compact spotters?

[tdhanses]

Possibly

but the ED50 has a long history for a reason and I couldn’t believe what I was looking at when I first got one

with that said I wouldn’t use any scope for PRS matches or long glassing sessions. I much prefer high powered bino's by a long shot…..you can’t beat the brighter image, bigger exit pupils, comfortable two eyed seeing, and the bigger field of views

When I’m at the range I just put my phone on the spotter and look at the screen, no need to be looking down it, but I also don’t shoot in matches. I use my Kowa 773 for the range, the 553 is always in my pack.

 

[Macintosh]

yeah, for rifle matches my 10x binos are sufficient 95% of the time, especially with the shock-sensitive impact lights. It seems much of the time when I want higher magnification, mirage makes it essentially a moot issue anyway. I've used 15x binos for matches and they are clearly great. However, while I'll use my spotter for that more frequently than I use it hunting, its not what I'll use to decide what spotter to get. Example, I really dont think I want a reticle in my spotter, even though I think its a huge help spotting for a partner at the range. So, I brought PRS-type matches up only to say that's where a lot of my experience is, but its not a particular focus for me that would dictate what optic to buy.

edit: since we're onto the 2nd page, still interested to hear from folks that have direct experience and can compare the vortex 11-33 image and usability with the vortex 27-60, this brand being much more common and easier to find esp if I try to trade or buy used. My baseline is the newer razor hd 27-60, so wondering if the smaller vortex 11-33 is as-good image wise and depth of field wise, or if it is worse, significantly worse, etc. Regardless of what the "next step up" is, given I'm talking about a smaller objective, will I have to significantly step up in quality/price from the vortex to achieve similar image clarity and depth of field as I get now, in a smaller package?

 

[tdhanses]

yeah, for rifle matches my 10x binos are sufficient 95% of the time, especially with the shock-sensitive impact lights. It seems much of the time when I want higher magnification, mirage makes it essentially a moot issue anyway. I've used 15x binos for matches and they are clearly great. However, while I'll use my spotter for that more frequently than I use it hunting, its not what I'll use to decide what spotter to get. Example, I really dont think I want a reticle in my spotter, even though I think its a huge help spotting for a partner at the range. So, I brought PRS-type matches up only to say that's where a lot of my experience is, but its not a particular focus for me that would dictate what optic to buy.

edit: since we're onto the 2nd page, still interested to hear from folks that have direct experience and can compare the vortex 11-33 image and usability with the vortex 27-60, this brand being much more common and easier to find esp if I try to trade or buy used. My baseline is the newer razor hd 27-60, so wondering if the smaller vortex 11-33 is as-good image wise and depth of field wise, or if it is worse, significantly worse, etc. Regardless of what the "next step up" is, given I'm talking about a smaller objective, will I have to significantly step up in quality/price from the vortex to achieve similar image clarity and depth of field as I get now, in a smaller package?

Hmm, if your happy with what you have might be worth trying the small razor, it may be fine for your eyes and uses and will save you some coin. Might be worth keeping what you have and then compare to decide if it’s worth keeping or if the small one is going to work.

Another option to look at is the Kowa 601 with a fixed 30x eyepiece, it would be lighter and I hear it is really good.

 

[Macintosh]

Hmm, if your happy with what you have might be worth trying the small razor, it may be fine for your eyes and uses and will save you some coin. Might be worth keeping what you have and then compare to decide if it’s worth keeping or if the small one is going to work.

Another option to look at is the Kowa 601 with a fixed 30x eyepiece, it would be lighter and I hear it is really good.

Thanks, appreciate it. My eyes are 50 years old and unfortunately not gettingyounger, but luckily for my wallet I dont REALLY know any better. comparing to my bino's and what I find adequate in the field, I'd say this razor I have now is the first spotting scope I've had that I would even consider using in the field. I just figure there will be some degradation of image going down in size, but I don't really have a sense of how much and whether that puts me over some threshold that matters. Unfortunately I dont think I'll be able to try any of these before I buy, as folks in my neighborhood just dont need to use spotters, so no one owns em. Makes some of the demo/try before you buy options look appealing. I know Maven has a program like that, does anyone else?

 

[tdhanses]

Thanks, appreciate it. My eyes are 50 years old and unfortunately not gettingyounger, but luckily for my wallet I dont REALLY know any better. comparing to my bino's and what I find adequate in the field, I'd say this razor I have now is the first spotting scope I've had that I would even consider using in the field. I just figure there will be some degradation of image going down in size, but I don't really have a sense of how much and whether that puts me over some threshold that matters. Unfortunately I dont think I'll be able to try any of these before I buy, as folks in my neighborhood just dont need to use spotters, so no one owns em. Makes some of the demo/try before you buy options look appealing. I know Maven has a program like that, does anyone else?

Its not really the size but the lenses and coatings which can make a smaller spotting scope worse, for example the Kowa 55 series spotters will be way more clear, sharp and you can use the full 48x zoom without degrading the image. Not so with the razor line, so it really depends on what you want out of it. The little razor will not be as good as your big one but that is due to the lenses and coatings used plus the smaller size, but size can be made up with $$. Now I don’t know if it’ll be enough for you to not be happy, only you can answer that really.

