What I determined after comparing Kowa 55 and Razor 65

[mgebs311]

A buddy is letting me borrow his Kowa 55 for a day out hunting and I wanted to compare it to my razor 65. I only have a plate for the razor and I would love to get my hands on another outdoorsman’s plate to put on the Kowa for swapping back and forth on the tripod. I would greatly appreciate someone lending one out for a day or I would even buy one off someone if they had one they are willing to part with.

***edit***
This was not a detailed side by side, no resolution chart, etc…just hunting. The Kowa glass was amazing, but I think it isn’t done any service in that small of a package as a spotter, only talking about spotter, not binoculars. I will be saving up for an ATS 65, kowa 77 or kowa 88.

 

[ZackP]

How did the comparison go?

 

[mgebs311]

I was really impressed with how crisp the glass was on the Kowa 55…at its lowest power. Once I zoomed in, I was disappointed by the field of view and the image brightness.

To me there is more to be desired with the razor 65 as well, but I still preferred that over the 55. Keep in mind I was glassing mule deer in sage brush desert.

What I decided is that I don’t want a 55 or 56 objective spotter. I would rather carry at a minimum a 65mm spotter, and now I’m even more so considering the Kowa 77 or even the Kowa 88. I will pack the couple extra pounds, it would be worth it to me.

 

[peterk123]

I was really impressed with how crisp the glass was on the Kowa 55…at its lowest power. Once I zoomed in, I was disappointed by the field of view and the image brightness.

To me there is more to be desired with the razor 65 as well, but I still preferred that over the 55. Keep in mind I was glassing mule deer in sage brush desert.

What I decided is that I don’t want a 55 or 56 objective spotter. I would rather carry at a minimum a 65mm spotter, and now I’m even more so considering the Kowa 77 or even the Kowa 88. I will pack the couple extra pounds, it would be worth it to me.

This is very helpful. I have been debating a lighter spotter for those longer treks. Kowa 55 and lighter tripod was the thought. I have the 88. It is amazing glass. Between your observations and some other threads, I'm just gonna lug the 88. I can see a rock the size of a football from two miles away with that thing.

 

[AZ_Hunter_2000]

Interesting perspective and goes to show how folks'e eyes are different. I only use spotting scopes for confirmation and not glassing.

Compared my Kowa 554 to a guide's older STS 65 on Kodiak and the Kowa was very competitive. This covered animals ranging in size from blacktail to brown bear, from close to miles away. Swarovski may have improve the lens coatings on the new STS (according to latest S&S review of STC) so the gap *may* be wider now.

Compared my Kowa 554 to my STX 65 on a multi-week black bear hunt in AZ. Terrain ranged from desert flats to over 9K. The Kowa was not "that" far behind the STX. Looked at everything from coati up to elk, close to miles away.

But yep, the Kowa "sucks". It sucks delivering 90%+ of the STX 65 capabilities at 1/2 the cost and 1/2 the weight.

 

[AZ_Hunter_2000]

This is very helpful. I have been debating a lighter spotter for those longer treks. Kowa 55 and lighter tripod was the thought. I have the 88. It is amazing glass. Between your observations and some other threads, I'm just gonna lug the 88. I can see a rock the size of a football from two miles away with that thing.

The 553/554 is legit. I have months in the field with mine and it compares well against the older STS 65 and is mostly competitive with the STX 65. Buy it on sale (~$1400) and if you do not like it, sell it for ~$1600 when it is not on sale.

 

[BBob]

I’m with the OP, I don’t care for the little Kowa’s for the way I use a spotter. I’ll keep my old “outdated” STM-65 HD with a later 25-50 for a number of reasons over the Kowa. I don’t use a spotter just for verification and that’s probably the biggest reason.

 

[Dos Perros]

At all but the extremes, I get the same brightness out of my Kowa 55 than my Meopta 80. I think it gathers light just fine. My eyes might open a bit wider than the OP's I guess.

 

[ZackP]

Interesting perspective and goes to show how folks'e eyes are different. I only use spotting scopes for confirmation and not glassing.

Compared my Kowa 554 to a guide's older STS 65 on Kodiak and the Kowa was very competitive. This covered animals ranging in size from blacktail to brown bear, from close to miles away. Swarovski may have improve the lens coatings on the new STS (according to latest S&S review of STC) so the gap *may* be wider now.

Compared my Kowa 554 to my STX 65 on a multi-week black bear hunt in AZ. Terrain ranged from desert flats to over 9K. The Kowa was not "that" far behind the STX. Looked at everything from coati up to elk, close to miles away.

But yep, the Kowa "sucks". It sucks delivering 90%+ of the STX 65 capabilities at 1/2 the cost and 1/2 the weight.

It is interesting. I’ve tried multiple Razors and thought they were all terrible.

Interestingly enough, I’ve thought about replacing my ATS with the 55. I only use for confirmations and I’m not super impressed with the 25-50 just yet. I almost prefer the 20-60 EP.

Half of me wants the 55, than the other half wants to go back to the 773 which IMO is THE best do it all spotter known to man.

 

[antlerz]

Im lucky enough to have a 554 as well as an ATS65 25-50. Both are outstanding. ATS is more comfortable to use (angled and larger EP). The ATS is sharp and has minimal CA.
The 554 is 28oz lighter when combined with tripod (ATS need a slik to stabilise it, I can run the 554 on an aoka+aftermarket centre column)
The ATS only gets carried on easy trips. The 554 gets the job done with ease and ends up in the pack 95% of the time.
I would prefer to never carry anything bulkier or heavier than an ATS.

If you hunt close to your truck - go big

 

[Sierra Hunter]

I currently have a kowa 773 I picked up this year and a razor 65, the kowa is a pleasure to glass with having the wide angle lenses but it’s a tank. For whatever reason it seems 2x as big as the razor. With the price difference and weight I’m conflicted on which one to keep. The razor is a killer scope for cost and size. But if you like to spend a long time behind a spotter then it’s not a great fit. Just my .2

 

[Cavila99]

Good information, Im on the fence weather to go swaro or kowa right now.