Big Eyes: Why Some Hunters Glass With a 115mm Binoscope

Cody Nelson gets asked about big glass constantly. Sitting next to him in this episode of Glass Better is what he calls his go-to piece, a Swarovski BTX 115. It’s a 35 power fixed, and it’s a very large piece of glass.

Big glass, meaning binocular spotting scopes like the Swarovski BTX 115 (35x fixed, about 7.75 lb), Kowa Highlanders (almost 11 lb), or twin spotting scopes on an adapter (typically 5 to 6 lb), lets a hunter glass long distances with both eyes open, which reduces eye fatigue and helps find game in country others skip. A complete setup typically runs $4,000 to $7,000 before accessories, and it requires a heavier, more stable tripod than standard binoculars or a single spotter. It isn’t for every hunter, but for open-country glassing it can be the most productive tool in the pack.

Not every hunter needs one. But if you glass big country for deer, elk, or coues deer, it’s worth understanding why some of the most dedicated glassers in the West won’t go without it.

Why Both Eyes Open Changes Everything

Some people buy big glass simply because they don’t like looking through a spotting scope. Cody’s reasons go further than that. With both eyes open and relaxed, you get less eye fatigue, and less of the facial tics, cramping, and spasms that come from squinting through one eyepiece for hours.

Comfort turns into time behind the glass, and time behind the glass turns into animals found. Cody grew up hunting coues deer and elk in Arizona, where glassing big country is the whole game. The bottom line, in his words, is that you need to be able to look a long distance with both eyes open and in comfort. He can’t begin to say how many animals have been found that way.

This is the same logic behind the best glass you can afford, the first of Cody’s three pillars of glassing. Big glass is that pillar taken to its far end.

What “Big Glass” Actually Includes

There’s more than one way into this category, and Cody has spent time behind most of them.

• Swarovski BTX 115. 35 power fixed, with options depending on which objective lens you choose. About 7.75 pounds. This is the piece Cody spends the most time behind.

• Kowa Highlanders. Cody used these before the BTX. They weigh almost 11 pounds.

• Twin spotting scopes on a jig. Machinists built parts to mate two spotting scopes together so they can be collimated and you see straight. Cody mentions the history here going back to Tom Arguello and the guys down south, and Benny Wells and the crew who machined parts for it. The Swarovski 25-50x65 pair is “an awesome pair,” and the 25-50x80 set is a pretty awesome piece too.

• Lighter paired setups. Some hunters are pairing Swarovski STC compacts or Kowa 55s with an adapter. You give up magnification, but the whole package lands in the 5 to 6 pound range.

On the question of who makes the best one, Cody is straightforward. He thinks all of them are in such a high quality range that you have to put your own eyes behind it and decide for yourself. He’s never sat behind another piece of glass where he couldn’t see something through the BTX or the Kowas, so it comes down to a personal decision.

What It Costs and What It Weighs

Big glass is not for everybody, and Cody says so himself. Two things stand in the way.

Money. Most setups run $4,000 to $7,000 before you’re even completely set up.

Weight. At 7.75 pounds for the BTX 115 and almost 11 for the Highlanders, this is heavy gear. If weight is the deciding factor, the lighter STC and Kowa 55 pairings exist for exactly that reason, at lower magnification.

Big Glass Needs a Bigger Tripod

Cody is blunt about this one. You do have to have a bigger, heavier tripod to keep these steady. You just have to make that decision.

This is where the rest of the series connects. In the tripod weight class breakdown, Cody puts heavy-class tripods in the 4.5 to 7 pound range, and that’s the territory big glass lives in. A 7.75 pound optic on a tripod built for 10x42s is a recipe for vibration and frustration, which defeats the whole point of buying the optic.

If you’re matching a head and legs to a heavy setup, start with the Tricer glassing tripods collection and the tripod comparison page to line up weight, height, and load. For binocular scopes that sit on a pan head, the slow and methodical gridding approach matters even more at 35 power, where every bit of movement is magnified.

Glassing for Tomorrow

One of the best ideas in this episode is how Cody frames what big glass is for. He calls it hunting, scouting, or glassing for tomorrow.

The idea is that you may not be able to get into the country the same day you find the animals. But you now know where those deer, bucks, or bulls are hanging out. You glass for them again the next day, and you move closer and get into where they are.

Big glass is built for that. It lets you find game from a distance in country that’s undisturbed, places people don’t always stop and look. Cody gets real enjoyment out of seeing that much game in that much country.

Where Big Glass Fits Next to the Rest of the Kit

Cody’s magnification episode talks about owning different optics for different jobs, like the golf clubs in the bag rule. Big glass is one more club, the long-distance specialist. It doesn’t replace chest binoculars for moving and calling, and it doesn’t replace a good glassing tripod underneath everything. It adds a way of hunting.

He also says this isn’t going anywhere. Big glass is here to stay.

Put It Together

Big glass is a lot of money, a lot of weight, and a real commitment to a heavier tripod. In return you get a relaxed, two-eyed view that lets you glass longer and find game in places most people never look.

If you’re considering the move, decide what you’ll actually carry, put your own eyes behind a few options, and build the tripod underneath before you build anything else. As Cody puts it, big glass means big looks, big views, and big returns. Some guys say it’s almost like cheating. His answer is that he still has to put his own eyes behind that glass to see the animal, and he spends a lot of time doing it, and he thinks it’s worth it.