Kowa 774 to 55s?

[Wyo_hntr]

Appreciate the response

 

[VirginiaBeach]

I’m going to buy the 55s today or tomorrow. I’ll report back once I have it in hand. I’ve used the Kowa 66a, 99a and several Swaro full size spotters. My buddy has the ATC which I’ll try side by side to compare at some point as well.

 

[tracker12]

Please let us know what you think about the 55 its on my short list.

 

[huntnful]

Just wanted to drop a little update. Spent a little time behind the new KOWA 554 and it is substantially better with the new eyepiece. It was also next to a new 884. And although it isn’t comparable a long distances, I think it would be an excellent choice for moderate ranges for someone that’s weight conscious.

 

[chicoredneck]

I had a Kowa 554, Swaro 85 atx, and 115 atx.

I recently sold the 55mm Kowa and kept the two bigger spotters. I preferred the Kowa focus wheel over the Swarovski, but the small 55mm lens just could not hang with the bigger optics. I found that I never used the Kowa, even when I was backpacking, which is what I bought it for. It just did not have the resolution that a larger objective is able to deliver and low light performance sucked.

Kowa has great glass, but no matter how good your glass is, 55mm just limits the amount of resolution it can deliver. At higher magnifications this becomes obvious.

If I didn’t have a 15x binocular I went everywhere with and wanted a mid range glass, the small 55mm spotter would make sense to me.

 

[huntnful]

I had a Kowa 554, Swaro 85 atx, and 115 atx.

I recently sold the 55mm Kowa and kept the two bigger spotters. I preferred the Kowa focus wheel over the Swarovski, but the small 55mm lens just could not hang with the bigger optics. I found that I never used the Kowa, even when I was backpacking, which is what I bought it for. It just did not have the resolution that a larger objective is able to deliver and low light performance sucked.

Kowa has great glass, but no matter how good your glass is, 55mm just limits the amount of resolution it can deliver. At higher magnifications this becomes obvious.

If I didn’t have a 15x binocular I went everywhere with and wanted a mid range glass, the small 55mm spotter would make sense to me.

100% agree. I can glass deer further with binos than the resolution of the 55 can put horns on them. So to me it’s not worth carrying for hunting big country

 

[Ynothunt41]

Just wanted to drop a little update. Spent a little time behind the new KOWA 554 and it is substantially better with the new eyepiece. It was also next to a new 884. And although it isn’t comparable a long distances, I think it would be an excellent choice for moderate ranges for someone that’s weight conscious.

Thanks for the update! What do you consider long distance and moderate ranges?

 

[mntnguide]

I own both the 77 and 55. . My 55 rarely gets put in my pack. I had the 77 for years, picked up the 55, and honestly immediately missed the view of the 77 and just everything else about it. Last year aside from just throwing the 55 in to have on an elk hunt i never used it on, i never took it anywhere. Only packed my 77. For me, the little extra weight is 100% worth the convenience that scope provides. Have considered selling my 55, but im a gear hoarder, so its just on the shelf.. Im heading out tomorrow to scout and leaving the horses at home and throwing a pack on and heading to 11k...didnt even consider grabbing the 55. 77 all the way

 

[Wyo_hntr]

I own both the 77 and 55. . My 55 rarely gets put in my pack. I had the 77 for years, picked up the 55, and honestly immediately missed the view of the 77 and just everything else about it. Last year aside from just throwing the 55 in to have on an elk hunt i never used it on, i never took it anywhere. Only packed my 77. For me, the little extra weight is 100% worth the convenience that scope provides. Have considered selling my 55, but im a gear hoarder, so its just on the shelf.. Im heading out tomorrow to scout and leaving the horses at home and throwing a pack on and heading to 11k...didnt even consider grabbing the 55. 77 all the way

Mightve saved me 1800 bucks! Haha

 

[Moosehunter]

Is anyone on here talking about the NEW kowa 55?
I think that's what the OP was referencing.
Edit: I'm sure it will still struggle a little in low light. But the viewing experience will be wayyyy nicer.
Another edit: I caught up on post and it looks like some are talking the new kowa.
I had a old 553 and didn't like the toilet paper roll field of view. That new one looks impressive.

 

[mntnguide]

Is anyone on here talking about the NEW kowa 55?
I think that's what the OP was referencing.
Edit: I'm sure it will still struggle a little in low light. But the viewing experience will be wayyyy nicer.

Does not matter for me, the reason i like my 77 has nothing to do with magnification, glass quality, or eyepiece. Its the field of view. When i look for deer, i will pick apart hillsides, and especially spotted trees for something as simple as an ear moving. So i use my scope to grid search all day long. The 77 is night and day worth the extra weight over a 55mm for how I use scopes. Nothing against the 55, great scope, i wanted to love it, just for me and how i use spotters, the field of view is useless in comparison. For someone else who hunts differently, im sure no issue. But I will spend hours in my spotter picking apart tiny details, and have found lots of deer in the middle of the day because of it. Just depends what type of glasser you are and what you need it for. . The only time i pack my 55 is archery elk, and thats only to figure out how big a bull is thats miles away if i need to.

