Stinky Coyote
WKR
Caveat, i'm no optics expert, I know how to use them and find stuff to kill so take this hunter perspective for what it is! I have plenty of pictures of the spotters/what I looked at etc. and when I load them i'll get them here but all I got time for right now is copy/paste what I emailed a few key buddies/family. Hope this helps anyone shopping at the flyweight end of spotters.
So the 60mm poly body NON-ED glass Kowa 602 spotter finally arrived. Its 480 bucks for the body and about 370 bucks for the 20-60x eyepiece(Robinsons camera downtown Calgary). So a viable alternative price wise to the ED50 with 13-40x eyepiece. Note: The 664 I also have came in at $1320 bucks for body and eyepiece fyi. Kowa 664 is 66mm with ED glass and 2 lb 13.5 oz, the Kowa 602 is 60mm NON-ED glass and 2 lb 1.5 oz (3/4 lb lighter) both are 20-60x and use exact same eyepiece. So the 602 is under $1k and a lot of scope for the money and weight…the whole reason I decided to get one and see for myself. I have already compared the ED50 to the 664 but this time the ED50 gets compared to the 602…incredibly close battle ensues.
Note: ED50’s have been discontinued and same with the 13-40x eyepiece….both are rare birds. Keep that in mind, at least if a guy smashes his ED50 up or has some sort of failure…the way to go to replace is definitely this kowa 602.
First, weight, the complete Kowa 602 is 2 lb 1.5 oz with factory protective lens caps on both ends. This is exactly 9 oz heavier than the complete ED50 with end caps which is 1 lb 6.5 oz….or a touch over ½ lb heavier.
Its longer by quite a bit but not really that much fatter.
I spent 2 hours comparing these two spotters today, up to 1.9 km’s on street signs with letters, horses in pastures, and even further than a couple km’s on a cell tower of some sort.
I really thought the kowa would kick the nikon’s ass and I would notice it immediately but it took a solid two hours of testing to come to the conclusion I will put the 602 in my pack instead of the ED50 but this may not be a permanent decision, I still have questions that only time will answer, that’s how close this race is.
The Nikon is so easy to use, look through and focus etc, very user friendly in real situations. The kowa is very close but I’d say not quite as easy on the eye but as your eye digs into the image I think your getting a bit more out of the kowa although it does seem a touch darker in hue even with the bigger objective it is a higher magnification range scope, it may just be more contrasty than the ed50 as light isn’t an issue, hard to explain, there is plenty of light the image just doesn’t snap or seem as vivid as the ed50 initially. The Nikon seems to have bigger fov for same image magnification and its very useable 40x. I found the 60x on the kowa pretty useable too and on a sign at 1.9 km’s that had a 250m designation underneath a larger sign the kowa at 60x finally showed me what could be done with the extra magnification but it took awhile for me to see enough of a difference to get my attention. I could still read the 250m at 1.9km with the Nikon but the kowa at 60x was just able to pull it that much closer and define it that much better. So for extreme judging to save one some hiking I can see the benefit of this extra magnification and this is the reason I will throw it in the pack but almost as a test in field for awhile not as a permanent choice. At 40x the image quality is so close between the two, the almost brighter easier to view image of the Nikon initially looks to be the winner but nearer the edges the kowa seems much more consistent right to the edge where the Nikon was a champ more in the middle area only…this doesn’t bother me much as I tend to just watch the middle of the spotter anyhow…I was looking for differences. And it just seemed like you could pull a bit more out of the image with a few more seconds with the kowa than the initial pop and easy view of the Nikon. I’m going to attribute this difference to ED glass vs Non-ED glass…as I have the 664 kowa which is 66mm and is ED glass and it also has the image/pop/ease of view difference over the 602 like the ed50 does. This battle was so close that it’s a bit of a wash. They seem to be equal matches and really depends on user needs.
The questions I’m left with after all this is…how much more than 40x will I need or use for the bighorn stuff I’ve been doing when I’m on FOOT! Yes I will keep my 664 for truck work but on foot when in the country I want to hunt that 40x has never really left me wanting in the past, i can read small letters at 1.9km with the 40x ed50 and its such a useable 40x…I’m left still thinking the ed50 is one of the ultimate optics on the planet for the weight/size it represents. And I am left thinking the 40x is more than enough in probably 98% of the situations I will encounter on foot? Something along those lines. So I will field the kowa 602 for awhile before I decide if I could let one of these fine scopes go up for sale…no way I can do that right now…its so tight a battle for me that I simply have to give the kowa a chance before I make up my mind on what stays and what goes and maybe I’ll never be able to make up my mind on them? Maybe they will both always do the job I need?
I know the kowa 664 can easily show up the ed50 since it is ED glass plus 66mm of light gathering so its easy to see but it also weighs in at 2 lb 13.5 oz which is almost twice the weight of the Nikon ed50….i won’t pack the 664 being nearly twice the weight of the ed50(21 oz heavier than ed50, and its 12 oz heavier than the 602). But for 9 oz heavier than the ed50 I’m going to give the 602 a chance and see if that 60x is useable enough to warrant the extra half pound+. I thought I could come to easier conclusion in much less time…tight battle and no question if buying new it’s the spotter to choose for lightest weight vs most capability class, I would not go out of my way to track down an ed50 with this option out there, they are that close to me now that I’ve put them together.
