Kowa spotting scope, what size?

[Trickymissfit]

Thanks for the feebdack!

The reference on seeing a pop-rivet is a good one i dont beleive my Minox could do that. it was a good scope 8 years ago when I bought it but doesnt compare to what I have looked at now.

I was looking at the TSN-773 and TSN-883 which are the XD with the flourite. I am not sure how much the flourite makes a difference there seem to be as many opinions on it being better as those that say it doesnt matter much. The price is a big difference so I need to look at them.

Testing optics at a store is pretty tough, sportsmans is better than most since they have resolving charts in the building but there is not enough range for spotting scopes to test so I usually find as many reviews as I can from here and the bird watching sites. In my area I am still shocked everytime I go to Bass Pro or Cabela's and most of them do not know what a resolving chart is and still want me to buy from them. You would think they would hire one of the kids from one of the camera stores and let him run the department, the camera guys always seem to know this stuff really well.

Sorry to get off topic, recent experience has again caused frustration.

unless your using the scope with a camera, the flourite lense is not really needed. I've used both, and there's not as much difference between them as you'd think. SWFA is the place for KOWA's.

I did tests for around a month before buying the KOWA. My test were off a short tripod (very stiff one) sitting on a blacktop parking lot at 12 noon in the red hot sun of summer. The best scope I've ever seen was a Swarovski. Lieca might be number two and may a Nikon close. The Kowa was right in there with the Nikon and the Lieca, but maybe the Lieca was slightly brighter. My target was about 500 yards out, and with these scopes I could just barely make out the slots in the screw heads holding it in place. Interestingly I did notice a slight bit of glare in the Lieca, but no mirage. The Kowa was about $500 less than the others, and built like a tank.
gary

 

[joseph]

How about one of these:

52303 Celestron Regal 100 F-ED, Angled Spotting Scope with 22x - 67x Zoom Eyepiece

Vortex Optics - Spotting Scopes

gt40

PS: With the Celestron which has the flourite lens you can use different standard single power eye pieces which give you a much clearer view than the zoom eye pieces. I am not sure if you can use another maker of eye pieces for the other makes. I had a Kowa with a 27x and 60x single power eye pieces and it was hands down better than a friends Leica's with the zoom lens. The more lenses you have the less clear the view will be.

 

[new shooter]

I have a 884 love it. Got mine from scott liberty optic best price 3 years ago

 

[Trickymissfit]

How about one of these:

52303 Celestron Regal 100 F-ED, Angled Spotting Scope with 22x - 67x Zoom Eyepiece

Vortex Optics - Spotting Scopes

gt40

PS: With the Celestron you can use different standard single power eye pieces which give you a much clearer view than the zoom eye pieces. I am not sure if you can use another maker of eye pieces for the other makes. I had a Kowa with a 27x and 60x single power eye pieces and it was hands down better than a friends Leica's with the zoom lens. The more lenses you have the less clear the view will be.

I bought the 27X eyepiece on recommendation from friends, and my first look thru it was stunning! I probably will get the 45X in the end, and I'm not a zoom fan. I had the chance a few years back to use a Celestron, and was a very nice scope. Eyepieces will vary in quality for the Celestron, and of course the better come at a stiff price!
gary

 

[joseph]

I bought the 27X eyepiece on recommendation from friends, and my first look thru it was stunning! I probably will get the 45X in the end, and I'm not a zoom fan. I had the chance a few years back to use a Celestron, and was a very nice scope. Eyepieces will vary in quality for the Celestron, and of course the better come at a stiff price!
gary

I have a Celestron 8" reflecting telescope with about 7 eye pieces. You are right about the quality of them. I got into photography with it and ended up getting a 40x and 60x top of the line eye pieces and what a difference they make. I bet if you got the Celestron which is very reasonable and has the flourite lens and get the best eye piece you may end up with a better one then if you pay a lot for one of the higher dollar ones with a zoom.

gt40

 

[rcdinaz]

Thank you for all the feedback and info form everyone!

I really had every intention of getting a Kowa but talked to a friend today that can get me a Swaro HD with the 25x50 wide angle lens for around the price of the body alone. Long term I want to do some digiscoping as well so this seems like a good way to go since swaro has some good accessories to do this.

Now all I need is to find a good tripod head , looking at the Jim White head it was very smooth when I tried one and I liked it better than the pistol grip on the Bogen which is very heavy and seems a little less precises than a normal pan type head.

 

[Sako7STW]

Price is always a big factor and if your buddy can get ya a deal then your probably good to go. The Swaro has an easy digiscoping setup that works well. BUT if you want to get serious digiscoping, Kowa makes some of the best camera lenses in the world and they have the setups to make the digiscoping the best there is. Only problem is your looking at big bucks to set it up. Just thought I would point that out.

Hmm. A Nikon ED in the same class as a Prominar. LMAO that's a first. I own both and no they are not in the same class. If they were i would have had no reason to buy the Kowa. I let everyone else i go with use the Nikon but the Kowa stays with me or my Dad. The Nikon is good just not quite a Prominar.

