Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics OPTICS YOU HAVE TO LOVE 1 - KOWA PROMINAR TSN-554

OPTICS YOU HAVE TO LOVE

It is a great time to be an optics nut.

Advances in manufacturing and the emergence of the Pacific Rim as a prime location for the manufacture of optics have resulted in an abundance of wares with quality rivaling the very best of just a few years ago -- at prices which often are shockingly low in comparison.

To be clear, European manufacturers Leica, Swarovski, and Zeiss, as well as Schmidt & Bender and others, remain at the forefront of optics innovation and still produce what many consider among the very best optics in the world. However, while some hunters are okay with spending 2-3 thousand dollars or more for a binocular, riflescope, or spotting scope, many are finding value at half those amounts, or less.

The following are some optics that you just have to love:


You just have to love the KOWA TSN-55 SERIES (Japan).

For years, competitive shooters have raved about Kowa spotting scopes, and in many shooting and birding circles, Kowa spotters are considered “the best.” It hardly surprises, then, that when Kowa took their optical expertise and applied it to the TSN-55 series, reviews would be very favorable. Trust me. Those accolades do not do justice to the Kowa TSN-554 I reviewed. (The TSN-554 is the straight model, the TSN-553 is angled).



Why? For starters, just pick one up. The fly weight and compact size will shock you. How in the world is it possible to make a 55mm-objective spotter this compact and to weigh only 29 ounces (fully half the weight of a competing 65mm scope)? And why hasn’t any other optics manufacturer been able to do this? It feels almost like a toy.

Don’t be fooled. As astounding as the size and weight of this beauty is, the really shocking aspect of this spotter lies in the view.

I pitted the 55mm-objective TSN-554 in a head-to-head twilight test with two 65mm-objective models from two top-tier European manufacturers, and quickly it became clear that the Kowa is no toy.

From the jump, the Kowa was stellar. Resolution was superb. Color rendition and edge-to-edge clarity were world-class. Flatness of field was excellent.

In my test, a full 15 minutes after official sunset, glassing at 45x a “Private Property - No Trespassing” sign hung on a mountainside chain-link fence at a lasered 1676 yards from my front porch, the Kowa had already left one big-name Euro-scope in the dust, and was neck-and-neck with the other, where it would remain until the very end. Talk about punching out of your weight class!

To reiterate, the Euro scopes were the premium offerings from two of the three commonly acknowledged Euro “big dogs” in alpha optics. And the Kowa, spotting them 10mm of objective glass, at half the weight, and far more compact, gave away nothing optically. Astonishingly, even as light dwindled further, and any hunt would have been over, I could discern no appreciable optical advantage to the one much bigger, much heavier scope that remained. It might be there, but neither I nor two other testers could discern it.

Conclusion: The Kowa TSN 554 I reviewed is, by far, optically the best compact spotting scope I have ever used and fully on par with Europe’s best 65mm spotting scopes. As if that was not enough, the weight and size are simply astounding. Together, the world-class optics and ultra-trim size and weight render the Kowa TSN 55 series a game changer.

If you are a backpack hunter, look no further. This is your spotter. However, this in no way means that non-backpackers should consider this spotter as compromised in any way optically due to its size and weight. In short, no matter your style of hunting, do not put your hands on one of these beauties if you are not prepared to dig into your wallet.

Home run, Kowa. Astonishing optics, ridiculous weight, and super compact size sets this spotter at the very top of my list of optics you just have to love.