noteStylet
diff --git a/‎dist/angular-datatables.js
+12-2 b/‎dist/angular-datatables.js
+12-2
@@ -378,7 +378,7 @@
         compile: function (tElm) {
           var _staticHTML = tElm[0].innerHTML;
           return function postLink($scope, $elem, iAttrs, ctrl) {
-            $scope.$watch('[dtOptions, dtColumns, dtColumnDefs]', function (newVal, oldVal) {
+            function handleChanges(newVal, oldVal) {
               if (newVal !== oldVal) {
                 var newDTOptions = newVal[0], oldDTOptions = oldVal[0];
                 // Do not rerender if we want to reload. There are already
@@ -391,7 +391,17 @@
                   newDTOptions.reload = false;
                 }
               }
-            }, true);
+            }
+            // Options can hold heavy data, and other deep/large objects. 
+            // watchcollection can improve this by only watching shallowly
+            var watchFunction = iAttrs.disableDeepWatchers ? '$watchCollection' : '$watch';
+            angular.forEach([
+              'dtColumns',
+              'dtColumnDefs',
+              'dtOptions'
+            ], function (tableDefField) {
+              $scope[watchFunction].call($scope, tableDefField, handleChanges, true);
+            });
             ctrl.showLoading($elem);
             ctrl.render($elem, ctrl.buildOptionsPromise(), _staticHTML);
           };