Kowa TSN-553 Review, By Luke Moffat

[slim9300]

So talking low light.

How many minutes of light is the Kowa 55mm losing versus say the 65 or 85mm Swaro, or 85mm Razor?

Are we taking 10 minutes or just a couple?


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[flyinsquirel]

Compared to an ATS65HD with the 20-60, no more than a couple to my eyes. Haven't been able to compare it to an 80.

 

[mcseal2]

It beats the non-HD Swaro STM65 in low light I sold when I bought it. It stays darn close to the ATS 80HD I have, I'd say you don't lose many minutes. Maybe 4-5 at the absolute most, probably half that. It's close enough I don't think I've used the Swaro except off the window mount since the Kowa showed up. The biggest negative is the smaller field of view on the Kowa, if I spent a ton of time glassing through a spotter it might bother me. I mostly just evaluate game with the spotter and pack 15x binos for finding game.

 

[Ronb]

These tests aren’t really apples to apples unless you crank the Kowa to 20 or 25 power. Depending on which swaro eyepiece you’re comparing it to. At 25 power the little Kowa has an exit pupil of 1.8. Compared to 2.6 for the 25X50 swaro. I’m very skeptical that would gather more light than a 65 swaro, HD or non-HD. I’m sure this scope is a great scope, but not so sure that it’s the greatest all a-rounder that I find the Swaro 65. Just for reference, I have had the 20 x 60 and the 30 superwide eyepieces. But the 25 x 50 is a gem. It’s actually not the brightest of the three, but it is so tack sharp through the entire zoom range, it takes the cake. In my opinion brightness is very important and it’s often where people start, but resolution and detail trumps all. Keep in mind, I have yet to look through the Kowa, maybe when I do some day, I’ll switch to the dark side. Or the nearly as bright as the Swaro side. Haha!!!


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[flyinsquirel]

Ronb - Good point. When comparing I did make sure I was using similar mag, or as close as possible being the Kowa doesn't have 20 marked out. Even though at similar mag they will not have equal exit pupil. I figured it was still a good comparison.

If I was planning to spend time scanning with the spotter I'd go green. If you just want to check something out and 45x is enough, the Kowa is more than up to the task.

 

[gr8fuldoug]

The fact that the Kowa also fits into a water bottle holder on the side of a pack is kinda sweet

 

[dotman]

Ronb I get where your coming from. I had the 25-50 on my 80mm HD. I was skeptical at first of the Kowa and would not of kept it if it wasn’t very sharp, crisp and had good low light capability. The max zoom range of 5x more for the Swaro was not a big difference, the fov of the Kowa does not bother me as I do not scan for hours behind a spotter. The weight and bulk difference in the pack is very substantial. Truthfully for how I use a spotter the Kowa is perfect but we all have our styles. I couldn’t keep both so I sold my Swaro because 95% of the time I didn’t pack it and it didn’t blow the Kowa away in performance. I have a feeling the little Kowa will always be in my pack.

Also you do not need nearly as substantial of a tripod and head for the Kowa and binos. To me the Swaro was great but not if it wasn’t being used. If I was to hunt sheep I wouldn’t have used the Swaro as again I would prefer to go past 50x or 60x zoom if the conditions are good, so if I hunted sheep I would get the Kowa 77 with an extender taking it out to 90x zoom. I wouldn’t get the ATX purely due to cost.

 

[Ronb]

Ronb I get where your coming from. I had the 25-50 on my 80mm HD. I was skeptical at first of the Kowa and would not of kept it if it wasn’t very sharp, crisp and had good low light capability. The max zoom range of 5x more for the Swaro was not a big difference, the fov of the Kowa does not bother me as I do not scan for hours behind a spotter. The weight and bulk difference in the pack is very substantial. Truthfully for how I use a spotter the Kowa is perfect but we all have our styles. I couldn’t keep both so I sold my Swaro because 95% of the time I didn’t pack it and it didn’t blow the Kowa away in performance. I have a feeling the little Kowa will always be in my pack.

Also you do not need nearly as substantial of a tripod and head for the Kowa and binos. To me the Swaro was great but not if it wasn’t being used. If I was to hunt sheep I wouldn’t have used the Swaro as again I would prefer to go past 50x or 60x zoom if the conditions are good, so if I hunted sheep I would get the Kowa 77 with an extender taking it out to 90x zoom. I wouldn’t get the ATX purely due to cost.

