Spotter weight vs viewing experience

[TradLife406]

I bought my first spotter. A Kowa 553. It's a bad little unit. But it definitely has some weaknesses due to its size.
It seems great for things inside a half mile in good lighting at max zoom.
In lower light at about 20x it does good. Past that it struggles.
Midday in the right light I can definitely see elk a long ways off. Miles off on max power.
It also struggles with picking out fine details like seeing deer antlers from about a half mile out or more. Especially if the lighting is off. It's definitely the scope that'd never be left behind for weight.

But I'm almost thinking about getting a full size maven to finish the season with. Especially since glassing is my main game plan. I'm not going in stupid deep. About three miles, four or five max with horses on standby. And it's big wide open country with little timber pockets scattered around. It's nothing to spot elk several miles out. (Whether they're on public or not besides the point.)

Other reason I'd go to a different scope is I'm always fighting the angled body. Even after all summer using this thing it takes me a while to locate stuff with it.

I know some guys are just rocking 15's vs a spotter. But I really enjoy coming home to the kids and showing them some "phone scope" videos.

 

[Half Nocked]

You have yourself a conundrum. I recently switched from a Kowa 773 to a Swaro ATC, and I don't feel that I have missed out on much aside from low light. Granted, my hunting style is just to find critters and get closer, so I'm not trying to pick out super fine details. I've used the 88mm Maven, and still have it, but I suspect you'll be missing out on some of those finer details too, just because the glass isn't quite as premium. You didn't mention a budget, but I think I would recommend bumping up to the 88mm Kowa, I have that one too and it is pretty flipping awesome. I think it is also a little cheaper than the other big brands, Swaro, Leica and Zeiss with the same objective. The 88 Kowa is right on the cusp of being too big for taking it everywhere, but if you're within 3 miles of a road I think you'd be just fine with that one.

 

[4th_point]

In lower light at about 20x it does good. Past that it struggles.

That's normal even with bigger scopes, once you get below ~3mm exit pupil.

 

[4th_point]

It also struggles with picking out fine details like seeing deer antlers from about a half mile out or more. Especially if the lighting is off.

Something's not right. Either that scope, or unfortunately your eyes. A 1/2 mile is not far for that scope on antlers. It has plenty of zoom and even a midgrade 55mm should have enough resolution.

 

[willfrye027]

A big part of the equation is the lighting. If there are heat waves, no amount of money or size of optics will buy you a clean image at long distance. Conversely a cold clear morning with the sun at your back, the 55mm is going to work great.

IMO stepping up to the 77mm+ objective with high quality glass is going to be generally, a very noticeable upgrade. But there are some conditions that no amount of money or glass will show you all the details.

 

[AkMtnRunner]

I’ve found the 553 or 554 are best used for checking finer detail after locating it. Good for animals that are easy to find with binos. For the weight, they’re incredibly useful.

But as a tool for long glassing periods to locate animals, they’re not the right tool. The newer 55a/55s and Swaro ATC/STC improved it with better FOV, but the larger objective lens spotters of the same quality are more enjoyable to use.

 

[MtnW]

I have found sheep , pronghorn ,and goat hunting to lug around the biggest bad ass scope available. Deer , elk, caribou, moose not so much.

 

[Schmo]

I bought my first spotter. A Kowa 553. It's a bad little unit. But it definitely has some weaknesses due to its size.
It seems great for things inside a half mile in good lighting at max zoom.
In lower light at about 20x it does good. Past that it struggles.
Midday in the right light I can definitely see elk a long ways off. Miles off on max power.
It also struggles with picking out fine details like seeing deer antlers from about a half mile out or more. Especially if the lighting is off. It's definitely the scope that'd never be left behind for weight.

But I'm almost thinking about getting a full size maven to finish the season with. Especially since glassing is my main game plan. I'm not going in stupid deep. About three miles, four or five max with horses on standby. And it's big wide open country with little timber pockets scattered around. It's nothing to spot elk several miles out. (Whether they're on public or not besides the point.)

Other reason I'd go to a different scope is I'm always fighting the angled body. Even after all summer using this thing it takes me a while to locate stuff with it.

I know some guys are just rocking 15's vs a spotter. But I really enjoy coming home to the kids and showing them some "phone scope" videos.

The Maven S3 is awesome if you can put up with the size/weight. Or one of the bigger Kowa’s