Swarovski ATC vs. ATS vs. Kowa 553…Updated 4/26/23!

[anshla]

Does anyone have experience hunting dall sheep with the 553? It sure would be nice to save all that weight. Just think it would come down to low-light performance with the smaller objective

 

[Newtosavage]

Really need to throw an Opticron scope into this comparison. In my experience, they can hang with scopes 3-4x the cost.

 

[Newtosavage]

The blind loyalty to their product is nauseating. I acknowledge they make good stuff, but if people would open their minds a little and look around and look through other optics, they might be surprised at what they see. they’re not the ONLY ones making top tier glass anymore, but people don’t seem to want to entertain that fact.

I just bought and returned a STS HD 65 and frankly was not very impressed for the price. Nothing my Opticron or a Kowa can't do. It was no better than my Gen 1 Razor 65 either.

 

[J_Finch]

love the kowa 554 focusing wheels.

 

[nphunter]

Although the fine focus on the Kowa & Vortex is nice when glassing I find it comes out in the wash when actually using them backpacking a lot. It normally takes me less time to adjust the barrel focus to my satisfaction over a few glassing sessions than a fine focus. The fine focus knobs get bumped and moved a lot when packing/moving the scope around so they are typically way out of focus, sometimes bottomed all the way out one way or the other. I've never had that issue with my barrel focus scopes and it's normally just a tiny twist and I'm right back in focus after pulling it out of the pack. I've also had debris get stuck between the fine and coarse focus knobs and have had a fine focus knob get damaged in the past and that is a none issue with a barrel focus. The barrel focus also makes the spotters smaller and more compact which is nice when strapping them in a pack.

Here is a picture of a 82mm S2, a Vortex 65mm and a Vortex 80mm, you can easily see in these pictures how much smaller the 82mm is with the barrel focus, it barely takes up anymore space than the 65mm Razor and is significantly better glass. I will compare my new ATC to the S2 once it arrives.

 

[Aginor]

That field of view difference is mind blowing

 

[lawbu]

Matt, have you had a chance to look at the new Vortex compact scope and compare it to the STC or ATC?

 

[Deucebump]

Matt, have you had a chance to look at the new Vortex compact scope and compare it to the STC or ATC?

Ive been looking for a review of the new Vortex Razor HD 56 vs the ATC and a Kowa 553/554 as well. I know its brand new but a review should be popping up somewhere soon.

 

[Mmacfive]

I willing to bet it’s like any other Razor product. Great glass for the price but not even close to Swaro or Kowa.

 

[mcseal2]

I have an STC on the way. I currently have the 554. If I like the extra FOV as much as I expect to, I’ll sell the 554.

The glass on the 554 is amazing to me for a small spotter, I just think I will love the extra FOV enough to be worth the extra money. Maybe I’ll like glassing through it enough to justify not packing the 15x binos a little more often.

 

[Aginor]

I bought the STC as my first spotting scope. Man was I stoked when I unpackaged it. Ridiculously light, slim, and sexy and the picture was amazing in the short distance across my backyard to the mountain. It arrived just in time for a five day hunt in the Frank Church over the past weekend.

I use 12x NL Pures and spotted quit a few deer and elk with them, but man, switching over to the spotter to check for antlers was a major disappointment. First of all, it made me nauseous looking through them longer than five minutes. Second, and most importantly, I could really only just tell if an animal was male or female. This was on elk at 1.5 miles and deer at .75 miles with the sun at my back in mid-morning, which is pretty much my exact use case. The picture was very good throughout the zoom until maybe 35x, but the low end where it was best was substantially worse than my NL Pures. Not to mention the field of view difference.

So now here I am trying to figure out what to do next. At the very least, this is going back, do but I trade up for an STS60 with a wide angle eyepiece? Go bigger to the 80? Will those make a difference on the nausea? I've only looked through Vortex spotters owned by my hunting buddies until now and they were all crap too, but I expected that from Vortex. I care a lot about weight and pack-ability, but there's no point in buying something that expensive and hauling it deep in the mountains unless it's going to work for me. Any opinions?

 

[antlerz]

I bought the STC as my first spotting scope. Man was I stoked when I unpackaged it. Ridiculously light, slim, and sexy and the picture was amazing in the short distance across my backyard to the mountain. It arrived just in time for a five day hunt in the Frank Church over the past weekend.

I use 12x NL Pures and spotted quit a few deer and elk with them, but man, switching over to the spotter to check for antlers was a major disappointment. First of all, it made me nauseous looking through them longer than five minutes. Second, and most importantly, I could really only just tell if an animal was male or female. This was on elk at 1.5 miles and deer at .75 miles with the sun at my back in mid-morning, which is pretty much my exact use case. The picture was very good throughout the zoom until maybe 35x, but the low end where it was best was substantially worse than my NL Pures. Not to mention the field of view difference.

So now here I am trying to figure out what to do next. At the very least, this is going back, do but I trade up for an STS60 with a wide angle eyepiece? Go bigger to the 80? Will those make a difference on the nausea? I've only looked through Vortex spotters owned by my hunting buddies until now and they were all crap too, but I expected that from Vortex. I care a lot about weight and pack-ability, but there's no point in buying something that expensive and hauling it deep in the mountains unless it's going to work for me. Any opinions?

