Stop Debating Binos vs. Spotter, Here's Cody's Actual Rule

There's No Universal Answer, Only the Right Tool for the Job

This is one of the questions Cody gets asked most: do you go with 15s or 18s, or do you carry a small spotting scope? His honest answer is that there's no single correct choice. It comes down to what you're actually trying to accomplish in the field, and what your body can comfortably handle over a long glassing session.

The choice between 15x to 18x binoculars and a small spotting scope comes down to what a hunter is actually trying to accomplish, not which tool is objectively better. Binoculars in the 15x to 18x range offer a wider field of view, a bigger exit pupil, and two-eyes-open comfort that reduces facial and eye fatigue over a full day of glassing, making them the better choice for hunters who struggle with monocular strain or who mainly need to locate and generally identify game. A spotting scope earns its weight when fine detail matters, judging antler or horn score, confirming legality, or spotting a specific feature like a cheater point, since turning up magnification on a stable tripod reveals detail that even high-power binoculars can't resolve. Many experienced hunters, including Cody Nelson, carry both, starting with a wide field of view on binoculars to check close-range escape routes before switching to a spotter for identification on specific animals.

Why Cody Reaches for 15s Almost Every Time

A lot of hunters genuinely struggle to keep one eye closed while looking through a spotting scope for extended periods. Cody is one of them, by his own admission he uses a spotting scope maybe 10 to 15 percent of a given day, and defaults to 15x binoculars almost every other time. His reasons are specific: 15s give him a wider field of view than 18s, a bigger exit pupil that lets in more light, and critically, no facial tics or eye fatigue from squinting through a single eyepiece. That comfort connects directly back to the Three Pillars of Glassing: good glass, stabilized on a tripod, used with both eyes open, is what actually keeps you behind the glass for days in a row without wearing yourself down.

A spotting scope isn't meant to replace your primary binoculars either way. Most hunters running a spotter pair it with a lower-power binocular, an 8x, 10x, or 12x, for scanning, and reserve the spotter for closer inspection. You can pair a spotter with 15s too, it just depends on how you personally like to work.

The Real Question: Do You Need the Big Picture or the Fine Detail

If closing one eye for long stretches is genuinely uncomfortable, Cody's advice is straightforward: get a good pair of 15s and glass with both eyes open. You'll reduce facial fatigue and still pick up real detail without the strain a spotter demands.

If you're using a spotting scope primarily to answer a specific question, is it a buck or a doe, is it legal, is that ram's horn full curl or 7/8 curl, that need for precise identification is exactly what a spotter is built for. Turning up the magnification on a stable tripod reveals detail that binoculars, even at 15x or 18x, simply can't resolve at distance. If you don't need that level of detail to make a decision, 15s or 18s alone are enough. If you do, a spotter paired with your binoculars is the right call. Neither choice is wrong, both are excellent tools, it depends entirely on whether you're after the big picture or the fine print.

How Cody Actually Uses Both in the Field

Cody hunts Coues deer in central Arizona, a small, hardy species that lives in genuinely difficult country and tends to start and stop often, making them hard to pin down. For that specific hunting style, he almost always carries both a 15x binocular and a spotter, and he's upfront that some hunters will think that's excessive.

His workflow starts with his chest glass, sometimes three separate pieces of glass at once, using the widest field of view first to check what's close, including escape routes animals might use if they spook. From there, he brings out the bigger glass to scan larger blocks of country and pick out the obvious deer that are out in the open. The spotter comes out specifically for identification, confirming a legal buck, sizing up a rack, or, in a moment Cody specifically mentions, helping a kid on their first hunt actually see and confirm a spike buck at distance that would otherwise be too small to make out clearly.

The tradeoff is real. Carrying both means carrying more weight, and plenty of hunters reasonably choose not to. But for Cody, having both tools available is what lets him glass better, longer, and with more actual information to work with, which is the whole point of the series.

What This Means for Your Tripod Setup

Whichever combination you land on, the gear supporting your glass matters just as much as the glass itself. A 15x or 18x binocular is a lighter load than a full-size spotting scope, so if you're primarily running binoculars, a lighter head like the Tricer-LP is plenty. If you're adding a spotter into the mix, especially for the kind of high-magnification identification work Cody describes, a heavier-duty head like the Tricer-BP and a tripod built for that added weight class, covered in Choosing the Right Tripod, is what keeps that extra magnification usable instead of shaky.

If you're still deciding on the binoculars themselves before worrying about what they're mounted on, Best Glass You Can Afford covers what your money actually buys at each price point.

Put It Together

Fifteens, eighteens, and small spotting scopes are all legitimate tools, and the right one depends entirely on what you're trying to accomplish. If all-day comfort and a wide field of view matter more to you than fine detail, lean toward a quality pair of 15s. If your decisions hinge on confirming specific detail, score, legality, a distinguishing feature, a spotter earns its extra weight. And if you hunt country like Cody does, where animals are small, elusive, and worth the extra scrutiny, carrying both isn't overkill, it's tradecraft.