NEED HELP WITH A PACKABLE SPOTTER...

[gr8fuldoug]

Take a look at the new GPO Passion APO 16-48x65 Spotting Scope
PASSION™ APO Spotting Scopes
Encounter pure visual brilliance
KEY PRODUCT FEATURES
➢
Premium Apochromatic (APO) Objective Lens Technology
➢
GPObright™ High-transmission fully multi-coated lens coating technology
➢
Ultra-smooth brass gear helical focus
➢
Interchangeable eyepiece (85mm and 65mm)
➢
Sliding Aluminum Sunshade
➢
Rotating center body locking function
➢
Rotating eyecup for maximum eye relief
➢
Magnesium main body construction
PASSION™ APO 16-48x65mm
PASSION™

 

[River Reaper]

I have a Kowa TSN 664 that I really like. It looks like you can get them now for well below your budget (they came out with a new 66 model). It would be a lot of glass for the price if you could find a 664 or 663 with the 20-60 eyepiece. I pack mine everywhere and it doesn’t leave me wanting too much.

 

[Hnthrdr]

I agree, that's where guys like us come in. I'd imagine that if a group of 10 or 15 guys could organize something so people could actually look at the different options. It's mostly just opinions (hence why I'm not interested in Kowa or Swaro) because it lacks perspective

a member here did just that, @Tahoe1305 had all sorts of optics for a day or two and wrote a great review on it, I believe he had both the new baby razor and the ATC and kept the baby razor since the 1500 ish dollar price difference wasn’t worth it to him

 

[Bmb558@]

Hello everyone. I'm looking for a lightweight packable spotter to help me judge dear and bears in my local mountains in Socal. I'm not interested in a gigantic 85mm, or anything that says "Kowa" or "Swaro" on it (I'm not that wealthy atm) so I'm looking for a more middle of the road option, under $1,100 that is light enough but clear enough. I'm consistently finding deer between 800-1200 yds with my 10x42's but I'm having a difficult time assessing them. I dont need a crazy amount of magnification, nor do I want to fuss with the weight. Here are 4 contenders I'm looking at...

Maven S.2 (34 OZ) (found one used for $800 on ebay, worried 27x may be a bit too low)

Maven CS.1 15-45x65 (40.4 OZ, probably the heaviest i would consider) (I've read some reviews saying this is up there with Razor HD)

Razor HD 13-39x56 (28.6 OZ) (I was offered $800 by a seller on ebay, new in box)

Viper 11-33x50 (27.4) (I read that this is comparable to the old Razor, but optically I'm worried that it will look like DB'S....)

Please recommend other packable spotters....I think the first 3 above will get me in the wheelhouse.

I realize that weight shouldn't be that important compared to optical quality, I just don't want to be lugging a 4.5LB spotter around the mountains to see small california deer and bears. I'm more interested in something packable.

If anyone can weigh in I'd appreciate it. Also, if anyone has any digiscope pics of game at distance with any above mentioned spotters I'd greatly appreciate it if you could show them.

Thanks in advance

Swarv atc

 

[FRONTIERSMAN87]

a member here did just that, @Tahoe1305 had all sorts of optics for a day or two and wrote a great review on it, I believe he had both the new baby razor and the ATC and kept the baby razor since the 1500 ish dollar price difference wasn’t worth it to him

Interesting...

 

[Tahoe1305]

Interesting...

Yup. Still have the baby razor. The ATC was awesome and if I only wanted one spotter I’d keep that.

But in my experience I don’t think any of the minis can fully replace a full size spotter for big open spaces (call that 1-2 miles or beyond). They will see animals move, but so will binos. What they struggle to do is count tines and confirm details that bigger spotters can do. I use a swaro 65 for that.

The mini razor is what compliments it for a buddy to use or if I want to pack light and know I don’t need to look long or verify much (more digi scope stuff). I think for this purpose it’s tough to beat for the cost/performance.

