Kowa 66A Review

[Matt Cashell]

Kowa Prominar 66A Review

Kowa Prominar 66A Review. Matt compares the Kowa Prominar with the top spotters from Swarovski to see which performs the best in the field.

www.rokslide.com

I received the new Kowa 66A Prominar spotting scope with a couple of extra goodies to look at for a few weeks.



I already have the Prominar 883 with 25-60WA eyepiece for comparison. What kind of information are you looking for about this new scope?

 

[realunlucky]

Excited to read this review.

Sent from my SM-G996U using Tapatalk

 

[dapesche]

What I'd like to see:
1) how they compare a sun up and sun down at full 60x mag (without extender)

2) how they compare a sun up and sun down at full 60x mag (with extender)

3) how they compare mid day when it is sunny and also when it is cloudy, looking into timber to see how their coatings pull out the contrast.

4) able to find a friend with a sheep euro mount to focus on during the day from 400yds away to see how the sharpness pulls out the annuli


All straight forward stuff yah know.

Really curious to see how bright that 66 can be all full mag when conditions aren't perfect.


Thanks for doing this.

Sent from my SM-S901W using Tapatalk

 

[Outwest]

Same as above; clarity/usability at full mag, ability to pull details out of the shade, head to head phone skope photos from both the 66 and 88.

 

[Matt Cashell]

Same as above; clarity/usability at full mag, ability to pull details out of the shade, head to head phone skope photos from both the 66 and 88.

What are you looking for in the digiscoped photos?

I often use digiscoped photos in my comparison articles, but not for comparing optical qualities like resolution and contrast of the optic. The phone camera and computational photography components just add too many variables to provide an even field. I do find digiscoped photos useful for showing field of view and distortion, however, and I will likely include some.

 

[Matt Cashell]

4) able to find a friend with a sheep euro mount to focus on during the day from 400yds away to see how the sharpness pulls out the annuli

"Hey man, can I take your sheep mount to the woods for a minute?"

 

[MT_Wyatt]

Matt if not too much trouble, please compare to the smaller Swaro spotters in the field.

The other thing I would be interested in reading would be your take on color rendition of this spotter vs some of the other comparable class of scopes/brands.

Finally - not looking for a "winner" but kind of like your ATC/553/ATS65 review comparison, but your opinion on best use case for the scope after some time with it would be appreciated.

 

[MT_Wyatt]

"Hey man, can I take your sheep mount to the woods for a minute?"

Let's add some mountain goats to the mix as well, full body mounts only!

 

[dapesche]

Funny. You know you're from bc when you know a few guys in town that would have some mounts you could use....

Set up outside Stone glaciers build and glass through their windows?!

Sent from my SM-S901W using Tapatalk

 

[VEDO]

I Just recieved my 774. Worth the upgrade to fluorite? The 774 is nice, put it next to my buddies STX65 and I think the swaro still has the edge even with the disadvantage of 12mm smaller glass. Debating returning before my 30 days is up from opticsplanet. Thanks

 

[sportsmans challenge]

"Hey man, can I take your sheep mount to the woods for a minute?"

Sent you a message about some suplies

 

[BjornF16]

Interested in performance difference between 883 and 66A…worth packing an extra pound or not?

 

[4th_point]

View attachment 580598What kind of information are you looking for about this new scope?

Thanks for asking, Matt.

I have a list of questions but first a bit about the sample under review. Is this a high volume production unit? Or marketing demo unit?

I think that for the sake of the integrity of a Rokslide review, that needs to disclosed. Especially with a newly released product that is not on dealer shelves.

Jason

 

[Matt Cashell]

Thanks for asking, Matt.

I have a list of questions but first a bit about the sample under review. Is this a high volume production unit? Or marketing demo unit?

I think that for the sake of the integrity of a Rokslide review, that needs to disclosed. Especially with a newly released product that is not on dealer shelves.

Jason

Fair question.

This is a sample sent from Kowa directly.

I don’t know if it was cherry picked, but even if it was, it can give an idea of what a good copy of the new design is capable of.

 

[4th_point]

I agree, Matt. Thanks for the reply.

 

[PHo]

With the 77 series being discontinued, it seems like the new 66 series is meant as a replacement. Although it may not be a fair comparison, I would like to know how those two compare. Is the 66 a better value than the old 77?

 

[Valumpessa]

Looking at the weight alone I know this new 66 is not going to replace my 554. But I agree with other comments wondering how it stacks up to the 77 and 88. Does the FOV and low light performance sufficiently replace the larger objectives in your opinion? It's a beautiful spotter, just trying to figure out where it fits in for those who already own one or two of the other Prominars.

 

[rm90]

What is the eyepiece outside dimension.
Can you confirm what this dimension would be.
I placed an order on one should be here by 2-3 week of august, this got me excited, was curious is the eye piece extender worth the additional costs ?
What are the benefits ?

 

[4th_point]

Hi Matt,

My list is below for your consideration. Some of it echoes what has already been posted above. I think that people will definitely want to know how the 66A compares to the 773/774, and probably the 553/554. And of course the 65mm ATS/STS. I hope that you have access to at least a couple for comparison.

I figure that you'll cover at least some of what is listed anyway, but also realize that to test for all of it involves more variables than just the sample scope. And some is subjective or dependent on the viewer. Plus considerable time. Whatever you can share would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Jason

1. Resolution
   • Ideally compared side-by-side to known good reference scope of similar objective size, at same magnification
2. Control of flare/glare, ghosting
3. View
   • Color and contrast (how does it compare to reference scope?)
     • Especially with harsh lighting (could be bright sun on light colored landscape, backlit scenes, etc.?)
     • Difficult landscapes where soil and vegetation make it hard to spot game (i.e. not game against green vegetation)
   • Image quality across field, across zoom range
   • Is image sharp at 60x max magnification?
   • Focus snap, or ability to get best focus without a lot of fiddling (can you get sharp focus with the coarse knob or do you need to use the fine?)
   • Brightness
     • I wouldn't expect anything earthshattering with brightness but comparisons to other optics at same theoretical exit pupil would be useful (e.g. 3mm)
4. Comparison against KOWA family, if possible
   • 66A vs 553
     • I suspect that some might be thinking about an upgrade from 55mm to 66mm, and possibly the better EP
   • 66A vs 773 vs 88A
     • 773
       • 773 is discontinued but still useful information as it is somewhat of a known quantity and similar size/weight
     • 88A
       • This is not a fair comparison, however it would be interesting to compare resolution at the same magnification in good light
     • Please swap eyepieces during testing and note any differences observed
5. Comparison against competition
   • 65mm ATS
   • ATC would be great too, but probably outside the scope of this review
6. Drop testing (joking)
7. Other
   • What needs improvement?

 

[4th_point]

Forgot one, which you will probably provide information on anyway, but how the image looks at 96x with the 1.6x extender.