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.

Couldn’t agree more. Nice write up Rick! 👍

Thank you for this informed review, I am leaning very far in this direction.

If they’d put out one with a mil reticle, I’d have one.

John

The Kowa 500 is also fantastic for the size and cost

Thanks for the review. Seems like a pretty good size scope. The problem for me is I have never seen a Kowa spotting scope. They don’t do the trade shows and no store in my area sells them. I live in what many would consider hunting central aka salt lake area. I would love to look at one. Another thing is the scope is $1800. Pretty spendy it better be good

Doug can give you a better deal than that. I'm glad I called him and the Kowa 554 is every bit as good as its hype. Come to Vegas and look thru mine vs. my 85 mm Razor.

I purchased the TSN-544 from Doug and was very impressed with it. On one range session, I was actually able to see 338 cal. bullet holes in a white cardboard backstop at 600 yards.
A little touchy to adjust focus, but when done, the resolution is amazing.

Mention this thread when you call us

Talk about truck stickers again...please?

Surprised I didn’t do this long ago. You’re on ignore

Moron. Time and again you prove your idiocy.

That he does. Bet he peaks at this... And he'll likely kill fewer western big game critters this year than my 12yo.

Regarding fluorite crystal.
http://www.kowa-prominar.com/product/cristal/index.html


"A mysterious stone called fluorite emits light like a firefly when it is heated or exposed to ultraviolet radiation. Chemically, it consists of fluorite (F) and calcium(Ca), comprising a stable halogenide mineral (CaF2). Natural fluorite contains trace amounts of rare earth elements, giving the stone a greenish or purplish color and causing it to emit fluorescence in response to heat or ultraviolet radiation.

The fluorite used in lenses is an artificially made monocrystal. Therefore, it does not contain any impurities, nor does it emit fluorescence when heated or exposed to ultraviolet rays, but it is a highly uniform and clear lens material. Artificial fluorite is chemically stable, and it is easier to make relatively large crystals of very high quality from it. However, since fluorite takes the form of a monocrystal, it has the shape of a regular octahedron, and thus tends to chip.
In addition, fluorite can be easily scarred.
Therefore. great care is required when grinding and polishing such a crystal into a lens. Then, why is fluorite, which is so difficult to handle in processing,
used as an optical material?

One of the major causes of deterioration of viewing quality with telescopes is color blur (chromatic aberration). The degree of refraction of light changes according to the color (wavelength). The degree of such refraction is called "dispersion". The focal length of a lens varies slightly according to color,
generating a red or purple blur along the outline of an image.
Normally, combinations of two or more types of optical glasses with different dispersion properties are used to compensate for one another and reduce color blur. Nevertheless, this blurring cannot be completely eliminated even when using hight quality optical glasses. Fluorite is the key to eliminating color blur.
Fluorite has an outstanding feature of very low dispersion that cannot be found in optical glass. This characteristic enables us to eliminate color blur almost completely, Elimination of color blur dramatically improves resolution and contrast. As a result, subtle colors and shapes of wings of wild birds, slight changes in color of dark objects set against back lighting, bright star clusters, or details of the moon or planets can be observed as clear and sharp magnified images. Fluorite lenses may even lead us to new discoveries beyond our previous observational capabilities.

Since fluorite is considerably more difficult to handle than optical glass, it requires highly advanced processing techniques. At Kowa we put forth extra care,
time, and technique to produce a highly valuable fluorite crystal lens. The large amount of time and care that we spend guarantee that you will get the highest levels of viewing quality.

XD lens:Optical glass with extra low dispersion. Also called ED, HD, SD, UD or LD lens.
The lens has been developed as an alternative material to fluorite crystal. XD lens can reduce chromatic aberration, although to a lesser extent than with fluorite crystal.
The word "fluorite" is sometimes used to mean optical glass containing fluorite component (fluorite glass).
The XD lens is made of fluorite glass. At Kowa, the name "fluorite" is only used for pure fluorite crystal."

ignore works awesome!!!

Dumbass.

Thanks for the write up Rick.

Rick B - Can you compare this to a Leupold GR. 12-40x60 HD ?

Cost, weight, resolution, low-light performance are the key factors I’d be looking for in a backpack spotter

Thanks for your review

Someone REALLY needs to make a good mounting bracket to pair two of the 554's together. Either that, or if Kowa would essentially build a mini Highlander with the materials that are in these, that would be a game-changer. 58 oz plus the weight of a bracket . . . I'd hump that around.

Please

I have a lot of Leupold optics. Their scopes are great but their binos and spotters, good is a better term. The Kowa 554 is great and Leica binos (the ultravids and noctovids, anyway) are great. Moreover, the Leupold spotter is bulky and 9-10 oz heavier than the Kowa while not being as good optically and costing almost as much as I paid Doug for the Kowa 554 I suggest that you call Doug, He has never misled me and his advice has always meshed with what I already knew while expanding on the topics. Therefore, I believe him and value his much wider experience.