krizwickles
Member
Hello all,
I've been reading Bird Forum quite a bit in the last few months as I've contemplated buying a scope to upgrade my Vortex Viper 82. I've read a ton of great stuff on here and am hoping for a little more specific feedback as I narrow my choices down.
I'm a field ornithologist studying birds in Montana and NW Mexico. I use scopes more in Mexico, mostly doing wintering waterbird surveys. But I run a research station and ecolodge and our scopes end up getting used for a little bit of everything.
I was fortunate to get alpha binoculars through my job last winter, and after about a year with them I've become an adherent of the "buy once, cry once" mindset and am committed to getting a top-quality spotter. That said, I'm on a conservation salary and it is a major purchase for me. After weighing the options, I felt like the price difference between Kowa and Swaro/Zeiss (looked at the Leica 82 Televid and to my eyes all three of the aforementioned scopes felt like steps up from the Leica) outweighed any potential advantages of the Swaro ATX or Zeiss Harpia.
But recently someone in my birding community put their Harpia 85 up for sale. The price is reasonable, and the difference between it and a Kowa 883 is close enough for this type of long-term purchase that I'm looking to evaluate each solely on their merits, ignoring the difference in price. I found an 883 for a decent price online from somewhere with a generous return policy, so I went ahead and bought it so I could compare the Kowa and Zeiss side-by-side.
I'm curious what kinds of things you all think I should be thinking about as I compare them.
Also, I would love to hear from owners of either scope what they like the most about it, AND their least favorite thing. It doesn't seem like there's a 'perfect' scope out there and I'm curious what long-term users of each think of the costs/benefits of their scope.
Here are some of the pros and cons I'm weighing:
Size
Kowa the clear winner here. Can't believe how bright and clear such a compact scope is.
Image
Kind of a tossup. I haven't had much time to side-by-side comparisons yet; I'm sure my view will evolve over the next couple weeks. The Kowa seems like it has less CA and feels slightly more precise, and perhaps more color neutral. The Harpia has a more pleasing "3D" effect to my eyes, and the FOV at low mag is really impressive. Harpia owners, how often do you feel like that FOV ends up being a real advantage?
Focus
Kind of agnostic about the focus ring vs. focus knob debate. Both seem to work well.
Zoom
Here is an area where the Zeiss is a winner for me. Having the zoom ring adjacent to the focus ring seems like an advantage. I was glassing a kettle of raptors with the Harpia the other day, and the process of examining the full kettle at low mag, picking the bird I wanted to hone in on, zooming and panning to it, then zooming out and picking out the next bird, all without having to pick either hand up, was some of the most fun I've ever had with a scope. That said, after playing with the Kowa a little bit, I found I'm able to adjust the zoom on the eyepiece with the thumb and index finger, while being able to adjust the fine focus with the pinkie of the same hand. Not as elegant, but it does seem like I'm able to pan/zoom/focus simultaneously on the Kowa as well. How do folks with focus/zoom rings on the body of their scopes like them? Has your opinion on them changed after extended use?
Style
Not the most important thing, but we'd all be lying if we said appearance didn't matter. This is also kind of a tossup for me. I know some people find the Harpia kind of clunky, but I think it is pretty sharp looking. But I also think its design cues clearly make it look like more of a luxury item than the Kowa, which for me is a negative. Less flashy is better.
As you can see, I feel like I can make a convincing case to myself about either scope.
Any advice appreciated!
I've been reading Bird Forum quite a bit in the last few months as I've contemplated buying a scope to upgrade my Vortex Viper 82. I've read a ton of great stuff on here and am hoping for a little more specific feedback as I narrow my choices down.
I'm a field ornithologist studying birds in Montana and NW Mexico. I use scopes more in Mexico, mostly doing wintering waterbird surveys. But I run a research station and ecolodge and our scopes end up getting used for a little bit of everything.
I was fortunate to get alpha binoculars through my job last winter, and after about a year with them I've become an adherent of the "buy once, cry once" mindset and am committed to getting a top-quality spotter. That said, I'm on a conservation salary and it is a major purchase for me. After weighing the options, I felt like the price difference between Kowa and Swaro/Zeiss (looked at the Leica 82 Televid and to my eyes all three of the aforementioned scopes felt like steps up from the Leica) outweighed any potential advantages of the Swaro ATX or Zeiss Harpia.
But recently someone in my birding community put their Harpia 85 up for sale. The price is reasonable, and the difference between it and a Kowa 883 is close enough for this type of long-term purchase that I'm looking to evaluate each solely on their merits, ignoring the difference in price. I found an 883 for a decent price online from somewhere with a generous return policy, so I went ahead and bought it so I could compare the Kowa and Zeiss side-by-side.
I'm curious what kinds of things you all think I should be thinking about as I compare them.
Also, I would love to hear from owners of either scope what they like the most about it, AND their least favorite thing. It doesn't seem like there's a 'perfect' scope out there and I'm curious what long-term users of each think of the costs/benefits of their scope.
Here are some of the pros and cons I'm weighing:
Size
Kowa the clear winner here. Can't believe how bright and clear such a compact scope is.
Image
Kind of a tossup. I haven't had much time to side-by-side comparisons yet; I'm sure my view will evolve over the next couple weeks. The Kowa seems like it has less CA and feels slightly more precise, and perhaps more color neutral. The Harpia has a more pleasing "3D" effect to my eyes, and the FOV at low mag is really impressive. Harpia owners, how often do you feel like that FOV ends up being a real advantage?
Focus
Kind of agnostic about the focus ring vs. focus knob debate. Both seem to work well.
Zoom
Here is an area where the Zeiss is a winner for me. Having the zoom ring adjacent to the focus ring seems like an advantage. I was glassing a kettle of raptors with the Harpia the other day, and the process of examining the full kettle at low mag, picking the bird I wanted to hone in on, zooming and panning to it, then zooming out and picking out the next bird, all without having to pick either hand up, was some of the most fun I've ever had with a scope. That said, after playing with the Kowa a little bit, I found I'm able to adjust the zoom on the eyepiece with the thumb and index finger, while being able to adjust the fine focus with the pinkie of the same hand. Not as elegant, but it does seem like I'm able to pan/zoom/focus simultaneously on the Kowa as well. How do folks with focus/zoom rings on the body of their scopes like them? Has your opinion on them changed after extended use?
Style
Not the most important thing, but we'd all be lying if we said appearance didn't matter. This is also kind of a tossup for me. I know some people find the Harpia kind of clunky, but I think it is pretty sharp looking. But I also think its design cues clearly make it look like more of a luxury item than the Kowa, which for me is a negative. Less flashy is better.
As you can see, I feel like I can make a convincing case to myself about either scope.
Any advice appreciated!
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