I think you just highlighted the real reason you carry a spotter. Confirming what you are looking at. The 553/4 gets the job done but not with a comfortable wide FOV. New Kowa 66 for you?

 

[Firestone]

I've had the kowa 553 for two years. I just spent 14 days scouting and hunting with a buddy that has the STC. I like the STC a lot better.
I also have the vortex. I think the vortex 50mm is a closer comparison to the kowa then the kowa is to the swaro. I am gonna sell both and buy the swaro at the end of the season.

 

[chav0_12]

You want to test an ATX 65 with them?

edit: Oh never mind, didn't realize this was a few months old.

 

[MT_Wyatt]

I bought the STC as my first spotting scope. Man was I stoked when I unpackaged it. Ridiculously light, slim, and sexy and the picture was amazing in the short distance across my backyard to the mountain. It arrived just in time for a five day hunt in the Frank Church over the past weekend.

I use 12x NL Pures and spotted quit a few deer and elk with them, but man, switching over to the spotter to check for antlers was a major disappointment. First of all, it made me nauseous looking through them longer than five minutes. Second, and most importantly, I could really only just tell if an animal was male or female. This was on elk at 1.5 miles and deer at .75 miles with the sun at my back in mid-morning, which is pretty much my exact use case. The picture was very good throughout the zoom until maybe 35x, but the low end where it was best was substantially worse than my NL Pures. Not to mention the field of view difference.

So now here I am trying to figure out what to do next. At the very least, this is going back, do but I trade up for an STS60 with a wide angle eyepiece? Go bigger to the 80? Will those make a difference on the nausea? I've only looked through Vortex spotters owned by my hunting buddies until now and they were all crap too, but I expected that from Vortex. I care a lot about weight and pack-ability, but there's no point in buying something that expensive and hauling it deep in the mountains unless it's going to work for me. Any opinions?

I’d attribute some of that to 1 vs 2 eyes perhaps? I’m shocked switching from Maven 10’s to the ATC what a difference there is in finding game, even at lower power, just having my 2 eyes. Obviously the NL12s are going to be that much better.

 

[Aginor]

I’d attribute some of that to 1 vs 2 eyes perhaps? I’m shocked switching from Maven 10’s to the ATC what a difference there is in finding game, even at lower power, just having my 2 eyes. Obviously the NL12s are going to be that much better.

It probably was because of one eye closed. I was thinking of getting an eye patch on the way home. I think what I'm going to do is get a digiscope and give the STC another chance. I need to find a buddy that owns an STS 65 or 80

 

[nphunter]

I bought the STC as my first spotting scope. Man was I stoked when I unpackaged it. Ridiculously light, slim, and sexy and the picture was amazing in the short distance across my backyard to the mountain. It arrived just in time for a five day hunt in the Frank Church over the past weekend.

I use 12x NL Pures and spotted quit a few deer and elk with them, but man, switching over to the spotter to check for antlers was a major disappointment. First of all, it made me nauseous looking through them longer than five minutes. Second, and most importantly, I could really only just tell if an animal was male or female. This was on elk at 1.5 miles and deer at .75 miles with the sun at my back in mid-morning, which is pretty much my exact use case. The picture was very good throughout the zoom until maybe 35x, but the low end where it was best was substantially worse than my NL Pures. Not to mention the field of view difference.

So now here I am trying to figure out what to do next. At the very least, this is going back, do but I trade up for an STS60 with a wide angle eyepiece? Go bigger to the 80? Will those make a difference on the nausea? I've only looked through Vortex spotters owned by my hunting buddies until now and they were all crap too, but I expected that from Vortex. I care a lot about weight and pack-ability, but there's no point in buying something that expensive and hauling it deep in the mountains unless it's going to work for me. Any opinions?

I'm not sure if you got a defective spotter or what but at 40X there is no way you shouldn't be able to count tines on an elk at 1.5 miles with that spotter. If you are hunting in 80 deg sunshine maybe that would be the case but that will be the same with any spotter.

The STC/ATC is not really comparable to a good large spotter, and nothing is going to compare to your NL's as far as image quality. I would say the ATC has a similar image to my 15x56 Meostars, side by side I would prefer the Meostars hands down for sitting and glassing, but they can't tell me if a bedded buck is worth going after once it is too far away.

Comparing my ATC to my 82mm Meopta S2, there is no comparison, the image is sharper, and brighter and the edge-to-edge clarity of the S2 blows the ATC out of the water. The S2 is also much larger but barely bigger than a 65mm. If a person is unhappy with the 56mm they might as well jump up to a 80mm+, the 65mm spotters are still lacking compared to a large spotter.

I think the small spotter has its place and I will be taking mine on a 10-backpacking deer hunt in a couple of weeks, I'm excited to test out the ATC and see if it will be perform as needed on my deer hunt. I'm also hunting smaller canyon country. If I were going to the high county and glassing several miles constantly I would for sure bring my big spotter.