JThe Kowa 553

[fatrascal]

Last month I bought a Kowa 553 with the intentions of shaving weight from my pack. I'd been using a 65mm Swarovski spotting scope for many years and have been very happy and I've always made the statement that I would shave weight in other areas but never with my optics. Then along comes a little age, knee injuries, hips and feet problems and I had to rethink my opinion. So after some research I decided to try out the Kowa 553 to see if it could perform well enough to be my new pack scope. I did not expect it to equal the ability of a 65mm scope and it does not but is it good enough to do the job? So far I've taken it out on two occasions and compared it side by side to my Swaro 65. The first trip was on a cloudy day. The 553 performed nicely and very well out to a very long distance. Distance being 2,000 to 4,000 yards as a guess.
Then I looked through the swaro and I could see the difference. The swaro was clear to the edges and the Kowa 55mm was not. But the Kowa was clear enough and was not expected to be as good as the 65mm. I could see a clear image mostly for a great distance and the middle of the glass image was impressive. I felt like the little Kowa passed the cloudy day test.
I went out again yesterday which was a beautiful sunny day. So on a sunny day the Kowa was even more impressive which it should be. The 55mm was a little darker than the 65mm which again was expected but it was still very bright. And it still was very clear for what I think was several miles. Yes the field of view is smaller than the 65mm but I know I can evaluate antlers on a bull elk who is a mile or two away. The Kowa passed the second test. I still need to do a morning/evening low light test but I'm pretty convinced that this scope will be on my Jarbidge, Nevada muzzy bull elk hunt in September hitching a ride in my back pack for multiple day wilderness hunt. Holding the Kowa 553 connected to the Slik mini sprint tripod in one hand and the swaro 65mm connected to the Outdoorsmans small tripod in the other hand surely shows a big difference in weight. Is it 65mm Swarovski quality? No. Is it great quality. Yes. And it will handle the job. It is definitely good enough to lose 15 power of magnification. The swaro atx 65 has 25 to 60 zoom lens. The Kowa 553 has 15 to 45 zoom. I feel that if a person wants or needs to shave weight that this spotter is good enough to do that. Fatrascal.

 

[JNDEER]

Good stuff. Straightforward unbiased and to the point. Looking forward to your low light test.

 

[Peaks&Creeks]

Are you comparing to an ATX or ATS? With the ATS 65 I can’t find much difference between the two.


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[Calrissian]

I want to hear about the elk hunt.

 

[fatrascal]

PeaksandCreeks, I was using the ATX.
Calrissian, I had a rifle bull tag in the same unit in 2005. It was my first ever elk hunt I'd ever been on and it's quite a story. Maybe I'll tell it one day.

 

[fatrascal]

PeaksandCreeks, I personally could not see a difference between the atx and ATS when I compared them about 5 years ago. But I'm going to use an example that I've used several times in the past.
I go to Walmart and look at the televisions lined up on display. I can't see a difference in the old technology and the new technology. They all look the same to me. I buy the new technology just because I can. After watching that television for a year I go back to Walmart and look at all the televisions on display and dang I can easily see a difference. Yes that newer technology is better and I wonder how I didn't see the difference before. The old technology television is not as good but it's good enough. I can watch every show on it that I can watch on the newer tech t.v. and get the same results.
A friend of mine once told me that he can see the heat waves with his Bushnells just like I see them with my swaro's. I said yes but my heat waves are in HD and they look very good. We both had a good laugh.
But back to my observations. I think your eyes get trained to the quality of your optics and you don't know what your gaining when you upgrade until you've used it for awhile. I'm no eye doctor but I have had this experience several times when upgrading optics. The Kowa is good enough for me to drop down to the lighter weight. Sure I lose 15 power in my zoom but it's still good enough. That's saying a lot for this little scope. And for those, like me, who want to or need to shave weight this is a good option to consider. Fatrascal.

 

[Peaks&Creeks]

Fatrascal, I didn’t mean comparison between the ATX and ATS, I meant ATS compared to the 553. I’ve never looked through a ATX so wouldn’t be able to compare the two Swaros. But to my eyes the only thing I felt the 553 gave up to the ATS was FOV and a little light morning and evening. Lately I’ve been curious if there are fluctuations in quality between same scope from the manufacturers. The birding forums have done a lot of testing with that and find bad examples of scopes all the time. Kinda makes me think some folks get bad glass from a reputable maker and that’s why they can’t figure out the fuss with alpha glass. Anyway, food for thought I guess.


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[Finn16]

Were you able to effectively pan with that narrow FOV or is it basically a closer look follow up to binos?

 

[longbarrel]

I have a Kowa 554 to replace the Razor 85 mm and the weight difference is even more impressive when I can replace a 4+ pound tripod with a sub-2 lb one because the Kowa is so light. Overall I saved about 5 lb.

 

[Finn16]

I have a Kowa 554 to replace the Razor 85 mm and the weight difference is even more impressive when I can replace a 4+ pound tripod with a sub-2 lb one because the Kowa is so light. Overall I saved about 5 lb.

What tripod and head are you running on that tiny Kowa?