That would be ideal owning an 80 and the Kowa 55. I would be first in line on a 55 if they had a wide angle for one.


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[luke moffat]

That would be ideal owning an 80 and the Kowa 55. I would be first in line on a 55 if they had a wide angle for one.


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Which is why I am keeping the 85mm Zeiss and the 55mm Kowa....though the Kowa will now get the lion's share of the field time on backpacking hunts in particular.

 

[mcseal2]

These tests aren’t really apples to apples unless you crank the Kowa to 20 or 25 power. Depending on which swaro eyepiece you’re comparing it to. At 25 power the little Kowa has an exit pupil of 1.8. Compared to 2.6 for the 25X50 swaro. I’m very skeptical that would gather more light than a 65 swaro, HD or non-HD. I’m sure this scope is a great scope, but not so sure that it’s the greatest all a-rounder that I find the Swaro 65. Just for reference, I have had the 20 x 60 and the 30 superwide eyepieces. But the 25 x 50 is a gem. It’s actually not the brightest of the three, but it is so tack sharp through the entire zoom range, it takes the cake. In my opinion brightness is very important and it’s often where people start, but resolution and detail trumps all. Keep in mind, I have yet to look through the Kowa, maybe when I do some day, I’ll switch to the dark side. Or the nearly as bright as the Swaro side. Haha!!!


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I was comparing the Kowa on 15x to the Swaro on 20x (20-60 eyepiece) so you are right it wasn't an apples to apples when I had it next to my ATS 80HD. To my eyes it is brighter and has a more usable image in low light than the Swaro STM65 I sold. Everyone's eyes are different, but I feel like I can see more detail with this Kowa than with that Swaro. I never had any eyepiece other than the 20-60 for either Swaro spotter.

I keep considering selling the Swaro ATS80 but have not done so. I like it better from the window mount with the bigger field of view, and better for tripod use some of the time. I just keep asking myself if it's worth having that much money wrapped up in an optic that I use pretty rarely. I don't see myself packing the Swaro 80 on my back very often. If I'm packing some weight in optics it will be the Kowa and the Swaro 15x56 binos 90% of the time. For an antelope hunt where the vehicle is used more the Swaro 80 on the window mount and the Kowa in my pack is a great set-up, but is it worth having the Swaro 80 for that? I use it on the window mount scouting whitetail also a fair amount so I've kept it so far but I keep considering selling it and putting the money toward more tags.

 

[Fins_N_Tines]

What do you think the limitation is as far as distance? I believe you mentioned glassing at 4 miles. would you say 4 miles is a stretch and it is better suited 2-3 miles?

 

[twall13]

What do you think the limitation is as far as distance? I believe you mentioned glassing at 4 miles. would you say 4 miles is a stretch and it is better suited 2-3 miles?

That's kind of a loaded question... There is a lot going in to how far you are going to be able to glass, lighting conditions being a key factor. It also depends on what you are trying to do at that distance. Clearly this is a 45x max zoom so it's not going to be as well suited as some of the larger scopes out at 4 miles and beyond, but if you are just trying to locate animals you can probably push out beyond 4 miles with decent lighting conditions. If, from 4 miles away, you are trying to decide if the buck you are looking at is over 190", you probably want a different scope. Really at those distances you are just seeing if the animal looks good enough that you are willing to hike over there for a closer look.
From my perspective, this scope shines because it is light enough that I actually haul it with me, yet high quality glass so it's actually useful. I typically scan for game with my binoculars on a tripod and use the Kowa to examine things more closely. The small field of view makes it less than ideal for using it to scan for game, at least for me, but 45x zoom is useful once I know where an animal is located. If I were counting rings on a sheep hunt I'd probably get a bigger scope, but for deer and elk it's a great backcountry scope. At least that's my take on it...

 

[Fins_N_Tines]

That's kind of a loaded question... There is a lot going in to how far you are going to be able to glass, lighting conditions being a key factor. It also depends on what you are trying to do at that distance. Clearly this is a 45x max zoom so it's not going to be as well suited as some of the larger scopes out at 4 miles and beyond, but if you are just trying to locate animals you can probably push out beyond 4 miles with decent lighting conditions. If, from 4 miles away, you are trying to decide if the buck you are looking at is over 190", you probably want a different scope. Really at those distances you are just seeing if the animal looks good enough that you are willing to hike over there for a closer look.
From my perspective, this scope shines because it is light enough that I actually haul it with me, yet high quality glass so it's actually useful. I typically scan for game with my binoculars on a tripod and use the Kowa to examine things more closely. The small field of view makes it less than ideal for using it to scan for game, at least for me, but 45x zoom is useful once I know where an animal is located. If I were counting rings on a sheep hunt I'd probably get a bigger scope, but for deer and elk it's a great backcountry scope. At least that's my take on it...