So the 60mm poly body NON-ED glass Kowa 602 spotter finally arrived. Its 480 bucks for the body and about 370 bucks for the 20-60x eyepiece(Robinsons camera downtown Calgary). So a viable alternative price wise to the ED50 with 13-40x eyepiece. Note: The 664 I also have came in at $1320 bucks for body and eyepiece fyi. Kowa 664 is 66mm with ED glass and 2 lb 13.5 oz, the Kowa 602 is 60mm NON-ED glass and 2 lb 1.5 oz (3/4 lb lighter) both are 20-60x and use exact same eyepiece. So the 602 is under $1k and a lot of scope for the money and weight…the whole reason I decided to get one and see for myself. I have already compared the ED50 to the 664 but this time the ED50 gets compared to the 602…incredibly close battle ensues.
Note: ED50’s have been discontinued and same with the 13-40x eyepiece….both are rare birds. Keep that in mind, at least if a guy smashes his ED50 up or has some sort of failure…the way to go to replace is definitely this kowa 602.
First, weight, the complete Kowa 602 is 2 lb 1.5 oz with factory protective lens caps on both ends. This is exactly 9 oz heavier than the complete ED50 with end caps which is 1 lb 6.5 oz….or a touch over ½ lb heavier.
Its longer by quite a bit but not really that much fatter.
I spent 2 hours comparing these two spotters today, up to 1.9 km’s on street signs with letters, horses in pastures, and even further than a couple km’s on a cell tower of some sort.
I really thought the kowa would kick the nikon’s ass and I would notice it immediately but it took a solid two hours of testing to come to the conclusion I will put the 602 in my pack instead of the ED50 but this may not be a permanent decision, I still have questions that only time will answer, that’s how close this race is.
The Nikon is so easy to use, look through and focus etc, very user friendly in real situations. The kowa is very close but I’d say not quite as easy on the eye but as your eye digs into the image I think your getting a bit more out of the kowa although it does seem a touch darker in hue even with the bigger objective it is a higher magnification range scope, it may just be more contrasty than the ed50 as light isn’t an issue, hard to explain, there is plenty of light the image just doesn’t snap or seem as vivid as the ed50 initially. The Nikon seems to have bigger fov for same image magnification and its very useable 40x. I found the 60x on the kowa pretty useable too and on a sign at 1.9 km’s that had a 250m designation underneath a larger sign the kowa at 60x finally showed me what could be done with the extra magnification but it took awhile for me to see enough of a difference to get my attention. I could still read the 250m at 1.9km with the Nikon but the kowa at 60x was just able to pull it that much closer and define it that much better. So for extreme judging to save one some hiking I can see the benefit of this extra magnification and this is the reason I will throw it in the pack but almost as a test in field for awhile not as a permanent choice. At 40x the image quality is so close between the two, the almost brighter easier to view image of the Nikon initially looks to be the winner but nearer the edges the kowa seems much more consistent right to the edge where the Nikon was a champ more in the middle area only…this doesn’t bother me much as I tend to just watch the middle of the spotter anyhow…I was looking for differences. And it just seemed like you could pull a bit more out of the image with a few more seconds with the kowa than the initial pop and easy view of the Nikon. I’m going to attribute this difference to ED glass vs Non-ED glass…as I have the 664 kowa which is 66mm and is ED glass and it also has the image/pop/ease of view difference over the 602 like the ed50 does. This battle was so close that it’s a bit of a wash. They seem to be equal matches and really depends on user needs.
The questions I’m left with after all this is…how much more than 40x will I need or use for the bighorn stuff I’ve been doing when I’m on FOOT! Yes I will keep my 664 for truck work but on foot when in the country I want to hunt that 40x has never really left me wanting in the past, i can read small letters at 1.9km with the 40x ed50 and its such a useable 40x…I’m left still thinking the ed50 is one of the ultimate optics on the planet for the weight/size it represents. And I am left thinking the 40x is more than enough in probably 98% of the situations I will encounter on foot? Something along those lines. So I will field the kowa 602 for awhile before I decide if I could let one of these fine scopes go up for sale…no way I can do that right now…its so tight a battle for me that I simply have to give the kowa a chance before I make up my mind on what stays and what goes and maybe I’ll never be able to make up my mind on them? Maybe they will both always do the job I need?
I know the kowa 664 can easily show up the ed50 since it is ED glass plus 66mm of light gathering so its easy to see but it also weighs in at 2 lb 13.5 oz which is almost twice the weight of the Nikon ed50….i won’t pack the 664 being nearly twice the weight of the ed50(21 oz heavier than ed50, and its 12 oz heavier than the 602). But for 9 oz heavier than the ed50 I’m going to give the 602 a chance and see if that 60x is useable enough to warrant the extra half pound+. I thought I could come to easier conclusion in much less time…tight battle and no question if buying new it’s the spotter to choose for lightest weight vs most capability class, I would not go out of my way to track down an ed50 with this option out there, they are that close to me now that I’ve put them together.
