New ATC/ STC 17-40x56 Telescope (1 Viewer)

[Vespobuteo]

S&S Archery has a new video with some comparison of Kowa & Swaro scopes including the new STC. Sounds like they're a bit disappointed, compared to the Kowa 554, the STC wins in ease of use due to ER & FOV, but optically the 554 is a bit better. They also seem pretty thrilled with the copy of the ATS 65 they have.

Nice walkthrough. I think they expected a bit much here, ATC/STC is not a 65mm scope.
Swaro is also pricier in US than in EU (relative to Kowa).
Does "a bit better" refer to the fact that the 554 has 45x vs 40x mag. for the STC?
They don't get into much depth on the optical qualities, more than max resolution.
To me it's more important how the scope performs at lower mag, ER, FOV etc.

 

[fazalmajid]

The Doerr Danubia appears to be the same as the Celestron LandScout 10-30x50, on sale from Amazon at £75.99, substantially cheaper than $139.

Amazon UK has the Danubia for £58:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dorr-10-30-Danubia-Spotting-Scope/dp/B01LWOROZC

 

[John A Roberts]

Hi Robert (post #177),

That's an intriguing idea, turning two STC’s into a zoom binocular!
I presume that you’re thinking of something like:



From: https://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/2009/03/ultimate-optics-bigeyes™-system-from-swfa/


However since the objective and eyepiece of the STC is in line, the body diameter would seem to be too great:



The diameter across the zoom ring is 65 mm - so even with only 1 mm of clearance between two units -
a minimum IPD of nearly 66 mm would eliminate many (most?) users.


John

 

[Gijs van Ginkel]

crinkly starfish, post 179,
It seems likely, that I made a mistake here, and it will take a little time before I can correct it, since the telescope is hard to get for a review. The telescope I got to review was already sold, so the measurements had to be done very quickly.
I will come back to it.
Gijs van Ginkel

 

[crinklystarfish]

Thank you, Gijs.

 

[bcskr]

I

 

[bcskr]

I spent about 20 minutes today looking through these two scopes at various things near and far. Couldn’t really see significance difference visually, and my wife reported the same experience. But a huge difference in ease of use. I have the ATX, and I really have gotten used to having focus and zoom rings next to each other.

 

[wllmspd]

More details of your comparison please. The MM4+SDL3 will have a narrower field at low powers. They should be about the same weight.

Peter

 

[Brummie]

I spent about 20 minutes today looking through these two scopes at various things near and far. Couldn’t really see significance difference visually, and my wife reported the same experience. But a huge difference in ease of use. I have the ATX, and I really have gotten used to having focus and zoom rings next to each other.

Yeah. I bought a MM4 60, but having gotten used to using an ATX, I find the non-parfocal-ness a real pain. Now have the ATC on order. I'd prefer the MM4 if Opticron offered a good, really wide-angle 30x fixed eyepiece to go with it.

 

[wllmspd]

Sadly no chance of a 30x wide angle from Opticron as reportedly the bulk of eyepieces they sell are zooms so no market for additional ones. There was a 30x eyepiece but it’s been discontinued a long while. I find that the field width is “OK” from around30x on the zoom.

Peter

 

[Tringa45]

I spent about 20 minutes today looking through these two scopes at various things near and far. Couldn’t really see significance difference visually, and my wife reported the same experience. But a huge difference in ease of use. I have the ATX, and I really have gotten used to having focus and zoom rings next to each other.

Well, that indicates that the optical differences were probably quite subtle.
It's a pleasant change not to hear that one got "blown out of the water" by the other.

John

 

[mbb]

Yeah. I bought a MM4 60, but having gotten used to using an ATX, I find the non-parfocal-ness a real pain. Now have the ATC on order. I'd prefer the MM4 if Opticron offered a good, really wide-angle 30x fixed eyepiece to go with it.

Do you have perfect ’parfocalness’ with your ATX? I still need some refocussing after zooming in/out.

 

[belfeuil]

Hello, just my feelings and personnal opinion about ATC I tested during a nature event on September. In the past I have owned vortex razor 11-33 and kowa 553 as compact spotting scopes. I've never be really satisfied by these scopes because of global performances (vortex) and FOV (kowa). I sold them for larger models (ATS65HD then ATX 85). But these ones, in spite of their superb quality are too heavy for my use, always walking with tripod on shoulder... So, on September, I had a look on ATC during an event (with very good light conditions I must precise). And I've been really positively surprised by the ATC. To my eyes, really better than the vortex razor (and really more expensive too!!!) and the kowa. Better FOV, better eye placement, better pleasure to my eyes . Very relaxing view, exactly the same than with my ATX 85. I can't compare with other compact scopes mentionned before (mm4 and ed50) which I've unfortunately never tested. I ordered one and now waiting for Swaroski to deliver my shop... I'll share a review on delivery.
Sorry for my bad english...

 

[Mike Crawley]

belfieuil - no need to apologise for your English, we should be thanking you for making the effort.
Great review, thank you for sharing

 

[Brummie]

Do you have perfect ’parfocalness’ with your ATX? I still need some refocussing after zooming in/out.

No. But it's markedly better than the MM4.

 

[gastonbe]

I noticed you don't get a case with the scope. Strange that, for the money and a travel scope you'll mostly bring along in your backpack. I don't even see any that you can purchase for it.

 

[Brummie]

I noticed you don't get a case with the scope. Strange that, for the money and a travel scope you'll mostly bring along in your backpack. I don't even see any that you can purchase for it.

Do any high-end scopes come with cases? If you want to stop it picking up scratches, scuffs and dirt while riding in your backpack, easiest to just put it in a microfiber drawstring bag.

 

[Vespobuteo]

I noticed you don't get a case with the scope. Strange that, for the money and a travel scope you'll mostly bring along in your backpack. I don't even see any that you can purchase for it.

Reasonable to save money and environment not including stuff that only some will use.

Swaro (and Kowa) don't include cases with their scopes in general.

 

[gastonbe]

Do any high-end scopes come with cases? If you want to stop it picking up scratches, scuffs and dirt while riding in your backpack, easiest to just put it in a microfiber drawstring bag.

No clue, this will be my first scope Fair point, cases are super personal and hard to get right. Good idea, the microfiber bag, I'll look into that.

 

[Hermann]

Do any high-end scopes come with cases? If you want to stop it picking up scratches, scuffs and dirt while riding in your backpack, easiest to just put it in a microfiber drawstring bag.

A simple towel works just fine as well. And it can be rather useful in the field.

Hermann