65 MM spotting Scope

[NeilG]

Hi Srupp. Did you sell your spotter by chance? On the off chance you didn't I am in the market for one.

[BCbillies]

Check out the Kowa 77mm series. Excellent glass and with the bigger objective much brighter at dawn dusk. Kowa also makes a compact with excellent glass and both a less expensive than Swaro. Do a side by side comparison outside not in the store if you can.

I agree! I spent the weekend with the Swaro 65 and the Kowa 77 and the Kowa 88 in the field in a variety of conditions. I was very impressed with the Kowa and decided to go with the Kowa 77. The 88 with the extender is next level.

[srupp]

Hi Srupp. Did you sell your spotter by chance? On the off chance you didn't I am in the market for one.

yes I did..gent drove all the way from DUNCAN with cash seemed very happy.I could have sold the set up 6x over now.
thanks for asking more hunting gear going up for sale soon..
cheers
Srupp

[wallz]

I ended up going with the kowa 77 as well. Just bought the extender this spring, and have been impressed so far.

[RiverOtter]

Any Zeiss love these days? Don't see them mentioned even once in this thread.

I know Swaro gets a lot of fan fare, but their bins and spotters I've used left me a little underwhelmed.

[Timberjack]

Does anything really compete with the Swarovski models in the 65 mm spotting scope class?

I'm looking at making the big purchase this year or next depending on draws, and will spend the money if necessary, as I am very happy with my other Swaro products, but wouldn't mind saving a few bucks to spend on other equipment (higher quality tripod) if I'm not losing a ton of performance by going with another option.

I will not be using this a ton, mostly verifying legality on mule deer / moose / elk after I have glassed them up with my 15x Swaro binos.

My pet peeve with optics is crappy eye box / tunneling, so would like to avoid cheaper optics that have those issues in particular.

Thanks!

Test em out and go with what you like. I've got the ATS65 and love it. There are other good ones too.

Here's my advice though - if you go swaro, be sure you seriously consider the 25-50WA eyepiece over the 20-60... I've tested them side by side a number of times. The wide angle feels waaaay less like looking through a tunnel and it's VERY rare that the extra zoom from 50-60 is actually useful. It's certainly not useful early or late in the day, and certainly not when hot out.. Plus the field of view at 25x with the WA eyepiece is actually wider than the 20-60x at 20x zoom.

Cheers,
TJ

[sako79]

Kowa 773 out performed the swaro in all conditions except weight

[NeilG]

No problems and thanks for the reply. Figured it would be long gone. Cheers

[twoSevenO]

Any Zeiss love these days? Don't see them mentioned even once in this thread.

I know Swaro gets a lot of fan fare, but their bins and spotters I've used left me a little underwhelmed.

Swarovski is by far the most popular high end unit in BC. Doesn't mean it's the best. Tesla isn't the best car yet more of them around now than Toyota corollas!

Where I'm from in Europe zeiss has always been more popular. It would seem brands figure their demographic and market heavily there and not so heavily in other regions?

BC is clearly swarovski dominated. They see dudes on the mountain with Swarovski so they need one themselves. Same reason Crispi boots seem to have e gained a huge following all of a sudden. Never even heard of Crispi in Europe over brands like Meindl. Ever.

Lots of Kowa praise lately. Good to see and hear it!

[decker9]

I’m another odd man out with the ats spotters, mine doesn’t impress me much at all. On the other hand, the EL’s blow my eyes away.

The higher end kowa though, that did wonders with my eyes. I will make the switch one day.