 

[fatrascal]

PeaksandCreeks, sorry I should have explained myself better. I knew what you meant. But when I compared the ATS to the ATX I was just saying that they were both so close in quality that I could not pick out a difference between the two. So I was trying to say that I think the test would have been the same with the ATX or ATS when comparing to the Kowa. With my eyes I got the results I got. But like I said I feel like I may never had seen a difference between the swaro and the Kowa if I was not already used to using the Swaro. But I'm used to the Swaro and can see differences. But I also feel like conditions make a big difference. One day they might be closer to similar than other days depending on light, heat waves, distance, clouds etc.
On the note that some scopes can be better than others even though they are the same model and same name brand. I was at the Sportsmans Warehouse in Twinn Falls, Idaho once and the guy working the optics counter is a huge optics nerd. He told me that he can sometimes take two different Vortex Razors from under his counter, same power and objective and one will be better than the other. He calls the bad ones Friday scopes. He jokes that the scopes were made on Friday, last day of the week before the weekend, and the assembly line workers were in a hurry to get off of work and didn't put in the same effort as they did earlier in the week. So there is probably some truth to what you are saying.
Thanks for your input. Its greatly appreciated. Fatrascal.

 

[fatrascal]

Finn16, yes I can pan with the 553 but mostly I will use it as you said. Taking a better look after finding stuff with the binos. Fatrascal.

 

[longbarrel]

I am using a cheap amazon tripod and integral head that weighs something like 1.2 pounds to hold the 28 oz Kowa.

 

[MuleyFever]

I am using a cheap amazon tripod and integral head that weighs something like 1.2 pounds to hold the 28 oz Kowa.

Do you have a link to the tripod on Amazon?

 

[AK Troutbum]

On the note that some scopes can be better than others even though they are the same model and same name brand. I was at the Sportsmans Warehouse in Twinn Falls, Idaho once and the guy working the optics counter is a huge optics nerd. He told me that he can sometimes take two different Vortex Razors from under his counter, same power and objective and one will be better than the other. He calls the bad ones Friday scopes. He jokes that the scopes were made on Friday, last day of the week before the weekend, and the assembly line workers were in a hurry to get off of work and didn't put in the same effort as they did earlier in the week. So there is probably some truth to what you are saying.

I didn’t realize that China gave their workers weekends off.

On a sidenote, I have that same Kowa/Slik combo, but I ended up replacing the tripod with a AOKA. If you’re looking to save even more wt., I think the AOKA works just as well as the Slik, but it’s over a half a pound lighter.

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[fatrascal]

AK Troutbum, you are probably right about that.

 

[longbarrel]

I am using this amazon basics tripod

https://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-Lightweight-Camera-Mount-Tripod/dp/B00XI87KV8/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?dchild=1&keywords=amazon+basics+tripod&qid=1591128488&sr=8-2-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEyWlNHQ0E0NTMxUUhIJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwMDQ4MzgwOE8zTzBFTktNSlVWJmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTAwNTc1NjUySUVLUUlaMEM2U0hOJndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfYXRmJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

 

[Peaks&Creeks]

PeaksandCreeks, sorry I should have explained myself better. I knew what you meant. But when I compared the ATS to the ATX I was just saying that they were both so close in quality that I could not pick out a difference between the two. So I was trying to say that I think the test would have been the same with the ATX or ATS when comparing to the Kowa. With my eyes I got the results I got. But like I said I feel like I may never had seen a difference between the swaro and the Kowa if I was not already used to using the Swaro. But I'm used to the Swaro and can see differences. But I also feel like conditions make a big difference. One day they might be closer to similar than other days depending on light, heat waves, distance, clouds etc.
On the note that some scopes can be better than others even though they are the same model and same name brand. I was at the Sportsmans Warehouse in Twinn Falls, Idaho once and the guy working the optics counter is a huge optics nerd. He told me that he can sometimes take two different Vortex Razors from under his counter, same power and objective and one will be better than the other. He calls the bad ones Friday scopes. He jokes that the scopes were made on Friday, last day of the week before the weekend, and the assembly line workers were in a hurry to get off of work and didn't put in the same effort as they did earlier in the week. So there is probably some truth to what you are saying.
Thanks for your input. Its greatly appreciated. Fatrascal.

Makes sense to me. I’m not a continual Swaro user but my friends and fellow guides I work with have them and I’ve looked through them quite a bit. I’ve always used the Swaro ATS 65 as my benchmark for great optics, but I now run the 553 and love that little thing.

Friday scopes, that’s a good one. I’ve read enough on the bird forums that there can be a variance and it always has me worried I’m gonna get one of those “Friday” optics. I think with alpha glass you’re mostly safe. The bird folks also take it to the next level with their testing to the point I think if there was a slight imperfection at 45x-60x it wouldn’t be detectable by my eyes.

Thanks for the thorough feedback


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[Elk2008]

From my personnel experience you aren’t safe from this with alpha glass. I had several issues on several scopes in the recent past. It can happen. Wasn’t with Swaro or Kowa though.

 

[Eric4]

I didn’t realize that China gave their workers weekends off.

On a sidenote, I have that same Kowa/Slik combo, but I ended up replacing the tripod with a AOKA. If you’re looking to save even more wt., I think the AOKA works just as well as the Slik, but it’s over a half a pound lighter.

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I've also got this tripod, and think it's a well built set of legs, but if you're running a straight scope, it's probably going to be too short for most people. I found that under a handful of situations, glassing with binoculars left me in an uncomfortable position. For a small angled spotter like the 553, or use as a rifle bipod substitute, it should fit the bill. Overall though for the price of ~$70 for a ball head and legs, it's worth checking out!