 

[antlerz]

Depends on your use. My older 554 lets me ID racks clearly to 2 miles. Theres no way I would hunt solo without that in the top pocket of the pack. Sometimes I wonder about individual variation within optics, especially when some say they have x optic that is blurry at x distance. Ability to tolerate smaller exit pupils or desire for larger FOV influences the equation. If you can tolerate the weight then bigger is better. I would love a 77 if they were 30oz. I dont even like lugging an ATS65 for multiday trips. Pick your use, try a demo, and make your own call. Amazing options out there.
I would love to see a 65 made like the 55s without seperate eyepiece and emphasis on minimum weight

 

[Moosehunter]

Does not matter for me, the reason i like my 77 has nothing to do with magnification, glass quality, or eyepiece. Its the field of view. When i look for deer, i will pick apart hillsides, and especially spotted trees for something as simple as an ear moving. So i use my scope to grid search all day long. The 77 is night and day worth the extra weight over a 55mm for how I use scopes. Nothing against the 55, great scope, i wanted to love it, just for me and how i use spotters, the field of view is useless in comparison. For someone else who hunts differently, im sure no issue. But I will spend hours in my spotter picking apart tiny details, and have found lots of deer in the middle of the day because of it. Just depends what type of glasser you are and what you need it for. . The only time i pack my 55 is archery elk, and thats only to figure out how big a bull is thats miles away if i need to.

The NEW 55 has a LARGER field of view at its lowest magnification than the 77/88
Might make that grid searching nicer

 

[Ynothunt41]

Does not matter for me, the reason i like my 77 has nothing to do with magnification, glass quality, or eyepiece. Its the field of view. When i look for deer, i will pick apart hillsides, and especially spotted trees for something as simple as an ear moving. So i use my scope to grid search all day long. The 77 is night and day worth the extra weight over a 55mm for how I use scopes. Nothing against the 55, great scope, i wanted to love it, just for me and how i use spotters, the field of view is useless in comparison. For someone else who hunts differently, im sure no issue. But I will spend hours in my spotter picking apart tiny details, and have found lots of deer in the middle of the day because of it. Just depends what type of glasser you are and what you need it for. . The only time i pack my 55 is archery elk, and thats only to figure out how big a bull is thats miles away if i need to.

Good info but you do know that the new 55 has the widest field of view of any spotting scope out there that I know of. I'm sure some of this is because of the lower magnification then the bigger scopes.

 

[Wyo_hntr]

I always thought the 77 was goldilocks porridge, but maybe the 66s is...

 

[mntnguide]

Good info but you do know that the new 55 has the widest field of view of any spotting scope out there that I know of. I'm sure some of this is because of the lower magnification then the bigger scopes.

Im aware the new version is much better. the 50% greater FOV over the original model for a 17-40x scope is great. Ill still take my 77 with higher power. As i said, nothing against the 55mm. For what I do, the 77mm with better FOV at full power for grid searching is worth its weight in gold. Im not grid searching at low power. Im at near full picking apart branches for the flick of an ear in the middle of the day. And that 40x, isnt gonna cut it for my style. But i hunt different than many, and what i do works for me.

 

[mntnguide]

The NEW 55 has a LARGER field of view at its lowest magnification than the 77/88
Might make that grid searching nicer

yep well aware. I dont grid search at low power, I have binos for that. Im talking about picking apart a mountain side branch by branch looking for the flick of an ear or movement of a horn.

 

[mlevimadden]

I always thought the 77 was goldilocks porridge, but maybe the 66s is...

I was searching for a spotter earlier this year and wound up finding a 774 on the classifieds here.

I never looked through the 66s to comment on the glass quality but one thing that drove my decision is the 66 only being 5 oz lighter than the 774. That, and the cost increase, especially with there not being many used 66s out there yet pushed me to the 77.

I have never owned a kowa 55 but have looked through the older model a few times. I have owned a razor 50, an Athlon 65, and an ATM 65HD before my current spotter. The razor 50 was useless at last light and had similar tunnel vision to the kowa. I had a similar experience as @huntnful with the Athlon 65 where I couldn’t resolve much more than my meopta 12s on a tripod and sold it for that reason.

If someone made a magical ultralight spotter that was as good as the 80+ mm objectives everyone here would be using it but in my experience the bigger objectives make a difference in spotter performance.

 

[Hans_Grimsgaard]

I second the comment above. I had a vortex razor 50mm with a max zoom of 39x I found it pretty useless. Sure you can spot animals but you can’t get in tight and look at antlers for 4 point or greater seasons ect. If I’m carrying the spotter I’ll carry the extra weight and have more zoom and light. Love my Kowa 773.

 

[Ynothunt41]

I never looked through a 77 but I did look through the new 66 and 88 at some stores. I sold my old non HD Swaro 65 with the 20-60 eyepiece. I just got the new 55s yesterday. I hunt Elk and Mule deer in the mountains. For what I hunt and the way I hunt this thing is amazing. 17 to 30x the image is bright and tack sharp. 30 to 40x it is still super sharp but the image does get darker. You do not much sharpness in the upper power range and it is very usable. One other thing is if you could use a tree or something like that you could hand hold this to take a quick look at something. This may not work for guys that need the higher magnification but for guys like me this is an amazing piece of gear!