No BS Comparison of the Swarovski STC vs the rest of the field.

[UpTop]

They'd cannibalize the sales of the 55X and 77X (assumption on my part).

For sure. I can see that.

 

[Hunt30]

Probably not what people were wanting to hear, including myself. Wish kowa made their 66 with the premium glass. That would possibly be the “ONE”. I personally think if your going to the 77 might as well go all in on a 80-90+ class spotter.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see a premium 66 in the future.

 

[Nicodez]

Thanks for the review guys!


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[MakAttack]

They'd cannibalize the sales of the 55X and 77X (assumption on my part).

The sales of a pure fluorite 66 would still be Kowa's sales. I'm another vote for it being about the perfect all around scope.

 

[jdcareyidaho]

Thanks for the great info!

 

[FishStalkerGuy]

I’m shopping between Swaro 95 and Kowa 99, Kowa has the 1.6 x eye piece extender that has a clear magnification over 90X.

Struggling with angle or straight lens……I like to park and glass so leaning towards the angle version on either scope.


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[Marshfly]

I'm glad to find this. I was all set to add an STC to the pack this year but this puts the Kowa 55 above it for sure. Less weight, better focus system, and less money? Sign me up.

 

[barn_owl]

Very helpful review, thanks guys!

 

[TXCO]

Do you think the swaro atc or kowa 553 can be used reasonably to check game without a tripod? Just a trekking pole as a monopod or resting on a backpack? The weight savings over a swaro 65 just isnt doing it for me yet. The larger eye relief and fov on the atc seem advantageous with that style.


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[S&S Archery (Rob)]

Do you think the swaro atc or kowa 553 can be used reasonably to check game without a tripod? Just a trekking pole as a monopod or resting on a backpack? The weight savings over a swaro 65 just isnt doing it for me yet. The larger eye relief and fov on the atc seem advantageous with that style.


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Yes, you will be able to have some limited success without a tripod with either. Range and zoom will play a big role, and I personally would not rely on it. But it could be useful for quick checks when time is limited.

 

[kaboku68]

I watched your review and I had some questions. No. 1 was your stc Swaro a demo? I say this because I have had a lot of time to look between Leica, Swaro, Zeiss, Kowa(People bring them in) Spotters and I believe that the Little ATC is a game changer. It might be that we really got a good one. But it resolves extremely well even maxed out. The FOV and the eye relief make it extremely comfortable. It may be the very best GTG spotter that doesn't need extras to perform extremely well. I am a hardgood associate at a box store but while I have glasses and astigmatism I pride myself to have very sharp eyes when they are corrected. I had the Kowa 553, the Leica APO Televid 65, the ATS 65 and the ATS 80 up against the ATC and I felt that the little guy stuck right with the ATS 80 and beat the others fairly handily.

 

[ljalberta]

I watched your review and I had some questions. No. 1 was your stc Swaro a demo? I say this because I have had a lot of time to look between Leica, Swaro, Zeiss, Kowa(People bring them in) Spotters and I believe that the Little ATC is a game changer. It might be that we really got a good one. But it resolves extremely well even maxed out. The FOV and the eye relief make it extremely comfortable. It may be the very best GTG spotter that doesn't need extras to perform extremely well. I am a hardgood associate at a box store but while I have glasses and astigmatism I pride myself to have very sharp eyes when they are corrected. I had the Kowa 553, the Leica APO Televid 65, the ATS 65 and the ATS 80 up against the ATC and I felt that the little guy stuck right with the ATS 80 and beat the others fairly handily.

When you say that the ATC beat the others fairly handily, in what sense do you mean? Were you comparing against a resolving chart, judging based on usable fov or edge to edge clarity, or just kind of a “feels” sense? Genuinely curious as I’m in for a spotter upgrade, but not convinced of any particular option at the moment.

 

[kaboku68]

It has an incredible field of view, very sharp resolution and a better depth of view. The ATX 65, 85 and the Kowa77 were better at high resolution but that little atc checks the boxes for me. I thought it was almost ludicrous that it could hang and bang with the ATS80.

We have a tower that is called Ranger's Roost that is two miles from the store front and up on the top there is a sign that is 6ft tall and has warning labels on it. It can't even be seen by the Vortex Razor 65 and you can barely see it with the Razor 85. The little Kowa can find it but you can read it with the ATC.