Also with better lenses and coatings you can gather light better out of a smaller objective, my 553 didn’t fall off much from my swaro 80hd and had a better image, where it lacks is in fov but all small spotters will have this issue.

I haven’t compared my 55 to my 77 but if your going compact and want a good imiage and light gathering in low light you will want to invest in an alpha option more then likely.

If low light doesn’t matter the little razor probably will work just fine.

 

[Macintosh]

Thank you, really appreciate the feedback, thats helpful.

 

[Oregonhuntrboi]

Wondering what folks have found suits them with regard to compact and mid-size spotters? I have a nearly new razor HD 27-60x85, but find I end up using bino's or bino's on a tripod even at the range because of it's size--I have decent bino's already. I just really like to be light and mobile, and my knees are getting kind of creaky in my dotage, so I have a hard time wanting to carry a full size spotter more than a very short distance, because of that I end up just leaving it more often than not. I'm thinking of seeing if I can trade my nearly new spotter for a smaller version of the same or selling and buying a smaller one, but am interested in others experiences and where they've landed before I do that.
Right or wrong it seems to me there are 3 classes of spotters--using same brand as an example, there's compact such as 11-33, mid-size like the 22-48, and full size like my 27-60. Every brand is a bit different but those seem like reasonable categories to generalize from (I think--feel free to school me otherwise). Most of my use is spotting at PRS matches, for which the lower-powered spotter is preferable to me. I would only need a spotter for a traveling hunt once a year or so, and I'm only looking to judge legality, not quality, but obviously that can mean counting points, spread, etc. So, what do folks think of compact or mid-size spotters around the same quality-level I have for this use, assuming that they are in combination with decent 10x binos? I'm not going to own multiple spotters. I am kind of thinking I'd use a compact spotter a lot more when hunting, just not sure if those would be adequate for that one trip where I want a spotter, or if I'll end up using the little ones just as little and regret not having the full-size model for roadside stuff? I'd love to hear others experiences. Thanks in advance.

I myself have the minimal mindset of owning 1 bino and 1 spotter. I am running vortex viper hd 10x42 and work great. And I am using vortex razor 11-33. For most stuff they are great, but I really wish I had just a little more to be honest. Super light though and a breeze to pack around.

 

[ZAK13]

I use a Kowa 553, comes in at 28oz and is the best glass in the compact spotter category. I use mine exactly as you describe how you’d like to use yours. I can tell if the animal I wanna shoot is legal to some great distances (>1 mile), and can do good field judging at closer distances(<1 mile). The scope always rides in my backpack as it’s so small and light that I don’t notice it. Glass is excellent with a crisp and clear image throughout the whole magnification range.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This. Excellent scope for the money.

 

[bmejia]

I have owned the razor 11-33x for several years and it is a great compact option. Just this month I bought the Kowa 554 because I wanted a bit more magnification & straight body. The Kowa is very nice but is it 2x the cost nice, I'm not sure yet but it is definitely brighter and just plain feels better made.

A few years ago I was hunting mule deer in SD and that trip was probably the one I've used the 11-33x the most. I had no problem seeing antler points at 1000+ yds. Where it struggled was looking into the shadowed crevasses the deer were bedding at that distance. This is why I wanted the greater magnification. I love the size of the ultra compact and that is why I went with the 554 with the recent "upgrade".

I did kill a buck that trip and the spotter came into play in that success. I would not have killed any more or any other deer with a different scope so I'd say the 11-33x was perfectly great for the hunt (as it has been for others too).

I do look forward to using the Kowa in wide open SD plains this fall! In PA there are just not many opportunities to glass that far to do a fair comparison until then.

All that said, my 11-33x is in excellent condition. I'm not sure it is a very fair trade but if you want to trade it for your current scope let me know.

 

[Firestone]

I used the 11-33 for years. Seems like it fit my eyes better then others on here. I gave in to all the hype about the kowa 55 and bought one last year. After 40 or so days using it on elk and deer hunts i have decided its better then the vortex. 1000 bucks better? No. It's FOV is awful even for a compact spotter, even the vortex was better by probably 30%. During mid-day It was a little clearer then the vortex. During dusk and dawn it was a little better yet. Maybe 10%. For me the kowa has the cheapest body armor of any optic I have ever owned, Including cheap crap I bought 20 years ago. Some have compared the kowa 55 to the swaro 65mm or even the 80mm. For my eyes that just is simply not the case, swaro wins hands down, I felt like there is a bigger gap between swaro 65 and kowa 55 then there was between kowa 55 and vortex 50. The extra zoom is nice on the kowa compared to the vortex. And the weight savings is sometimes nice when compared to the swaro 65 and 80. That's my opinion after using all of them a lot

 

[opalfan]

I have a Swaro ATX 65 spotting scope. However, like what has been set in the above comments, I am using my binoculars more and more. This doesn't discount that the ATX 65 is very fine glass!