Prepping for a trip in the coming months and am in need of a high quality, compact, ultralight spotting scope. Closest thing it appears is the Kowa TSN 554. Is there anything smaller and lighter without giving up too much on the glass quality?
No, there is not.
The TSN 553/554 is in it's own class in the 50-60mm light, packable spotter market. I had the opportunity to spend a hour or so in the earlyish evening with a Leica 65mm side by side. I really couldn't tell much diff in performance, even in lower light. The Kowa has a rather small FOV, and a
small bit of the feel of looking through a tube--kind've like the 1st gen Swaro CL Companion 30mm binos did. But at that size and weight, there's nothing that matches the Kowa that I'm aware of.
The Minox 50mm is only a small step better than my 30 year old Bushnell Elite 60mm spotter. It is small, light and surprisingly inexpensive though. Like my Bushnell, it is still quite serviceable as a hunting spotter.
The Vortex Razor has been the best in optical quality for affordable small spotters in recent years.
The Athlon 50mm is the best I've found outside of the Kowa. Compared side by side with a Razor 50mm, the Athlon has better resolution at the high end of magnification, and a bit brighter in low evening light. Ostensibly the Athlon is better build quality than the Razor--I do know of two Razors that have had to go back. Also, the Athlon has the focus knobs recessed instead of the sticky-outie knobs that are begging to be bent or broke while in a pack--I have personally observed 3 spotters of friends/acquaintances who have damaged the knob or shaft on their spotters, two other Razors and a Swaro. The Kowa has the same kind of knobs. I've noticed a few manufacturers have gone away from those knobs in their most recent models.......
I've been debating/agonizing about dropping the significant amount of cash on the Kowa since it came out. But spending a bit of time with my neighbor's Athlon Cronus 50mm, I ordered one from Doug for darn near a third of the price compared to the Kowa. I drew a tag for a early high country rifle buck hunt, so I'll know if a made a good choice in a few weeks. After the dust settles I may write a review.
