The Frank Perspective: Kowa vs Swarovski – Travel Scope Delight

Having had a few months experience working at South West Optics, I’ve started to gain a lot more knowledge about the different brands and models of binoculars, as well as what they do and what they are best suited to.

A good deal of our customers are seasoned birders or nature watchers and pretty much know what they want, but quite often we have enquiries from complete beginners that are looking to get started and want or need some genuine advice on what’s around within their budget. My colleague, Russell, is a fountain of knowledge when it comes to optics. He’s been a birder and optics enthusiast since he was a child and loves nothing more than spending time with people to ensure that they get the best possible item for their needs and at the best value.

As we are predominantly an online company, most people, especially the more experienced, take advantage of our keen prices and buy directly from our website. However, if you’ve little or no experience, it's important that you take the time to research what's available that suits your needs- which is where we come in.

We have a wonderful showroom down here in Torquay, Devon with an ever increasing amount of stock, ranging from “entry-level” optics right through to top end brands. We are always happy to receive calls or visitors so please feel free to give us a ring, our number is on our website: www.swoptics.co.uk

Working in a showroom full of nice “toys,” you become almost spoilt for choice. I’m in an enviable position, able to take our demonstration items out and about to give them a good testing. I've had the privilege of trying some wonderful optics over the last few months and I have discovered that you don’t necessarily have to be able to afford the top end items to get good quality, well made equipment. As I’ve said before in previous ramblings, I’ve purchased a pair of Opticron Veranos with a mind to upgrade them at a later date to Leica Trinovids (or similar) once I’ve saved up enough shekels. I was talking to Russell about why I like the Trinovids  and he asked if I had ever thought of getting a spotting scope. To be honest, I really hadn’t given it a thought! I’ve not really used a spotting scope for any length of time so I’m not sure how I would get on with one. Plus, there’s the added weight and size to consider. I’m often out with a bag full of cameras so to carry a scope around as well didn’t seem so appealing until Russell suggested a travel scope. Now, why didn’t I think of that?

For those of you that don’t know, travel scopes are compact, lightweight and designed to be convenient for travelling. Here at South West Optics, we have spotting scopes of all sizes and prices, ranging from £140 right up to top end brands at £3,800 and above. Some are small and compact, some look like the kind of thing that you’d need a small team of people to carry.

I decided to take advantage of Russell's greater knowledge and asked him to sort me out with a pair of travel scopes to try and see how I got on with them. Such a task is right up his street and within minutes he appeared with a pair of small scopes from Kowa and Swarovski. Now, if I’m honest (and I try to be, unless, of course, my wife asks me, “Does my bottom look big in this?”), I have to confess that both of these scopes were perhaps a little more than I would want to spend. But I thought I would give them a go anyway, as they would have to be good to prise me away from my desired Leicas, and Russell assured me I wouldn’t be disappointed.

So, what did I think of them?

First of all, I had a good look at them in the showroom so I could get to grips with the build quality and ease of handling. With binoculars, they tend to fit most people and are comfortable to use, but occasionally you will find a pair that just doesn’t feel right or fit your shape of face. This is important if you’re going to spend a considerable sum of your hard-earned earth pounds on something. Spotting scopes are no different; its always best to try them out as not all are built or designed the same.

Firstly, the Kowa Prominar TSN-553 15-45x On first inspection, the 553 looks small, neat and compact. At just over 271mm, its slightly longer than the Swarovski but around 160g lighter, weighing in at 810g. It has a slightly textured hard coating that is pleasing to the eye and touch. Its compact size and weight makes it an ideal scope for travelling and keeping about you for those times when something of interest pops up, and binoculars don’t quite cut the mustard.

The focus is smooth, easy and has a dual focusing system for coarse and fine focusing. The twist-out eyepiece has four positive settings that should suit most people, including spectacle wearers. There is a nice size tripod base which, when not attached, allows the TSN-553 to sit fairly safely upright on a table.

The 55mm Objective lens is made from Fluorite Crystal which, although it sounds like something that you might find in your toothpaste, is described by Kowa's tech spec as a “natural mineral that has an outstanding feature of very low dispersion, that cannot be found in optical glass.” Make of that what you will, but I’m told that its pretty darned good…We’ll see later when we take them both out.

Both spotting scopes have fixed eyepieces. The Swarovski ATC offers 17-40x magnification range, while the Kowa’s provides slightly wider magnification range at 15-45x. Both are nitrogen-filled, fog-resistant, and waterproof, making them easy to wipe down and keep free from dirt and grime. In the Kowa TSN-553 box, there are front and rear lens covers, a cleaning cloth and a manual. They also come with a 10 year warranty.

Swarovski ATC 17-40x56 has a 56mm objective lens on the that makes it ideal for comfortable low-light viewing. Like the Kowa, it is nitrogen-purged, waterproof and fog-proof. The rubber armour coating looks great (especially in burnt orange) and, in my opinion, feels more comfortable than the Kowa. It's easy to keep clean, offers good grip, and provides protection from knocks and bumps.

