New Spotting Scope HELP

6

65gks

Regular
Super GunNutz
Rating - 100%
1   0   0
Location
Kitchener, On.
HI
I am looking at upgrading to a new spotting scope, I have narrowed it down to the Vortex Razor 27x 60 x 85 or the Kowa 77 Prominar XD. Both scopes have excellent features, warranties , excellent glass, ranging capabilities . To me the Kowa looks to have better glass and finer adjustments. W:rolleyes:ill be used mainly for range use. Would appreciate every ones opinion.
Thanks George
 
well I own a kowa. WOW

Razer made in Japan? then good

it comes down to specs

I also,own a couple of CELESTRON and they are fantastic

I have down tests where the subject is blindfolded and they have always chosen the CELESTRON’s
over the rest when just looking through them without knowing the brand

Celestron makes stuff for seeing the stars so they know what works and what specs they need to use
they don’t reply on the firearms market to make tons of profits

just my take on it
celestrons are also widely used for birding so they have to be clear
 
I have the straight eyepiece Razor 27-60x85 and it really has great glass. I use it almost exclusively with the 22x MRAD reticle eyepiece so never really take advantage of the high magnification but for my uses it's more important to have the reticle.
 
I bought a Celestron 'Cavalry' 25-75 x 70 about 10 years ago (they're out of prod) and it's great, except for small eye box - gotta have my eye almost on the ocular. Also have an astro-scope by them, also very good. I agree with Jefferson that they are good value, compared to other mid-priced scopes. they also have 'lifetime warranty'.
 
We have the Razor straight model and have been very pleased with it over the last 4 years. We do mostly bird watching and have had the opportunity to look at the same birds as folks with Kowas and haven’t noticed enough difference to spend the big bucks. A family member had a set of Razor binoculars for years and used them for work out in the field and had to have them replaced under warranty. Given they had a very rough life he was happy to have them replaced with a brand new, newer model, so it looks like they live up to their word warranty wise.
Having used the Celestron Calvary a lot at the range I would suggest an angled eye piece rather than straight. If you use a short stable tripod, especially with a bolt action rifle, I found you could roll your head slightly to look at the scope then fairly easily get back into shooting position.
In case you’re interested you can get phone adapters for both scopes that would give you a larger image and using a remote easy press cable take photos of your groupings.
 
You are in Kitchener, take a road trip to Pelee Wings just outside Point Pelee. They carry several different brands of spotting scope and you can do a side by side comparison. You can also try different eyepieces right in the store to see what combinations give you the best image.
 
I went kowa tsn a few years back after using the swaro 65 mm glass. No regrets with that purchase.

I use the 1.6 multiplier at the range and record my shooting on the phone. Nice to have a phone scope attachment.

I have just upgraded to the kowa tsn 88 with fluoride glass, but don't have any range time with it yet, but expect it to be better than the 77.

You will be happy with the kowa optics.
 
65gks said:
HI
I am looking at upgrading to a new spotting scope, I have narrowed it down to the Vortex Razor 27x 60 x 85 or the Kowa 77 Prominar XD. Both scopes have excellent features, warranties , excellent glass, ranging capabilities . To me the Kowa looks to have better glass and finer adjustments. W:rolleyes:ill be used mainly for range use. Would appreciate every ones opinion.
Thanks George
Click to expand...

The Kowa is better.
 
@65GKS, give me a call should you want to discuss options.

I have owned and used dozens of different branded spotters. The Kowa is most certainly a better spotter than the Vortex, but at a higher price point. The 2 top brands in the "spotter world" at this point, are arguably Swarovski and KOWA. They also have the biggest range of spotters out of the high-end brands - I'm both a KOWA and a Swarovski Dealer and can at least help answer some questions you may have.
 
Shooting Warehouse said:
@65GKS, give me a call should you want to discuss options.

I have owned and used dozens of different branded spotters. The Kowa is most certainly a better spotter than the Vortex, but at a higher price point. The 2 top brands in the "spotter world" at this point, are arguably Swarovski and KOWA. They also have the biggest range of spotters out of the high-end brands - I'm both a KOWA and a Swarovski Dealer and can at least help answer some questions you may have.
Click to expand...

Not to hijack too badly, but what are your thoughts on the Kowa binoculars? If the glass is comparable to the spotters then they should be pretty damned impressive, and for significantly less than Swaros of any variety.
 
BigUglyMan said:
Not to hijack too badly, but what are your thoughts on the Kowa binoculars? If the glass is comparable to the spotters then they should be pretty damned impressive, and for significantly less than Swaros of any variety.
Click to expand...

I'm sure 65GKS won't mind the question.

The KOWA Genesis is a VERY good pair of bino's for the money. Although my daily "go-to" bino's are Swaro 10x42 EL Range TA's, I really like the KOWA Genesis 44's. They are about 10% heavier than the "comparable" Swaro EL 10x42 and Swaro NL Pure 10x42's, but they do have 44mm objective lenses vs the 42mm's on the Swaro's. The advantage of the KOWA is due to the slightly larger objective lenses, they do allow a tiny bit more light gathering, and at $1849, the Genesis 10.5x44's are a lot cheaper than the EL 10x42's at $2949 or the NL Pure 10x42's at $4129.

The Swaro 10x42 EL has a FOV of 336ft at 1000y, the Swaro 10x42 NL Pure has a FOV of 399ft at 1000y, while the KOWA 10.5x44 has a FOV of 354ft at 1000y - so almost comparable FOV to the new Swaro EL Range TA 10x42 (359ft at 1000y).

So there's not much to NOT like about the KOWA - the Swaro EL 10x42 is 50% more money, and the 10x42 NL Pure is more than double the cost of the KOWA Genesis 10.5x44's.

There are some great comparative reviews out there between the Kowa's and the Swaro's.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom