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Rifles, Reloading, Optics, Equipment
Long Range Scopes and Other Optics
Kowa spotting scope, what size?
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<blockquote data-quote="Trickymissfit" data-source="post: 494133" data-attributes="member: 25383"><p>Right after I bought my KOWA for about $750 (scope body, eyepiece, and protective cover) I had a chance to buy a very gently used Swarovski (it was the one I did my tests off of) for $1200 in the hard case. The dealer's price for that particular setup with slightly over $1800. Was the Swarovski twice as good as the Kowa (with standard lense coatings)? NO! But it was better for sure. I'd put the difference at less than 10%. I could have bought the same scope with the flourite lense for about $1300. Is the Kowa all that much better than the high dollar Nikons? Not really and either one will pick out bug holes at 300 yards without a hitch. I did a check with mine about an hour ago, and looking at my good old pop rivits in the down spout about 375 yards out; I was able to see the center pins on the pop rivits without a hitch (27X). My test were not really to see if the scope could do this or that, but to check out a new mount I built four years ago but never used it. (it needs stronger counter balance springs by the way). So I drag out my Fuji camera with a 400mm lense on it. I could make out the pop rivits, but not the studs (I knew they were there, but not very clear). Now I also have another spotting scope, and it dose not have good enough resolution to see the pop rivits clearly at 45x. But of course I paid about $240 for it years earlier.</p><p> </p><p>Now with the above thoughts in mind, I think it's too easy to run out and buy a 60x eyepiece or a 20x to 60x thinking it will do everything. For 90% of us we could easilly get by with a 35x eyepiece. Do we all need an 88mm or even an 82mm scope? Not really, a good 77mm will do just about anything everybody on this board wants. Yet we could all run out and buy a Takahashi 120mm scope (about $5K), and see the thumb tacks on a target at 1000 yards. But do any of us actually need this? A Takahashi is absolutly the finest refractor telescope made (most spotting scopes are small refractors). </p><p>gary</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Trickymissfit, post: 494133, member: 25383"] Right after I bought my KOWA for about $750 (scope body, eyepiece, and protective cover) I had a chance to buy a very gently used Swarovski (it was the one I did my tests off of) for $1200 in the hard case. The dealer's price for that particular setup with slightly over $1800. Was the Swarovski twice as good as the Kowa (with standard lense coatings)? NO! But it was better for sure. I'd put the difference at less than 10%. I could have bought the same scope with the flourite lense for about $1300. Is the Kowa all that much better than the high dollar Nikons? Not really and either one will pick out bug holes at 300 yards without a hitch. I did a check with mine about an hour ago, and looking at my good old pop rivits in the down spout about 375 yards out; I was able to see the center pins on the pop rivits without a hitch (27X). My test were not really to see if the scope could do this or that, but to check out a new mount I built four years ago but never used it. (it needs stronger counter balance springs by the way). So I drag out my Fuji camera with a 400mm lense on it. I could make out the pop rivits, but not the studs (I knew they were there, but not very clear). Now I also have another spotting scope, and it dose not have good enough resolution to see the pop rivits clearly at 45x. But of course I paid about $240 for it years earlier. Now with the above thoughts in mind, I think it's too easy to run out and buy a 60x eyepiece or a 20x to 60x thinking it will do everything. For 90% of us we could easilly get by with a 35x eyepiece. Do we all need an 88mm or even an 82mm scope? Not really, a good 77mm will do just about anything everybody on this board wants. Yet we could all run out and buy a Takahashi 120mm scope (about $5K), and see the thumb tacks on a target at 1000 yards. But do any of us actually need this? A Takahashi is absolutly the finest refractor telescope made (most spotting scopes are small refractors). gary [/QUOTE]
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Rifles, Reloading, Optics, Equipment
Long Range Scopes and Other Optics
Kowa spotting scope, what size?
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