 

[Hnthrdr]

Yup. Still have the baby razor. The ATC was awesome and if I only wanted one spotter I’d keep that.

But in my experience I don’t think any of the minis can fully replace a full size spotter for big open spaces (call that 1-2 miles or beyond). They will see animals move, but so will binos. What they struggle to do is count tines and confirm details that bigger spotters can do. I use a swaro 65 for that.

The mini razor is what compliments it for a buddy to use or if I want to pack light and know I don’t need to look long or verify much (more digi scope stuff). I think for this purpose it’s tough to beat for the cost/performance.

Yep agree, got a better 82 obj for the really big open areas it can’t be beat, 90 % of my hunting though the ATC fits the bill when I want a spotter

 

[elsb0048]

I can help if you are in AZ. @iflyskyhigh met up with me one evening. He struggled through the same sort of thing. I think there is a thread he started about glass.

Bottom line, there are many for which “lesser” scopes are acceptable. You will get lots of affirmation in a thread like this. And, they are not wrong and you may fall into the category that they fit. Doesn’t mean anything other than just that. They are not slouches no more than others are snobs.

There are others, like me, who are natural born cheapos and default to getting it done with less. But, over time we see the difference and become snobs.

Baby scopes suffer from lack of clarity and lack of magnification. When you are looking far away, the compromise by going small objective AND lesser glass is more significant. They falter most in the margins where we see more animals, like dawn and dusk.

You have to compare in low light to really understand and see.

Where in AZ are you?

I don't live there but if I ever planned a trip through I would definitely reach out.

 

[elsb0048]

I agree, that's where guys like us come in. I'd imagine that if a group of 10 or 15 guys could organize something so people could actually look at the different options. It's mostly just opinions (hence why I'm not interested in Kowa or Swaro) because it lacks perspective

I definitely agree that it's mostly opinions. And I also think that different people have very different 'success' criteria and I'm beginning to suspect that for many folks use case the glass resolution is not necessarily the biggest factor. Makes me leery to rely too much on what an optics reviewer says since I suspect many of their priorities are different than mine.

Before I bought my budget leupold my friend and I borrowed his dad's Swaro ATS (80 I think although could've been 65, it's been years....)
The field of view was so narrow & eye relief so tight that between that and the learning curve of the angled eyepiece we both had such a hard time getting the damn thing aimed at 20x minimum power at something we'd identified in binos that it drove us nuts. That weekend the haze and mirage were so bad that nothing was usable past 40x anyway. The combined weight of the optic and the matching swarovski tripod (standing height) was more than either one of our rifles and both of us concluded that we would not bother packing that setup again.

since then I bought the used leupold 12-40 & a sirui carbon tripod+va5 head for a total of like $1000 all in and for my level of glassing skill and needs it is a MUCH more useable solution for 1/4 the price & 1/2 the weight... 12x low end with long eye relief on a straight spotter made me so much faster at getting it aimed where the binos were without adjusting the tripod at all.
But I'm a novice level glasser (I assume, based on my struggles with the best of the best glass....)
And I'm only trying to count muley tines out to ~1000yds, primarily to determine legality and take some photos, rather than assess 150 vs 180 class bucks or viewing much of anything 1 mi +

Now that I've got a few years behind my leupy I'm really keen to compare it back-to-back to some of the alpha competition like the kowa & swaro compacts as well as some of the more 'do-it-all' optics like swaro/kowa 65/66 to see if I feel differently with a bit more experience and if I would want to consider better glass for everyday hunts or bigger+better glass for an optics-heavy opportunity like a goat or sheep.

 

[Bowfinn]

I think you are unfairly excluding the 553/544 Kowa, unless you are only buying new.

I had in my possession a Kowa 554, Razor HD 65 and Maven spotter. Objectively, the Kowa is better in every regard and you can find used in your budget. Anyone who has looked through all three agree.