Thanks for your detailed response. Sounds like a good fit for me. I would primarily be using it for deer and glassing at long distances just to locate. I as well use my 12X50 binos on a tripod to do my glassing.

 

[twall13]

I will say I really like the scope for my uses. Last fall I spent an evening watching a herd of elk from 3.5 miles out according to Onx. While I couldn't see every detail, I was able to watch the herd bull bugling and chasing his cows around. I also saw two nice satilite bulls on the outskirts. I could tell all three were nice bulls but no way to know how big without getting closer. I don't anticipate needing this little scope to do more than that for me so I'm happy.

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[mlevimadden]

Thanks for your detailed response. Sounds like a good fit for me. I would primarily be using it for deer and glassing at long distances just to locate. I as well use my 12X50 binos on a tripod to do my glassing.

Sorry to be harsh, but this is not a good scope for your uses in my opinion. I believe the biggest drawback to this scope is it's FOV. It is noticeably worse than a 65 mm scope with a wide-angle eyepiece. If you are scanning an entire hillside trying to locate animals, this is one of the worst scopes for that job.

I thought the little Kowa had amazing glass, weight, and build quality. But I wasn't willing to give up the first and last 10 minutes of light and FOV from my swaro 65. I really wanted to love this little scope and drop the 20 oz out of my pack, but it does have some drawbacks in my humble opinion.

 

[slim9300]

Sorry to be harsh, but this is not a good scope for your uses in my opinion. I believe the biggest drawback to this scope is it's FOV. It is noticeably worse than a 65 mm scope with a wide-angle eyepiece. If you are scanning an entire hillside trying to locate animals, this is one of the worst scopes for that job.

I thought the little Kowa had amazing glass, weight, and build quality. But I wasn't willing to give up the first and last 10 minutes of light and FOV from my swaro 65. I really wanted to love this little scope and drop the 20 oz out of my pack, but it does have some drawbacks in my humble opinion.

I think what he is saying is that he will glass with binos and confirm size of the animal with the spotter once identified. This is exactly how I use a spotting scope and why I want this one so badly. I generally don’t scan with a spotter unless my target is already located.


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[luke moffat]

Yup if you plan to glass with your spotter and do a lot of scanning with it then there are better options. Personally I only use a spotter for getting a closer image of what I spot with my binos first, whether its this spotter, the Swaro 65mm I had, or my Ziess 85mm Diascope.

Given how I use my spotter I will no doubt be using the Kowa as my primary spotter anymore and only bringing the Zeiss when weight and bulk isn't a factor.

 

[dotman]

Truthfully I don’t know how anyone scans with a spotter for long periods of time, our brain doesn’t naturally take to using one eye for long periods of time and the closed eye becomes fatigued, no matter the glass holding one eye shut for long periods is not ideal for me. I can sit behind quality binos all day without issue so I have found a spotter is only really good for a closer look at already found game or what you think is game.

 

[Fins_N_Tines]

I think what he is saying is that he will glass with binos and confirm size of the animal with the spotter once identified. This is exactly how I use a spotting scope and why I want this one so badly. I generally don’t scan with a spotter unless my target is already located.


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Yes, you are correct slim9300. I scan and do the majority of my glassing with binos. Its when I see something in dark areas or just really far and I am not sure if its a deer or something that looks like a deer. I would also use it to glass into specific areas like dark patches/pockets that you need to really see up close.

 

[AKborn87]

Yup if you plan to glass with your spotter and do a lot of scanning with it then there are better options. Personally I only use a spotter for getting a closer image of what I spot with my binos first, whether its this spotter, the Swaro 65mm I had, or my Ziess 85mm Diascope.

Given how I use my spotter I will no doubt be using the Kowa as my primary spotter anymore and only bringing the Zeiss when weight and bulk isn't a factor.

If you could only buy one spotter for AK and wanted top of the line glass, would you go with the Kowa 77 or ATX 65 as a middle ground scope between say the Kowa 55 and Zeiss 85 objective sizes?...Essentially, something with great glass, medium weight and size?