Stabilized Binoculars Are Changing How We Hunt

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Wind has saved more mule deer from hunters than their prodigious eyesight and keen hearing. Straight-line winds blow bullets off course, shifting breezes carry hunters’ scent right to twitchy bucks. And glassing in a stiff wind is as ineffective as stitching a quilt on the back of a saddle bronc.

When the wind buffets and blows—like it always does in mule-deer country—high-magnification spotting scopes are useless, even when anchored by heavy tripods. Even the Western-standard binocular, a mid-sized 10x42, can be hard to hold still in a prairie zephyr.

Steadiness in the wind is only part of the reason that electronically stabilized binoculars belong in the chest harness of any serious Western hunter. Their gyroscopic gimbal stills images in precisely the way VR—or vibration-reducing camera lenses make telescopic photos crisp and sharply focused, even in low light. VR binoculars are light, durable and optically powerful, replacing the need to carry a tripod or even a spotting scope in many situations.

Advances in materials, electronics and design make a new generation of VR hunting optics a smart choice for any situation where you need to see details at distance in conditions that make shake-free observation difficult or impossible. Think Coues deer hunting in Mexico and the American Southwest, mule deer hunting in the mountains and the plains, and sheep hunting anywhere. Or even glassing from a rocking boat, the passenger seat of a moving side-by-side, or the back of a saddle horse.

Catching On

Stabilized binoculars aren’t new, by any stretch. They’ve been at the helm of big-water boats for years, captains using them to glass effectively on pitching decks to avoid reefs and other marine hazards. Camera brands like Canon and Fujifilm introduced the first walk-about binoculars a decade or more ago, natural extensions of the camera companies’ VR photo business. But it wasn’t until Sig Sauer introduced its first ZULU6 a few years ago that the trend caught on with Western hunters.

SIG remains at the leading edge of the category, with ZULU6 binoculars in ever-higher magnifications. The model is offered in 10-power configurations, but to get the most out of the VR capabilities, the new ZULU6 HDX Pro versions in 16-, 18-, and now 20-power magnifications offer a huge reach and fast electronics without an obnoxiously bulky chassis.

Nikon is also reinvesting in image-stabilized binoculars. The company, again borrowing from its photo division, was an early leader in VR optics, introducing its stabilized 85mm EDG Fieldscope back in 2012, and incorporating VR technology in its rangefinding monoculars nearly a decade ago. The company last year brought a compact binocular with image stabilization to the market. The palm-sized 12x25 binocular is the perfect addition to a whitetail or turkey hunter’s kit. It’s also a marvelous travel optic, allowing safari clients to effectively spot plains game from the high rack of a jostling Landcruiser or rockers to see details of their favorite heavy-metal band from the chaos of the mosh pit. On the other end of the generational use spectrum, they’re user-friendly optics for shaky-handed kids.

The stabilized-optic trend is quickening. Both Canon and Fujifilm have new models. The Belgian optics brand, Kite, is bringing its stabilized APC binoculars to the U.S. market, in 30mm, 42mm and 50mm models. Western hunters will be interested in the 18x50 APC that runs on either standard AA batteries or rechargeable lithium batteries. Stabilized binos will still work without power, but their image-calming talents will vanish when batteries die, and you’ll be left with a very shaky optic that’s hard to hold still.

While all these models will produce decent images in a user’s hands, they’re even more talented when wedged in the crotch of a tree, resting on a boulder or a hunter’s pack, or mounted to a tripod. Kite’s 50mm models have a built-in tripod adapter, but if you want to mount Sig’s ZULU6 models, you’ll need the company’s polymer tripod adapter, a clamshell that snaps over the chassis and has an Arca-Swiss foot with a standard ¼-20 threaded insert for broad tripod compatibility.

PROS AND CONS

The fact that these optics require batteries to power their stabilization module is an obvious concern for backcountry hunters, but most manufacturers claim 30 to 40 hours of run time, and all binoculars have a timed shut-down after a period of inactivity. Still, smart hunters will carry fresh batteries, especially in cold weather.

Then there’s the question of durability. Unlike conventional binoculars, which are built around two parallel tubes, each with their own image-correcting prisms, stabilized binoculars have a single prism located between the focus wheel and the eyepieces. The design makes stabilized binos look blocky, and holding them can feel like you’re holding a brick of cheddar cheese. But the compact chassis means that an accidental drop won’t knock stabilized binoculars out of collimation.

Still, electronic modules are fragile by definition, and the eyepieces of stabilized binoculars, which distend from the chassis like the bug eyes of cicadas, not only take some time and patience for users to tune to their faces and optical prescriptions, but could be knocked loose with hard impact.

For experienced Western hunters, a binocular is like an extension of both hands and eyes, readily available to confirm the identity of a distant object. I’ll use my binocular maybe every dozen steps in the heat of a hunt, and I expect it to come to a single hand quickly and to my eye comfortably, with minimal fussing. The best conventional binoculars are ergonomic, their controls naturally in reach of my focusing fingers, and balanced to settle in both hands when I need to really auger in on a distant object or to carefully pick apart landscapes.

In comparison, stabilized binoculars are simply not as comfortable, elegant or ergonomic. They’re boxy and don’t balance particularly well, and their focus control is often located too far forward for easy fingertip reach. Given their abundant talents, that’s not a deal-breaker, but it is worth noting for walk-about hunters like myself.

Also of note: the blocky dimensions of stabilized binoculars don’t easily fit in standard-sized chest harnesses. If you intend to carry one on a chest rig, invest in models with oversized pouches.

WHAT’S NEXT?

While stabilized binoculars are catching fire with a certain segment of Western hunters—a number of desert-sheep outfitters I know now add Sig’s ZULU6 to their list of recommended gear—optics engineers are working on the next generation of electro-optics.

For some brands, that includes combining stabilization with laser rangefinding binoculars to create a steady, capable binocular that can inform users of not only target distance but also holdover and wind-correcting hold-off aiming prescriptions.

Kite has a stabilized 60mm spotting scope with a clunky gyroscope that looks like the belly turret of a B-24. Sig brought its stabilized spotter to the market earlier this year, a 16-32x60 spotting scope that astonishingly doesn’t require a tripod to operate in most conditions.

You can also expect imaging software inside these stabilized optics to improve, tuning the image to the intensity of movement, and vice versa. Sig’s OmniScan software, for example, uses an accelerometer to match the amount of stabilization correction to the amount of movement. If you’re rapidly panning a landscape, the VR module is firing quickly, but if you’re glassing a stationary object the gyroscope slows and gives you a sharper image.

The real-world applications of the technology are endless, and are changing the way hunters employ optics in the field, says Anthony Cuomo, Sig’s electro-optics manager.

“Say you’re a truck hunter,” he says. “You don’t have to shut off the engine or employ a window mount to get a sharp image. Or maybe you’re climbing a mountain. You’re out of breath and want to glass quickly. You don’t have to sit down and deploy a tripod. You can still glass quickly and effectively with your chest heaving and your legs shaking.”

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