With its 17-40 magnification and 56mm objective lens, Swarovski’s HD optics provide excellent contrast and light transmission with a minimum focus of 3.4m. The ATC is a bit shorter than the Kowa at 258mm and, at 970g, it's a touch heavier, but with that extra weight and the rubber coating, it somehow has more of a feel of “quality” about it; therefore, in my opinion, is nicer in the hand. At the current price of £2040, it's going to have to perform well to prise my wallet open. In the box you’ll find a carrying strap, eye piece lens covers and an objective lens cover.

 So, lets go see how they perform out and about!

Now, before I start, I'll remind you all that I am by no means an expert when it comes down to birding/nature watching with anything, let alone spotting scopes. However, I do love to be out and about and I'm getting more and more enthusiastic as time goes on. Plus, I’m much more critical about the equipment I use (ok... borrow). Both of these travel scopes are considered “high end” and, to be fair, both performed very well, as you would expect, but I found them both to be radically different during use. This being the first time that I'd really had a good try out with some scopes, I was surprised to find how awkward I found them to use for a minute or so when first out of the box. Note to myself: ask Russel for a quick demo before taking things out!

Both eyepieces are angled and I spent a few minutes gazing up into the heavens until I started to get the hang of looking down into the scope as opposed to having the eyepiece straight. There are straight versions available which might suit me better. As slow as I am, it didn’t take me long to figure out how to use them and off I went, firstly with the Kowa.

The Kowa looks nice, its small, lightweight and easy to use and, as you would expect, optically sharp and bright. Although, not quite as nice to feel as the Swarovski, the finely textured coating was nice to hold and the eyepiece was smooth and easy to use with four click stop settings. I started off at 15x magnification, which made it easier to find my chosen target- an Egret taking in the autumn sunshine on the far side of a lake near where I live. I was surprised to see the difference in magnification. At first, I didn’t see an awful lot of difference between the Kowa set at 15x magnification than the 10x magnification on a pair of Vortex Razor 10x42 binoculars, but zooming in on just two clicks, it was clear to me why serious birders use a spotting scope. The Egret suddenly appeared right there in full frame, bitingly sharp and looking magnificent. If you ever want to look up a pigeons beak or spy on a spider on top of a lamp post, it's a scope that you need! If I'm honest, I found the focusing on the Kowa a little awkward to begin with and, although the focusing dials were smooth and easy to use in the showroom, I couldn’t see the point of the fine focus wheel as the main one seemed to work fine (maybe that’s just me). However, once outside in the field, its a different story. The fine focus dial brought out the finer detail in the Egrets feathers and really did make a substantial difference.

As for the Swarovski’s, the whole feel about them was completely different. The rubber coating feels great to the touch and they altogether feel more solid and rugged than the Kowa. Optically there wasn’t a lot to choose from between the two of them but if I had to pick I'd say the Kowa was slightly better which considering the Swarovski is around £400 more expensive was a surprise. The one piece focusing ring was smooth and in my opinion easier to use than the two piece system on the Kowa and the zooming ring was smooth and silky. The extra weight didn’t feel to bad either, if anything it made the scope feel more stable and well balanced and of course mounted on a tripod its hardly noticeable. The retractable eyepiece works well, it One criticism I do have about the design of the ATC is the tiny base plate. It is possible to stand them up on a flat surface however they are quite wobbly and unstable as compared to the Kowa so best to lie them flat.

So, to sum up will I be spending my hard earned pennies on a travel scope? I was surprised that once I became used to using them I was amazed at the extra reach that you get with a scope, even smaller ones like these travel scopes. If I’m honest it took me a while to get used to using them. I’m confident that things would become easier with time and practice and there’s no question that they were both optically superb, but I found that for me scopes don’t have the “instant” results that I get with binoculars. If I was only going out just for nature watching or birding then adding a scope wouldn’t be a problem and I would seriously consider getting one however when I’m out and about I invariably have a large bag of camera equipment so adding a scope to that would require me employing a caddy to help me carry it all. So yes, I can see the appeal for birders and nature watchers to have a good quality scope and I’m pretty sure that eventually it will make it to my list of things to acquire but at this moment in time I will continue to save for my binocular upgrade.

Having said all that if you are accustomed to using scopes, then you will find these two little beauties neat, compact and a delight to use. This of course is just my humble opinion, and if you want some finer detail from an experienced and knowledgeable birder then please feel free to drop us an email, or call us on 01872 263444. Better yet, drop in and see us and try them for yourself.

If I had to choose? Hmmmm thats a tricky one. The Swarovski's in burnt orange looked and felt lovely and as you would expect were optically superb, but I think for me it would be the Kowa as I got on better with those and they are (in my opinion) optically just as good and will save you a chunk of money.

On a final note. We now have in stock the new superb Kowa TSN-55A Feel free to come and try it