used Kowa TSN-663: a good lightweight scope? (1 Viewer)

A mate of mine has recently decided he wants to get a scope. He's in Italy so has little opportunity to follow the advice of "try before you buy".
After dozens of emails he's narrowed himself down to a c60mm with a zoom.
This fits his constraints:

• he travels by scooter so wants to keep weight and bulk down
• he is worried that a 50mm won't give him enough "reach"
• despite my arguments about fov/sharpness, he's definitely wants a zoom, but
• wants a scope which has alternative fixed EPs available should he want to switch
• he often goes birding in dusty conditions so needs a stay-on case

He was latterly thinking between the Hawke Endurance ED 16-48x 68mm (£450 - good reviews; only 1 27xEP; long& heavy for a 60*) and the Vortex Viper HD 15-45x 65mm (£600, some concerns about quality, only 1 25x EP, no stay-on case).
*As a benchmark, I use my beloved Fieldscope III 60ED with it's 20-60x zoom (which I don't rate as brilliant) attached;
Yesterday, after looking at some used scopes, he found a "mint" Kowa TSN-663 with 20-60x zoom for about £700 (with stay-on case). This is at the upper end of his budget.

On his behalf, I'd appreciate some advice on the pros & cons of this combination:

• how highly do (ex)users rate it? (How does it compare to the, albeit heavier, FSIII ED60?)
• how good is the zoom** (fov, sharpness, brightness)?
• is it overpriced at that price?
• are their warranty issues with used Kowas?
• are there any other used/new recommendations you would make?

**post#8 in this thread suggests this zoom is a "quite bad 90s vintage Kowa 20-60x". Is this so or have I misread (Kowa EPs are a mystery to me)?

Any advice/opinions gratefully received!

PS. putting this here cos hoping for some comments about other brands; should I post on Kowa thread too/instead?

Hi,

since I'll get home late tonight and thus can't quickly take a picture of mine I'll give a link to the old zoom EP with a rubber eyecup instead of a twist-up one... even with the current zoom it should be quite new for 700 pounds - I mean I can drive to my favorite store and buy a new one with zoom for a bit less than 900 quid...

http://www.mieschas-grüne-tierwelt.de/meine-ausruestung/spektiv.html

Joachim

jring said:

Hi,

link to the old zoom EP with a rubber eyecup instead of a twist-up one... even with the current zoom it should be quite new for 700 pounds - I mean I can drive to my favorite store and buy a new one with zoom for a bit less than 900 quid...

Joachim

Click to expand...

Thanks, Joachim. I gather it is the twist-up version. Is this zoom any good, in your opinion?

PS. have you got a link for a new one at around £900. I can't find many actually in stock and all £950+ (inc case)

Hi,

I only know the 90s vintage one which came with my body and the current offering TE-9Z which I was able to test in a store - there probably was some in between.
I had the Opticron SDLv2 with me when going to the store and this was a bit wider and almost sharp to the edge due to a field flattener but had only 18x-54x magnification. I decided to keep the Opticron which I could have returned to amazon at the point but got the Kowa 30x wide which is great.

The current TE-9Z is certainly a lot better than the vintage model and comparable to current offerings by other makers.
It is no competition for the wide-angle superzooms like the Kowa TE-11WZ or the Swaro ATX - but those and the corresponding bodies will set you back a lot more than 700 quid.

Joachim

jring said:

Hi,

I only know the 90s vintage one which came with my body and the current offering TE-9Z which I was able to test in a store - there probably was some in between.
I had the Opticron SDLv2 with me when going to the store and this was a bit wider and almost sharp to the edge due to a field flattener but had only 18x-54x magnification. I decided to keep the Opticron which I could have returned to amazon at the point but got the Kowa 30x wide which is great.

The current TE-9Z is certainly a lot better than the vintage model and comparable to current offerings by other makers.
It is no competition for the wide-angle superzooms like the Kowa TE-11WZ or the Swaro ATX - but those and the corresponding bodies will set you back a lot more than 700 quid.

Joachim

Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure it's the TE-9Z. Thanks for comparison to Opticron SDLv2

andyotter said:

PS. have you got a link for a new one at around £900. I can't find many actually in stock and all £950+ (inc case)

Click to expand...

Hi,

I looked at orniwelt.de and without stayon case. With it they want 1303€ so around 920 quid but they'll charge p&p for sales outside germany...

Another idea might be the MM3 in the 60mm version which would fit the 700 pound bill with the SDL v2 (or less with lesser zooms) and there's a full range of fixed mag wide EPs available too.

Joachim

jring said:

Hi,

I looked at orniwelt.de and without stayon case. With it they want 1303€ so around 920 quid but they'll charge p&p for sales outside germany...

Another idea might be the MM3 in the 60mm version which would fit the 700 pound bill with the SDL v2 (or less with lesser zooms) and there's a full range of fixed mag wide EPs available too.

Joachim

Click to expand...

Thanks, Joachim. It looks like he's gonna go with the 663

Fine, he'll certainly like it. Make him have a look at the 30x wide that is a great EP.

Joachim

jring said:

Fine, he'll certainly like it. Make him have a look at the 30x wide that is a great EP.

Joachim

Click to expand...

I'm sure after a little while he'll start to get interested in a fixed wide. Do they come up very often 2nd-hand? (I know the Nikon 30xMC is very hard to come by)

* just looked it up; it's cheap enough to get new!