 

[S&S Archery (Rob)]

I watched your review and I had some questions. No. 1 was your stc Swaro a demo? I say this because I have had a lot of time to look between Leica, Swaro, Zeiss, Kowa(People bring them in) Spotters and I believe that the Little ATC is a game changer. It might be that we really got a good one. But it resolves extremely well even maxed out. The FOV and the eye relief make it extremely comfortable. It may be the very best GTG spotter that doesn't need extras to perform extremely well. I am a hardgood associate at a box store but while I have glasses and astigmatism I pride myself to have very sharp eyes when they are corrected. I had the Kowa 553, the Leica APO Televid 65, the ATS 65 and the ATS 80 up against the ATC and I felt that the little guy stuck right with the ATS 80 and beat the others fairly handily.

To be fair, it was a loaner from our Rep, but to my knowledge it was not a pre-production model. We will be doing another comparison this spring, with all new models, including the ATX that did not fair well in our comparison. I have done some side by side comparisons since then with the 553 and a new off the shelf ATC, and still believe that from a strictly resolution standpoint, the 553 is a bit better. I do think that the comfort of the ATC outweighs the benefit of the resolution when comparing the little Kowa. And if i were to carry a smaller spotter, it would be the ATC over the 553.

 

[svivian]

I watched your review and I had some questions. No. 1 was your stc Swaro a demo? I say this because I have had a lot of time to look between Leica, Swaro, Zeiss, Kowa(People bring them in) Spotters and I believe that the Little ATC is a game changer. It might be that we really got a good one. But it resolves extremely well even maxed out. The FOV and the eye relief make it extremely comfortable. It may be the very best GTG spotter that doesn't need extras to perform extremely well. I am a hardgood associate at a box store but while I have glasses and astigmatism I pride myself to have very sharp eyes when they are corrected. I had the Kowa 553, the Leica APO Televid 65, the ATS 65 and the ATS 80 up against the ATC and I felt that the little guy stuck right with the ATS 80 and beat the others fairly handily.

Where did you test these all at once? Also what does a demo have to factor with it being better or worse?

 

[kaboku68]

I work at a box store. I have friends that run the Kowas. One happened to bring his with him from the Range and we took them outside the front.

Sometimes demos are just not quite up to the regular product.

I should point out that when I was younger I preferred Zeiss to everything. Then I went through a Leica period. Kowa is really strong with the FL glass but I seem to prefer Swaro to all others right now.

 

[Ltoops]

Great Review!

 

[.577NE]

Hey Roksliders!
What makes S&S Archery stand out from the rest of the industry? We test, and test, and test. And then we post honest, REAL reviews and opinions of our findings. Our goal is to get you into the gear that's going to work best for you. Period.

With that said...Here is our no BS comparison between the Swarovski STC, the Kowa 55mm, the ATS 65, Kowa 77 and Kowa 88. We've spent a ton of time with all of these spotting scopes, so we know them pretty well. However, its always best to get them side by side to compare. Let me know what you guys think, Ill try to answer any questions and or comments you have.

A scope is a scope is a scope...

The real question is, that pointer in the back ground, what breed is it? Great looking pup with much drive

 

[SikaSeeker]

Our understanding is that its performance increase is simply due to improved manufacturing processes. But i also suspect that coatings have improved over time as well.

If you look at the design you’ll notice it has a large “bump” at its base. I’m guessing that has allowed an oversized prism(compared to competitors) to be used and they get away it by cleverly combining it with a tripod socket. The old Nikon fieldscopes used oversized offset prism design that was truly alpha level. Swarovski will also be using NL pure derived coatings and anything else current state of the art.

 

[SikaSeeker]

To be fair, it was a loaner from our Rep, but to my knowledge it was not a pre-production model. We will be doing another comparison this spring, with all new models, including the ATX that did not fair well in our comparison. I have done some side by side comparisons since then with the 553 and a new off the shelf ATC, and still believe that from a strictly resolution standpoint, the 553 is a bit better. I do think that the comfort of the ATC outweighs the benefit of the resolution when comparing the little Kowa. And if i were to carry a smaller spotter, it would be the ATC over the 553.

You probably have a very good quality example. Do they give you the option to buy the loaner?

If you compare to 10 of exact same model you’ll find the one you had was very well corrected. This goes for all optics of course, Stanley Kubrick (& many big name directors) may buy 10 lenses which have precisely same specs from same manufacturer then carefully evaluate the “best” ones according to the look they’re after.