Originally Posted by WRO
Originally Posted by jwp475


Is that why more high power rifle shooters use Kowa spotters than other brands. The Kowa 883 is as good as it gets.


The Kowa is a great spotter, but in my experience most lr shooter are either using the Night Force (rebranded meopta) or the STR which both have ranging reticles.

As for the rest of this debate, the Japanese do make some good optics. The problem is name recognition, its hard to buy a Kowa or a 2k set of nikons when you can actually buy Alpha glass for that money.

I've never looked through a set of tracts, but the other japanese/asian glass I've used as a general rule is no where as good as the top end stuff from leica, swaro. or zeiss. (that being said, I'm not a fan of a lot of the new zeiss. The HT's are good, but the new SF's are meh)


There's a lot of truth in this, IMO, especially the consumer respect issue. After owning a Nikon 82ED, Kowa 884, and briefly a Zeiss 85FL T spotter, I've landed with the Meopta S2. I think it's the finest thing on the planet with the exception of the Swaro modulars, but I find $4000+ for this setup is ridiculous. That being said, the Kowa 883/884 gives up very, very little to either one, once again IMO.

The highest end Z,L, and Swaro binoculars are probably the best binoculars made, but you have to include the very Japanese Nikon EDG. It gives up nothing to any of them, but with Nikon's terrible marketing efforts, and borderline CS, I won't own one. Then again, with Leica's well earned schitty CS practices and pathetic warranties, I won't own one of them either. That's a shame because the old 10x42 Trinovid BA was probably my favorite binocular ever. As you and everyone else knows by now, Z and L both "make" some of the optics in Portugal, Japan, and even China nowadays. There are also Schott glass facilities in China if I'm not mistaken. If I were to put my Meopta 10x42 HD's, Swaro 10x50 SV's, Gold Ring HD's, and Toric UHD's on tripods, side by side in the field, I would not be able to see a big muley buck for instance, through one without being able to easily see it through any of the others. You can add the Vortex Razor HD and Conquest HD in there too.

While I may prefer the SV (it's my pick of the litter), the differences are "picking nits" nowadays.

Last edited by JGRaider; 08/31/17.
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