I'm a bit cross because my son left the mag in the hide at Rutland Water at the weekend, having only just paid out my £3-20 (a bit much for a small mag!) and had the chance to merely glance at the survey of small scopes.
I thought the survey was a typical modern magazine job - lightweight and very subjective. Their "optical performance" ratings are a touch misleading, too, surely? The new Kowa 60 Prominar, for example, provides any normal viewer with stunning images - yet it rates a 'mere' 7 or so in the survey with the Swaro at, if I remember, just 8.5/10. Hmm?
My son, Nick, has the Swaro 65ED - and it is undoubtedly a very fine piece of birding kit with the entirely useable 20-60x zoom; but at such a high price.
I've just bought a second-hand Kowa TSN3 Fluorite 30x (via this forum - a 100% fine experience: thanks Graham, you were a delight to do business with!). It will replace my much-loved Kowa TS601 with its TSN20xWW - a lovely, clear and light scope. I'm impressed that the TSN3 is similarly light on the shoulder.
You'd struggle to tell the difference at 30x between the TSN and the Swarovski, except the colour cast in the Swaro is all but neutral, with the Kowa a very slight yellow (the TS601 with the 20xWW gives a fine image, too - so easy to view, and what a wide field). Sharpness of both the Swarovski and the TSN are unquestionably of the highest order and in yesterday's cloudy early evening light, both scopes were impressively useable providing quite amazingly bright, wide images.
Was there an important difference? Hmm... I suppose the Swaro picked out fine detail on the far shore a tiny bit better. Well - I told myself it did, after all, I had bought the thing for my son. And yes, I am jealous, no way can we afford two.
The contrast in both was extremely good, and again, perhaps the Swarovski had the edge - but not very noticeably. Both Swaro and Kowa are lightweights, too - anyone carrying a Leica TA80 around for a day would be a touch envious, I feel sure.
If you're going for the Swarovski, you'll not, in any way at all, be disappointed - and I would imagine that in 99% of situations the 65 will perform as well as needed against the Swarovski 80 model (your shoulder will thank you, too!).
Pound for pound, though, I'm not sure you'll be 'knocked out' by the Swarovski - except by the initial and quite amazing thrill of admiring its appearance before you put it in its case (to do this objectively, though, be sure to place the scope on a tripod with the £1100+ receipt blue-tacked just below it!).
Let's face it, the Swaro truly is a modern design masterpiece combining form and function with the latest technology in a quite incredible way - full marks to their technical and aesthetic designers. But, again, that price?
Of course, what finally disappoints about both of these scopes is the missing feature of a magnet on the end to attract our feathered friends to you (you'd think Swaro would include one of these for the price they charge!). At our local res. yesterday we espied a mere single common sand and 2 greenshanks. But then a Hobby flew over and made the evening worthwhile!
Steve Campsall
PS BTW what a great birding forum this is - glad I found it at last, even if so belatedly.