'Heavier Optics saves you walking' .... Do they? (sheep/goat)

[dapesche]

the sheep hunting research and education continues....

I have a pretty sweet kowa 663ed that is older, has the fluorite objective and is light, but it lacks the FOV and the brightness at 60x that the newer spotters give you.
I am leaning towards a new spotter in the 77 or 85/88 objective range.

Curious to have all of your opinions:

1. I feel like either you have a higher power, larger objective (65-85mm) spotter paired with a lower power pair of binos (8x/10x) or a a higher power set of binos (12x/15x) paired with a smaller, lighter spotter (50-55 objective).
2. Does Item 1 even matter, should I just go with a larger spotter and deal with the weight b/c it will save me a lot of walking...

Thanks!

[mod7rem]

I started a couple years with a 50mm Bushnell Trophy, then a couple years with a Pentax PFed 65mm, then many years with a Kowa Prominar 663 (great scope), now I’ve been using a Kowa Prominar 773 for the last 3-4 years. My binos have been 10x, 8.5x and currently 8x.
I’ve killed sheep using all of those spotting scopes but I wouldn’t want to take a step back from the 77mm. I think I’ve reached my limit for performance vs weight to carry. I’m sure an 88mm would be awesome but I don’t want to add any more weight so I don’t even want to try one.

[dapesche]

I started a couple years with a 50mm Bushnell Trophy, then a couple years with a Pentax PFed 65mm, then many years with a Kowa Prominar 663 (great scope), now I’ve been using a Kowa Prominar 773 for the last 3-4 years. My binos have been 10x, 8.5x and currently 8x.
I’ve killed sheep using all of those spotting scopes but I wouldn’t want to take a step back from the 77mm. I think I’ve reached my limit for performance vs weight to carry. I’m sure an 88mm would be awesome but I don’t want to add any more weight so I don’t even want to try one.

Good to hear that they 77 was a worthy upgrade.

I had ordered the 65atx but it was marginally better than my 663 so I am sending it back. The 85atx is damn heavy and I think I'd prefer the 883 over the 85atx but that's bringing me to the 773, like you.

[mod7rem]

I think the only thing that’ll touch the 88mm Kowa Prominar with flourtite crystal lenses, is the Swaro 95mm. I know guys that love the Swaro 95mm for sheep hunting.

[twoSevenO]

I started a couple years with a 50mm Bushnell Trophy, then a couple years with a Pentax PFed 65mm, then many years with a Kowa Prominar 663 (great scope), now I’ve been using a Kowa Prominar 773 for the last 3-4 years. My binos have been 10x, 8.5x and currently 8x.
I’ve killed sheep using all of those spotting scopes but I wouldn’t want to take a step back from the 77mm. I think I’ve reached my limit for performance vs weight to carry. I’m sure an 88mm would be awesome but I don’t want to add any more weight so I don’t even want to try one.

How do you find the brightness at max magnification?

I have a vortex razor 65mm and max magnification (48x) brightness is not that great. The exit pupil is just so tiny at that magnification. I checked out a Swarovski 65mm and found it a bit too dim as well at 50x or higher.

Curious if you saw a noticeable improvement with the 77mm

[mod7rem]

How do you find the brightness at max magnification?

I have a vortex razor 65mm and max magnification (48x) brightness is not that great. The exit pupil is just so tiny at that magnification. I checked out a Swarovski 65mm and found it a bit too dim as well at 50x or higher.

Curious if you saw a noticeable improvement with the 77mm

The brightness at 60x is definitely better with the 773 vs the 663 that I had before. But I have no way of putting any kind of value to it. Most of the viewing for me is spent in the 25x to 45x range with this scope, but it’s very usable at 60x with good conditions.

It’s also not just a bigger objective that you get with the 773/774. It also uses the newer wide angle zoom eyepiece.

The 773/774 Prominar uses the 25-60x TE-11WZ eyepiece. It has two XD lenses so it’s a newer generation eyepiece.

The 663/664 uses the TE-9Z zoom eyepiece.

[mod7rem]

A couple years ago a friend of mine was considering getting something different than his swaro 65mm, I can’t remember which model.
We took my Kowa 773, his Swaro 65, borrowed a new swaro 65mm, borrowed a used swaro 80mm and compared all of them side by side for an afternoon.
We both preferred the 773 over all of them. The new 65mm swaro was the closest. I’m sure a new model of the swaro 80mm and up would have been great as well.

[madcalfe]

10x42 binos and a 65mm leica is good enough for me.

[decker9]

I got to compare a kowa (not sure which one, 773 I believe) to my ats 65 last summer, I could see the difference, plus liked the kowa focus better. Any advantage, is an advantage.

[Weatherby Fan]

When it comes to Sheep hunting I would say take higher power and bigger objective if you don't mind packing it, on our fly in the area was so vast that 10X Leica binoculars were definitely not enough for most of the glassing, I will take some 15x56 next time in there and use them on a tripod, I use a Leica 25-50x65 spotter and also have the 1.8 Doubler = up to 90X which I used a lot, I guess in the end you have to decide what's needed for the area your hunting.