Kowa Ts 501 & 502 Scopes (1 Viewer)

[birchall]

I am looking for a lightweight rugged scope for treking (and to keep in boot of car). I may also need to carry it in a backpack while mountain biking.
I note a lot of dealers are selling these at fairly good discount prices at the moment. I think they are being discontinued.

Can anybody advise on the quality of these, please?

I think they come with either 20X or 20-40X zoom eyepieces but I think the eyepieces are built in i.e. no option to change eyepiece later. Is this so?

My current scope is TSN 883 but I don't want to carry that on a mountain bike. Will there be a huge drop in optical quality in the 500 seies?

 

[katsunori]

Yes, there will be Huuuuge drop in optical quality. They lack contrast and FOV. I think the zoom one has too narrow AFOV. I remenber it has much less than 50 degrees.
And you are right about eyepiece. They are built-in so you can't change the eyepiece.

I have a TS-502 and swarovski ATS80HD. When I go mountain, I would bring Ts-501 or binocular doubler-adapter(2x, so 8.5x2=17x). They are very light and compact. Their view is not good but better than nothing and I don't want carry a heavy scope when I go climbing.

If I go to sea or lake, I wouldn't hesitate a second to bring ATS80.

I think the best compact scope would be Nikon ED50 but I can't justfy the cost and ED50 is much hevier than TS-502. So I am satisfied with my TS-502.

Katsu

 

[postcardcv]

I agree you'll see a huge drop in optical quality going from an 883 to a 501, and yes you're right the eyepeice cannot be changed. I used to have a 501 and it certainly did the job, sure it's not as good as a big ED scope, for the money it's a decent little scope. I'd also echo the point that the Nikon ED50 is significantly better than the 501, though it would cost you a good deal more.

 

[HokkaidoStu]

I have the 504, a seemingly little known Kowa scope that may be of interest. It has a 15-30 zoom (non-removable) eyepiece and also has ED glass.

It actually isn't bad at all and is even possible to handhold. I used it this morning in fact in a vain attempt to catch the offshore Red Necked Pharalope passage (I was a day or so too late).

 

[rmel66]

How about this little scope? http://www.brunton.com/product.php?id=1
It seems to be highly rated by Amazon purchasers, but have no personal experience with it. On the other hand, I currently use a LOMO Astele 60 Mak scope that is in my opinion the best scope for ~$100. It is still available at www.handonoptics (the manufacturer has retooled and is no longer making scopes).

Rmel66

 

[birchall]

Thaanks to all for the replies and advice. You've saved me making an expensive mistake. I'll check out the Brunton. It looks interesting.

Brendan

 

[Jaff]

Might I also suggest these :

http://www.pyser-sgi.com/index.asp?ParentID=586

You're getting an extra 10mm at a killer price.
Jaff

 

[Sancho]

Hi Brendan, I am in the curious position of having the Kowa TS501, the Opticron MM2 (non-ED), and the Nikon ED50. They are of a quality that ascends in that order. Despite the poorer optics of the Kowa, I do like it, because it's very light, pocketable, and I take it on the bicycle quite a lot. The 20x eyepiece isn't interchangeable, it exhibits lots of flare, the FOV isn't as wide as the MM2 or ED50, but it's very cute. (It even came with a little teeny-weeny baby Skua stay-on case!). The mini-scope I never use anymore is the MM2. The ED50 has had lots of deserving praise heaped on it, and I use it more than my ED82 now. But for cycling or hill-walking trips, the Kowa TS501 is fine, but you might consider the MM2....at least it has interchangeable eyepieces.