 

[lesshare814]

Price is always a big factor and if your buddy can get ya a deal then your probably good to go. The Swaro has an easy digiscoping setup that works well. BUT if you want to get serious digiscoping, Kowa makes some of the best camera lenses in the world and they have the setups to make the digiscoping the best there is. Only problem is your looking at big bucks to set it up. Just thought I would point that out.

Hmm. A Nikon ED in the same class as a Prominar. LMAO that's a first. I own both and no they are not in the same class. If they were i would have had no reason to buy the Kowa. I let everyone else i go with use the Nikon but the Kowa stays with me or my Dad. The Nikon is good just not quite a Prominar.

Hey not fair comparing a Nikon 60mm ED spotter 116/60 = 1.9 arc sec compared to the big excellent Kowa 88 real fluorite spotter at 116/88 = 1.3 arc sec. Dawes
I never had the pleasure of looking through the big Kowa. I have looked through a Kowa 32x82 Highlander binocular. Great glass.

 

[rcdinaz]

Price is always a big factor and if your buddy can get ya a deal then your probably good to go. The Swaro has an easy digiscoping setup that works well. BUT if you want to get serious digiscoping, Kowa makes some of the best camera lenses in the world and they have the setups to make the digiscoping the best there is. Only problem is your looking at big bucks to set it up. Just thought I would point that out.

Hmm. A Nikon ED in the same class as a Prominar. LMAO that's a first. I own both and no they are not in the same class. If they were i would have had no reason to buy the Kowa. I let everyone else i go with use the Nikon but the Kowa stays with me or my Dad. The Nikon is good just not quite a Prominar.

Good info thanks! I am getting a pretty good deal and with the Swaro all my stuff will match! I actually dont care about that but as I said I am still a bit biased. The scope will set back my new camera plans for a while. I was looking at a Sony A55 which seems like a great field camera with quite a bit less weight for now I am going to see what a point and shoot or a little flip camera can do over the summer before it becomes time to do some real scouting.

 

[Trickymissfit]

Right after I bought my KOWA for about $750 (scope body, eyepiece, and protective cover) I had a chance to buy a very gently used Swarovski (it was the one I did my tests off of) for $1200 in the hard case. The dealer's price for that particular setup with slightly over $1800. Was the Swarovski twice as good as the Kowa (with standard lense coatings)? NO! But it was better for sure. I'd put the difference at less than 10%. I could have bought the same scope with the flourite lense for about $1300. Is the Kowa all that much better than the high dollar Nikons? Not really and either one will pick out bug holes at 300 yards without a hitch. I did a check with mine about an hour ago, and looking at my good old pop rivits in the down spout about 375 yards out; I was able to see the center pins on the pop rivits without a hitch (27X). My test were not really to see if the scope could do this or that, but to check out a new mount I built four years ago but never used it. (it needs stronger counter balance springs by the way). So I drag out my Fuji camera with a 400mm lense on it. I could make out the pop rivits, but not the studs (I knew they were there, but not very clear). Now I also have another spotting scope, and it dose not have good enough resolution to see the pop rivits clearly at 45x. But of course I paid about $240 for it years earlier.

Now with the above thoughts in mind, I think it's too easy to run out and buy a 60x eyepiece or a 20x to 60x thinking it will do everything. For 90% of us we could easilly get by with a 35x eyepiece. Do we all need an 88mm or even an 82mm scope? Not really, a good 77mm will do just about anything everybody on this board wants. Yet we could all run out and buy a Takahashi 120mm scope (about $5K), and see the thumb tacks on a target at 1000 yards. But do any of us actually need this? A Takahashi is absolutly the finest refractor telescope made (most spotting scopes are small refractors).
gary

 

[Sako7STW]

You happen to have a link to that Takahashi? I looked but couldn't find one specked at 120mm.

My Theron Spotter should show up today according to UPS. It comes with 25-75 and a 30x wide angle (excited to use this one) eyepieces. I would not be so excited to try it out except for the jaw dropping experience I had with the Theron binocular's. Reviews to come soon!

 

[lesshare814]

Takahashi TSA-120 - Review

Takahashi TSA-120 4.7" f/7.5 Ortho-Apochromat triplet refractor OTA with 2.7" focuser TSA0120


I had a chance to try out the Theron 8x42 Wapiti HD binocular and I have to agree that it is an excellent binocular. I compared it to a my Nikon 8x32SE and Swarovski 8x30 SLC neu and found it compared very well with both and has excellent flare control with looking close to a low sun.

 

[Trickymissfit]

You happen to have a link to that Takahashi? I looked but couldn't find one specked at 120mm.

My Theron Spotter should show up today according to UPS. It comes with 25-75 and a 30x wide angle (excited to use this one) eyepieces. I would not be so excited to try it out except for the jaw dropping experience I had with the Theron binocular's. Reviews to come soon!

TSA120 @ 1-[HIDDEN]

there's also Stellarview @ [HIDDEN]

and Astro-physics @ [HIDDEN]

The Takahashi is one of the most popular scopes used in astrophotography, but way over the top for a spotting scope! They do make a scope that's around 77mm.
gary

 

[rcdinaz]

Wow! The Theron Bino's look like a bargain if they are even close to any of the euro glass. This might be a great idea for a pair for one of my kids.