from the ground creates shimmer that can make distant objects appear to move or blur. Increasing magnification doesn't fix that. It simply gives you a more detailed view of the problem.

When digiscoping, use a proper phone or camera adapter and keep the scope on a stable tripod. Your hands aren't a tripod, regardless of how optimistic you feel about them.