Swarovoski 25x50 eyepiece has terrible full view.

[KINGSNAKE]

So I'm testing out my buddies stm 65 with the 25x50 eyepiece. The wide angle everyone says they love. For me I think it kinda stinks. Not because of image quality or for. Both of those features are fine. When I look through it, I find it hard to get the full picture without the black edges. And when I do it's hard to keep the full picture. I tried adjusting the eye cups and have not been able to find the sweet spot. I just sold my nikon ed 82 fieldscope and that eyepiece was the bomb. It reminded me of looking through a set of binos. Once you got the eyepiece adjusted you were always in full view. I really want to like and buy this spotter. Any recommendations. I sold my old 82 to cut weight and go to a lighter spotter. It weighed 67 oz. Thanks.

 

[dapesche]

I was underwhelmed by the swaro atx 65 and sts65.

I had a kowa 663 and the swaros were better but only marginally.

I regretted selling the 663 after looking through the swaros.

The kowa 773 is what I have now and it's good. I'd rather spend the money on the kowa then the premium for the swaro.

Sent from my SM-G960W using Tapatalk

 

[DWD]

I have an ATS 65 with the 25-50 eyepiece and have had similar experiences. I've moved my eye in and out, turned eyecup up/down, sat on a range bench with perfect stability and still get the black outs. The size and clarity of the spotter are very nice, but I also find it lacking in brightness at morning/evening. I'm not that impressed after all the positive reviews I read which led to my purchase.

 

[fatrascal]

Not trying to be a Swarovski fan boy but I am one, lol. Its been 9 years but I once had the ATM 65 with 25x50 eyepiece and found it to be excellent. I felt that during digiscoping it took better video than pictures but both were great. I do not remember a black ring around the edge but I sold that scope to a friend and will catch up to him to look through it and see if I can see it now.
Optics are like trucks. Some people like Ford some like Chevy and I like Dodge. But I know that all three are great trucks and sometimes they all have lemons. They all take turns improving their trucks and take turns being on top of the ladder.
If you are seeing a black ring around the outside of your view then I would guess that it is not adjusted correctly. But you have spent time adjusting it so maybe its a lemon. Or maybe your eye sees differently than other peoples eyes. Or Swarovski may not be for you. Kowa, Leica, Zeiss are all great choices and you may be able to throw in Meopta, Maven and Vortex. Only your eyes can decide.
Back to the 25x50 Swarovski eyepiece. I felt the view was superb but still prefer the 20x60 because of the extra 10 power on the zoom which cannot be used in some conditions but can be used in lots of other conditions and show you a cheater or trash that 50 power might not show you. But I thought the 25x50 was better quality. Fatrascal.

 

[BBob]

I've owned 25-50's since they were released. I've used them on both the 65's and 80's, no problems and no complaints. IMO the 25-50 was a big improvement over the 20-60 for the 65's and I prefer it even on the big scope. Brighter and better resolution.

Also, I and almost everyone I know out here glass with eye cups fully down, binoculars, scopes doesn't matter.

 

[KINGSNAKE]

I have tried the eyecup all the way down quit a bit. I find it out just a hair is the best on this eyepiece. My buddy that owns the scope has the same opinion on the lack of eye relief forgiveness, if you will. I'm just curious to hear what other guys experiences are. From here, if I don't buy this one I'm considering the kowa 77. Last night I spend a good bit of time and the inability to hold a full view really fatigued my eyes quickly. I'm less than impressed. Not with the picture once you can find it. But with how hard it is to get a full field of view

 

[BBob]

Not knocking you but I honestly do not have an answer as to why a minority of people have issues like this. I wish I knew and I'm truly curious as to why??? Have I been glassing so long (literally decades) with so many different optics have I just learned how to do it and adapt quickly to whatever optic is in front of me? Same for eye cups down on everything. I'm sure there was an adjustment and if there was it didn't take long. I can be as picky or pickier than most and can nitpick with the best of them but over the years I've found most of those nitpicks fade after a day or two as I subconsciously adapt. First day with NL's, the giant field of view was just weird. A day or two later, normal. Twin Swaro 65's, several things to get used to and at first they could have been labeled as negatives but now totally normal and functional and I don't notice a thing. I love those things. BTW the Twins are dual 25-50's with eye cups completely removed

