First Look! S&S Archery checks out the new Kowa 55mm Fluorite Crystal Spotter

[S&S Archery (Rob)]

Sorry I missed this one. The eye relief is 16.5mm. Not super great to be honest, but the only other downside to this scope is the lack of a rotating collar. Saving 20oz is worth it for me.

I think this scope would be great with the 15's. When i carried the Razor 50mm scope my complaint was that when i would find something in my bino's and put up the razor to get a better look, the view was not much better. But with this scopes max 45x mag, it would be very functional in that aspect.

 

[S&S Archery (Rob)]

Hey guys, Its not to late to get this before Sept. We are still seeing shipping dates on the 18th of Aug. We also posted a digiscoping option for your iPhone or Galaxy smartphone

Kowa

 

[mcseal2]

Just got back from 4 days of scouting muleys using my new Kowa 554. I was very impressed, I noticed the smaller field of view and limited eye relief others have mentioned but they aren't that bad for me. The buddy I was scouting with was using a non HD Swaro 20-60x80 STS spotter and we encountered no conditions where I couldn't see the same details he could on the same deer. It was only 4 days and we didn't encounter every field condition I will in the future, but it was impressive. I mostly ran my 15x56 Swaro binos on a Promaster 525 tripod with an Outdoorsmans pan head to find deer. Once I located them I used the Kowa to zoom in for a closer evaluation. I felt like this system worked very well for the scouting trip. Hunting I may or may not take the 15x56's depending on the hunt, but would take my 10x Geovid HD binos and the Kowa spotter for sure, with a tripod to use both on.

 

[sneaky]

Seems like the eye relief is the same as a lot of binos, not great, but not bad either

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

 

[flyinsquirel]

So this little Kowa hangs with a STS 80 in low light? That's impressive

 

[mcseal2]

It did when we had them side by side glassing a couple deer at 1700yds as the sun rose higher. I didn't look through his, and he didn't look through mine at that time. Every detail he could see on the buck's racks I could see in my spotter and every detail I described he could see. Not sure how the images compared but as far as usable information we got the same thing.

The bucks were headed to the timber and we didn't want to waste time setting up behind each other's glass on the scouting trip. I'll try to do more comparisons as time allows, I have an ATS 80 HD spotter also and could do low light tests between the two when I get a free evening. I don't expect the Kowa to match my newer ATS but I'd be curious to see how close it stays. We just chopped the silage corn in front of my house so I could set some of the old skulls I've found out at various distances and see what I can see for tines and at what times of night.

 

[twall13]

I bit the bullet and bought one of these recently. I haven't had much time to really test it out other than a quick comparison to my Maven B.2's for how bright they were off my back deck. The scope was brighter than I expected so I'm pleased so far.

That said, the fact that this scope doesn't have armor bothers me more than it probably should. The overall exterior design/dimensions appear similar to the Vortex 50mm to me. Has anyone tried a neoprene Vortex cover on one of these little Kowa scopes? I can't find anything available from Kowa or anyone else at this point so I'm looking at other options.

This is the one I had in mind.

 

[mcseal2]

I think Rob said on one of these posts Kowa was supposed to be making a cover for the 55mm. I'd like to buy one for mine too if anyone figures out one that works. Thanks.

 

[mcseal2]

My spotter cover at present is still the purple bag off a half gallon of Crown Royal. Anyone found a better one yet?

 

[twall13]

I've just been using a wool sock for protection at the moment. Far from ideal and I have to take it off when I actually have it on the tripod but it's better than nothing. At some point I'll probably stop by Black Ovis and see if they will let me try the vortex cover on for size. If that doesn't fit I may see if Pods8 can make me something.

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[goathunter]

Why isn't the 77 full fluorite like the 88 and 55?

 

[excaliber]

Why isn't the 77 full fluorite like the 88 and 55?

That's one thing I've been asking about for a while.

 

[wind gypsy]

Curious how guys are liking these after some more hunts with them?

 

[twall13]

I'm far from an optics expert but really like the scope for my uses. I didn't get to use it a ton on my elk hunt because of the nature of the hunt (mostly dark timber). That said I did spend some time looking at antelope with it and viewing some elk on a limited entry unit a couple of miles away across a canyon and I'm still really liking it.

I compared it to my brothers 65mm Razor HD one evening as well. He was convinced it couldn't be as good as his Razor but after looking through them side by side he admitted that he couldn't claim the Razor was better. To my eyes, the Kowa is a bit sharper, more vibrant and surprisingly seemed to edge out the larger Razor in brightness as light faded. Granted, this was a comparison for one evening so I don't have a comparison under a lot of different conditions but it was still telling for me. What I did notice is that the field of view is much smaller with the Kowa. For me that's not an issue as I mainly use my binos on a tripod and only bring out the spotter if I need to investigate things further. I can see it might be an issue for guys that spend a lot of time behind a spotter as their primary tool for locating game. Again, for me, that trade off is well worth the weight and size savings. It means I'll actually pack it and use it whereas heavier scopes often stay at home or in the truck for me. I really wish it had a rotating collar and armor but otherwise it's exactly the scope I was looking for.

I read somewhere on here today that Luke Moffat is going to be doing a review on this scope soon so you'll have another, more qualified opinion shortly.

 

[nrh6.7]

Bumping this thread in hopes of hearing thoughts on how these baby Kowas have been working. Would love to hear some experiences.

 

[William Hanson (live2hunt)]

Bumping this thread in hopes of hearing thoughts on how these baby Kowas have been working. Would love to hear some experiences.

Luke did a review here:

Kowa TSN-553 Prominar Review - Rokslide

Live2hunt custom shelters

 

[nrh6.7]

Luke did a review here:

Kowa TSN-553 Prominar Review - Rokslide

Live2hunt custom shelters

I even responded on that thread. I'm slipping for sure.

 

[mcseal2]

I'm selling my Swaro ATS 80HD I like the little Kowa so much. I primarily glass from a tripod with binos, then evaluate game I spotted with the spotter. As was mentioned the only downside is field of view. It might be an issue for someone who looks for game through the spotter a lot. For me the light weight of the Kowa makes it more likely I'll pack the 15x Swaro binos as well and find more game. Those binos suck to carry but are game finding machines when you pull them out and stick them on the tripod.

 

[nrh6.7]

mcseal2, thanks again, and looks like I will order a Kowa soon.