kowa 25-60x zoom vs 30x Wide Eye Piece (1 Viewer)

[John Bullfinch]

Hi Pileatus

I have recently purchased the Kowa 884 with the 25-60 lens. Exact same problem as you are having although only one dot on my lens as you get towards x60. Info I have had from the shop I purchased it from, via Kowa, is that they are saying it was a 'bad batch' and they have supposedly now modified the lens to eradicate this problem and they are awaiting stock of these modified lens from Japan. I was told 7-14 days to arrive in Europe, its been 5 days so far, but around 3 weeks since they were first told about this.

I live in England, but I note your location is NY, is this New York USA or? Just wondering, as if you have had the same problem in the states then its a bloody huge bad batch!!!!

I am far from impressed to be honest and I am currently compiling a complaint. Yes, its the best scope out there, but sick to the teeth now of waiting for it to be resolved.

I hope you get sorted.

All the best

John

 

[Pileatus]

Hi Pileatus

I have recently purchased the Kowa 884 with the 25-60 lens. Exact same problem as you are having although only one dot on my lens as you get towards x60. Info I have had from the shop I purchased it from, via Kowa, is that they are saying it was a 'bad batch' and they have supposedly now modified the lens to eradicate this problem and they are awaiting stock of these modified lens from Japan. I was told 7-14 days to arrive in Europe, its been 5 days so far, but around 3 weeks since they were first told about this.

I live in England, but I note your location is NY, is this New York USA or? Just wondering, as if you have had the same problem in the states then its a bloody huge bad batch!!!!

I am far from impressed to be honest and I am currently compiling a complaint. Yes, its the best scope out there, but sick to the teeth now of waiting for it to be resolved.

I hope you get sorted.

All the best

John

I sent the zoom to California today after speaking with customer service. They told me new zooms from Japan were expected by the end of the month. Not great news but I'm willing to trade a month for a good ten or twenty years of use. This thread may cheer you up a bit...
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=315886

I'll report back when the zoom arrives.

 

[Hermann]

I just acquired a new Prominar 883 with the 25-60 zoom. Non-stop rain has kept me indoors but, and it's a big but, I tested the scope through a few different windows (usually a very bad idea) in my home looking at targets 10-200 meters distant. I'm truly amazed at its overall performance and I look forward to putting it through its paces tomorrow in the great outdoors.

That's going to be interesting once the weather gets better because you also have the ED82 for comparison. From what I've seen the 883 is one of the few scopes that is better than the ED82. Very, very good optics, no visible CA and very little sample variation.

If I were to buy a big new scope today, I'd get either the 85mm Swaro ATX or the Kowa. Both seem me to be better than the ED82, and their zooms are a lot better than the 25-75x of the Nikon, mainly because of the wider field of view.

Hermann

 

[Pileatus]

That's going to be interesting once the weather gets better because you also have the ED82 for comparison. From what I've seen the 883 is one of the few scopes that is better than the ED82. Very, very good optics, no visible CA and very little sample variation.

If I were to buy a big new scope today, I'd get either the 85mm Swaro ATX or the Kowa. Both seem me to be better than the ED82, and their zooms are a lot better than the 25-75x of the Nikon, mainly because of the wider field of view.

Hermann

I'll do a more detailed side-by-side when I get a new zoom but I did verify a few differences.
I have two tripods and I mounted both scopes side-by-side for direct comparison (same target and conditions). Let me state a few preliminary observations.

The Kowa is brighter.

The ED82 shows a bigger image from 60X-75X but it's also darker and less useful when the air is disturbed. Tripod vibrations can also easily ruin a 75X image! Yes, minute details can be teased from a 75X ED82 image but I don't find this capability all that useful. I may change my mind after a more extensive field test.

At 60X the Kowa image remained "bright, lively and sharp as a tack". The Kowa is simply easy on the eyes. The ED82 noticeably darkens as magnification increases, something that affects my immediate perception. It's tack sharp at 75X (conditions permitting), but not as easy on the eye. The narrow zoom on the ED82 sure doesn't help. I've often wondered how a wide angle zoom would perform on the ED82.

I'll do more field testing (883/ED82) when the Kowa zoom arrives. My goal is to determine whether or not the 1.6 extender would be useful to me. The addition of the extender results in a 40-96X zoom and I'm just not sure I need the additional magnification. Time will tell.

 

[binomania]

Hi from Italy.
I own both 25-60 and 30X wide. The new zoom is very, very good, respect my old 20-60X, infact, now i use rarely the eyepiece with fixed magnification.
However a few weeks ago I brought in Oasi, also the 30X i to do some tests. The 30X is slightly more 'wide" as the field of view, more' bright and a little more 'sharpness" thanks fewer lenses system.
If you need only one eyepiece, buy the zoom. I've also used the new 1.6X and the quality is incredible -if weather conditions permit-, also for astronomical observation.