After spending several years behind low quality Celestron glass, I decided to upgrade this past season to a pair of Razor UHD 10x42s. I also added my first spotter to the quiver with the new Razor 13-39x56. I'm primarily a backcountry archery elk hunter, so I didn't feel I needed a big spotter with the larger zoom. That said, I've also started getting into more glass intensive hunts so I can spend more time in the field each year. After most of a season behind the glass, its been undeniable their impact on my ability to find and identify game at distance. All that said, I'm admittedly a bit of a gear head, and find myself wanting to upgrade and further improve that glassing experience. I feel the UHDs and the mini Razor are suiting the way I'm currently using them well enough that the first upgrade, or maybe I should say addition, to my quiver that I'd like to make is a larger spotter. In the long term, I'd like to add to that quiver so I can choose the glass that best suits the hunt I'm on.
After all of my research, I've narrowed it down to (2) lines of spotters, the Swarovski ATX/STX/BTX line, and the new Kowa Prominar line of scopes. I feel I've read enough reviews/comparisons of the scopes to know the Kowa "glass" is subjectively better. I've never used dual focus wheels either, but they seem ideal for me in theory. The helical focus on my Vortex drives me nuts, which gives me a little pause in sinking a ton of $$ into alpha glass with it. On the other hand, the modularity of the Swarovski scopes is what I find intriguing, making it difficult to choose. In the time I've spent behind my current spotting scope, I find myself wishing I had bought the Razor with the straight model 50% of the time, while I'm glad I have the angled model the other 50% of the time. The ability to purchase both the ATX and STX with a single objective lens to have that flexibility in the long term would be a plus in my mind. On the flip side, I could just purchase the body of a second Kowa scope for less than an ATX or STX, depending on the objective lens size. Where the dilemma really comes in is the ability to add the BTX to the lineup. I think its hard to argue that glassing with (1) eye at 20x on a spotter is better than glassing with (2) eyes at 10x with a pair of binos. The same would logically apply to the BTX at 30x vs a typical spotter at 60x. But, I'm not sure how often I'd use it considering the size and weight.
For those of you out there with Alpha glass, what did you do, or what would you do if you could do it again? Is the flexibility and possibility of adding the BTX to the quiver enough to go with Swaro? Or would you go with a couple Kowa bodies in the long term and call it a day?
After all of my research, I've narrowed it down to (2) lines of spotters, the Swarovski ATX/STX/BTX line, and the new Kowa Prominar line of scopes. I feel I've read enough reviews/comparisons of the scopes to know the Kowa "glass" is subjectively better. I've never used dual focus wheels either, but they seem ideal for me in theory. The helical focus on my Vortex drives me nuts, which gives me a little pause in sinking a ton of $$ into alpha glass with it. On the other hand, the modularity of the Swarovski scopes is what I find intriguing, making it difficult to choose. In the time I've spent behind my current spotting scope, I find myself wishing I had bought the Razor with the straight model 50% of the time, while I'm glad I have the angled model the other 50% of the time. The ability to purchase both the ATX and STX with a single objective lens to have that flexibility in the long term would be a plus in my mind. On the flip side, I could just purchase the body of a second Kowa scope for less than an ATX or STX, depending on the objective lens size. Where the dilemma really comes in is the ability to add the BTX to the lineup. I think its hard to argue that glassing with (1) eye at 20x on a spotter is better than glassing with (2) eyes at 10x with a pair of binos. The same would logically apply to the BTX at 30x vs a typical spotter at 60x. But, I'm not sure how often I'd use it considering the size and weight.
For those of you out there with Alpha glass, what did you do, or what would you do if you could do it again? Is the flexibility and possibility of adding the BTX to the quiver enough to go with Swaro? Or would you go with a couple Kowa bodies in the long term and call it a day?