 

[KINGSNAKE]

Not knocking you but I honestly do not have an answer as to why a minority of people have issues like this. I wish I knew and I'm truly curious as to why??? Have I been glassing so long (literally decades) with so many different optics have I just learned how to do it and adapt quickly to whatever optic is in front of me? Same for eye cups down on everything. I'm sure there was an adjustment and if there was it didn't take long. I can be as picky or pickier than most and can nitpick with the best of them but over the years I've found most of those nitpicks fade after a day or two as I subconsciously adapt. First day with NL's, the giant field of view was just weird. A day or two later, normal. Twin Swaro 65's, several things to get used to and at first they could have been labeled as negatives but now totally normal and functional and I don't notice a thing. I love those things. BTW the Twins are dual 25-50's with eye cups completely removed

I agree with said statements. I got a pair of maven 9x45s and was not too excited with the amount of adjusting I had to do with the focus. After using them a season they have become my favorite binos( that I have owned).

 

[KINGSNAKE]

I really would like to look through the kowa 774 before I jumped in feet first. Problem is the closest kowa dealer is midway usa and I'm not sure they would invite me in to scrutinize the product before buying. Is there a company the will ship a spotter to you and allow a return if unsatisfied. I know maven did this. But I'm not interested in their spotter options.

 

[BBob]

Mby one of the rent with option to buy co’s have Kowa’s you can sample?

 

[fatrascal]

I do all of my glassing with bino's and spotter with eye cups about halfway out. I guess I'm the weird one. Fatrascal.

 

[KINGSNAKE]

Spending more time behind the glass, it's really growing on me. I'm super impressed with the glass. The eyepiece is settling in for me.

 

[Q child]

Good job evaluating your own experience instead of just blindly rolling with it because it is a Swarovski.
It think scopes can take a little while to figure out. Perhaps primarily because they are only one eye. Also, the high magnifications can be finicky (I mean, the exit pupil on a 65mm scope at 50x magnification is 1.3mm - that's a pretty small beam of light to line up) and can require a little experience and technique with the specific scope.
Good luck. Sounds like you are figuring it out.

 

[Wheels]

I really would like to look through the kowa 774 before I jumped in feet first. Problem is the closest kowa dealer is midway usa and I'm not sure they would invite me in to scrutinize the product before buying. Is there a company the will ship a spotter to you and allow a return if unsatisfied. I know maven did this. But I'm not interested in their spotter options.

I’ve got a 774 that I’d let you look thru if you’re interested, I live about 8 miles from Midway USA.

 

[KINGSNAKE]

I’ve got a 774 that I’d let you look thru if you’re interested, I live about 8 miles from Midway USA.

Thanks for the offer. I committed to a stm swarovski today.

 

[justin davis]

So you thought the Swaro scope with the 25x eyepiece wasn’t very good at first? And then it grew on you and now you like it?

 

[Schaaf]

That’s not uncommon. All spotting scope wide angle eyepieces struggle with eye relief flexibility. The 30-60 eyepiece for the Meostar S2 had the same characteristics.

 

[fatrascal]

I played with my swarovski atx 65 and a 1st generation Vortex Razor 65 and found that you must play with the eye relief to lose the black ring on both of them. I never really thought much of it because I've always been able to lose the black ring with adjustment so it was never a problem. Granted these two scopes are not wide angle eye pieces. Fatrascal.

 

[KINGSNAKE]

So you thought the Swaro scope with the 25x eyepiece wasn’t very good at first? And then it grew on you and now you like it?

Ya to be honest the first few sessions with it I had doubts I was gonna buy it. I took it out and spent more time behind the scope and got used to what it takes to get a good fields of view. The optics are amazing but the dang eyepiece took me some getting used to.

 

[Tahoe1305]

I concur with what is said in most these threads. It’s an acquired taste.

I have one on my Gen I Razor. It isn’t as easy to get a good full picture through as the original eyepiece (rumored to be exact copy of swaro 20-60(bird forum…not me).

That said the picture is better even if it’s a bit tougher to look through. It is substantially wider FOV (estimate 20%) and appears a tad brighter.

I was on the fence but think I’ve talked myself into keeping it too. Excited to hunt with it.