Swarovski 20-60x vs 25-50w eyepiece question revisit (2 Viewers)

[LeeMonela]

Good day everyone,

Since this question hasn’t been asked for a while and being one I might need to consider I am going ask:

Aside from the obvious field of view, zoom range and price, is there anything else people have found noticeably different between the 20-60x and the 25-50w eyepiece for the ATS/STS scopes? Main concern is in terms of image quality.

I looked through an ATS 80 with 20-60x and found it difficult to get a clean image with all sorts of shadowing or distortion from the sides (not sure if those are the correct technical terms). I adjusted the eyecup length and do not wear any glasses of any kind, but still found it fidgety to get a good view which was disappointing considering the price of this scope. It was a 2004 model I looked through.

Many thanks

 

[Vespobuteo]

Good day everyone,

Since this question hasn’t been asked for a while and being one I might need to consider I am going ask:

Aside from the obvious field of view, zoom range and price, is there anything else people have found noticeably different between the 20-60x and the 25-50w eyepiece for the ATS/STS scopes? Main concern is in terms of image quality.

I looked through an ATS 80 with 20-60x and found it difficult to get a clean image with all sorts of shadowing or distortion from the sides (not sure if those are the correct technical terms). I adjusted the eyecup length and do not wear any glasses of any kind, but still found it fidgety to get a good view which was disappointing considering the price of this scope. It was a 2004 model I looked through.

Many thanks

I think you are referring to what usually is called "kidney beaning", it might appear when you are too close to the ocular lens or your eye is not completely centered over the ocular lens.

Eye relief is around 17mm for the 20-60x at 20x, (probably a bit less at 60x) so you might need to experiment with the correct setting for the eye cup.

Did you have problem already at 20x or mostly at higher mag or even 60x?
Was it in daylight or low light?

At 20x with the ATS80 the EP is 4mm so centering your eye in daylight shouldn't be an issue, at higher mag and in low light it might be more difficult.

The 25-50x EP is a more modern design and if you are using an ATS scope I would recommend that one instead.
The 20-60x could be fitted on the older AT-80, which was more useful back then.

It also may take a while (hours) to adjust to a new eye piece.
So you still might need some time to getting used to the Swaro 25-50x, and some eyepieces may fit some people better than others.

 

[LeeMonela]

Thank you, I will try to discern more specifically where I had the ‘issue’ and then refer back again to what you said to see if I can narrow down the specifics around what I experiences.

 

[4John]

Thank you, I will try to discern more specifically where I had the ‘issue’ and then refer back again to what you said to see if I can narrow down the specifics around what I experiences.

LeeMonela,

Whilst you saw what you saw, and it wasn't right, I had a Swarovski ATS80 with the 20-60 zoom for a number of years and I never had any of the problems you describe above from the moment I first had the scope, so I am surprised that you did. I thought the "kidney bean" issue only came in with the later 25-50 zoom, but it's 20+ years ago so I could be wrong. I don't wear glasses either and only ever remember very occasionally having to wind the eyecup in a little at the high end of the magnification to get a good view. I would therefore be very interested to know more about your experience after you have given it some more thought. I agree with Vespobuteo that it can sometimes take a little while to get used to consistently getting your eye in the right place, but IIRC :

- the Swarovski 20-60X was never known to be particularly awkward in this respect, but some may disagree

- you already have a Vortex scope with a 16-48 zoom lens, so you are no stranger to "modern" zoom eyepieces which tend to have a bigger glass area compared to the older generation drinking straw-type zoom eyepieces, so some might find them more difficult to get their eye in the right place. I only ever had that problem once many years ago when I tried a Pentax scope which had a zoom eyepiece that seemed to be the size of a tin of Campbells soup !

It's unlikely, but not impossible, there was a problem with the Swarovski 20-60X zoom you tried. Did you get a chance to look through any other scopes with zooms ? If so how did you get on with those ?

 

[Jason Bugay Reyes]

Good day everyone,

Since this question hasn’t been asked for a while and being one I might need to consider I am going ask:

Aside from the obvious field of view, zoom range and price, is there anything else people have found noticeably different between the 20-60x and the 25-50w eyepiece for the ATS/STS scopes? Main concern is in terms of image quality.

I looked through an ATS 80 with 20-60x and found it difficult to get a clean image with all sorts of shadowing or distortion from the sides (not sure if those are the correct technical terms). I adjusted the eyecup length and do not wear any glasses of any kind, but still found it fidgety to get a good view which was disappointing considering the price of this scope. It was a 2004 model I looked through.

Many thanks

Would you be able to try with the 25-50w eyepiece next time?

 

[Timjorek]

Good day everyone,

Since this question hasn’t been asked for a while and being one I might need to consider I am going ask:

Aside from the obvious field of view, zoom range and price, is there anything else people have found noticeably different between the 20-60x and the 25-50w eyepiece for the ATS/STS scopes? Main concern is in terms of image quality.

I looked through an ATS 80 with 20-60x and found it difficult to get a clean image with all sorts of shadowing or distortion from the sides (not sure if those are the correct technical terms). I adjusted the eyecup length and do not wear any glasses of any kind, but still found it fidgety to get a good view which was disappointing considering the price of this scope. It was a 2004 model I looked through.

Many thanks

I just switched from a 20-60x to a 25-50x W
(2021 ATS65HD)

My experience so far:

20-60 pro’s:

• Less blackouts espescially when using glasses
• 10x extra zoom
• sharp image with good resolution

20-60 con’s

• stiff zoom (takes quite a bit of force resulting in vibrations)
• narrow fov
• gets dark at higher magnification

20-50 pro’s

• butter smooth zooming
• wide fov
• brighter image (at least to my eyes)
• as good as if not better in terms of resolution

20-50 con’s

• more prone to blackouts, kidney beans
• less magnification

Overall I think the 25-50W is the better EP.

 

[Jason Bugay Reyes]

I just switched from a 20-60x to a 25-50x W
(2021 ATS65HD)

My experience so far:

20-60 pro’s:

• Less blackouts espescially when using glasses
• 10x extra zoom
• sharp image with good resolution

20-60 con’s

• stiff zoom (takes quite a bit of force resulting in vibrations)
• narrow fov
• gets dark at higher magnification

20-50 pro’s

• butter smooth zooming
• wide fov
• brighter image (at least to my eyes)
• as good as if not better in terms of resolution

20-50 con’s

• more prone to blackouts, kidney beans
• less magnification

Overall I think the 25-50W is the better EP.

And the 20-50w is much better for digiscoping with digital cameras too

 

[ReinierB]

I was tempted to buy the ATS 80 with the 20-60x eyepiece, but then Swarovski raised the prices of the ATS and lowered the price of the ATX. The price difference wasn't that big anymore and I opted for the ATX 85 instead.

Since I have the ATC 17-40x56 as well, I wanted the larger reach of 60x. I think there is also an advantage in exit pupil in 20x60, being 4mm. I found the view very easy at 20x, although the view was quite small.

I found it hard deciding as well. I bought the ATX 85 (so large view plus the possibility of 60x), but the ATS is also great with both eyepieces.