I have bought and sold Kowa 554/553 for a hunt. I just traded one for a scope because I don’t need it for any hunts this year. I treat them like rentals…

@hereinaz has great advice here. A used “old” model kowa 55x or 66x if you want higher mag range is going to your best optically and are in your budget range.

 

[hereinaz]

Where in AZ are you?

I don't live there but if I ever planned a trip through I would definitely reach out.

I am in Metro Phoenix area, East Valley they say. Chandler/Gilbert for home and work.

I plan on helping with another Rokslide shooting/meet up Feb-March 2026 timeframe.

 

[outdooraddict14]

RiverReaper, do you have/take extra eyepieces on your trips, or are you satisfied with the 20x60? Curious as I have an opportunity to purchase the same scope for this exact reason.

 

[River Reaper]

RiverReaper, do you have/take extra eyepieces on your trips, or are you satisfied with the 20x60? Curious as I have an opportunity to purchase the same scope for this exact reason.

I do not take extra eyepieces, just the 20x60. I spot a lot of critters while scanning with it, but it does have a narrow field of view as I’m sure you’ve read. I’m not sure how big of a difference the 30x wide eyepiece would make as I’ve never tried one.

 

[outdooraddict14]

Thank you. Looks like the 664 is mine.

 

[silverbulletandchill]

Hello everyone. I'm looking for a lightweight packable spotter to help me judge dear and bears in my local mountains in Socal. I'm not interested in a gigantic 85mm, or anything that says "Kowa" or "Swaro" on it (I'm not that wealthy atm) so I'm looking for a more middle of the road option, under $1,100 that is light enough but clear enough. I'm consistently finding deer between 800-1200 yds with my 10x42's but I'm having a difficult time assessing them. I dont need a crazy amount of magnification, nor do I want to fuss with the weight. Here are 4 contenders I'm looking at...

Maven S.2 (34 OZ) (found one used for $800 on ebay, worried 27x may be a bit too low)

Maven CS.1 15-45x65 (40.4 OZ, probably the heaviest i would consider) (I've read some reviews saying this is up there with Razor HD)

Razor HD 13-39x56 (28.6 OZ) (I was offered $800 by a seller on ebay, new in box)

Viper 11-33x50 (27.4) (I read that this is comparable to the old Razor, but optically I'm worried that it will look like DB'S....)

Please recommend other packable spotters....I think the first 3 above will get me in the wheelhouse.

I realize that weight shouldn't be that important compared to optical quality, I just don't want to be lugging a 4.5LB spotter around the mountains to see small california deer and bears. I'm more interested in something packable.

If anyone can weigh in I'd appreciate it. Also, if anyone has any digiscope pics of game at distance with any above mentioned spotters I'd greatly appreciate it if you could show them.

Thanks in advance

I purchased my razor from euro optic. I believe you can also make an account and access that website as well. Or find a mil/leo buddy to set one up and order it for you. They also have the other listed products as well.

 

[elsb0048]

If anyone can weigh in I'd appreciate it. Also, if anyone has any digiscope pics of game at distance with any above mentioned spotters I'd greatly appreciate it if you could show them.

Not from any of the spotters on your list but with my leupy 12-40

~700-750 yds, no digiscoping adapter


~400 yds


~650yds


Edit: these goats are 2000-2100 yds

 

[WyoWild]

Here is a good review that covers a lot of the compact spotters. He also has a direct comparison of the Maven and the Vortex Razor & Viper.

 

[Lionhound1975]

Meopta TGA 75 - it is a draw scope that is 13 inches when closed and 17 inches long when extended. The 75mm lens is almost as bright as my Kowa 773 so you get the optics of a full-size spotter in a compact package. They are designed to be used without a tripod (although they do have a thread) or you can lay it on a pack, a tree limb, or loop it in the wrist straps of 2 hiking poles.



Opticron MM4 50 ED scopes are also great scopes for the money.