views on Kowa TS-601 (1 Viewer)

[superfastferry]

Hi

I have on loan a 2nd hand Kowa TS-601 with 20-60x Zoom. I'm told it's about 7 years old. This plus Slik tripod is being sold for £250. I was wondering how good a deal this is and what others think of this particular scope / zoom lens combination. My inititial thought whilst trying it out was that the field of view is a bit small and at the higher magnification the image is a bit dark and not so clear. I have a budget of about £500 so am inclined to spend a bit more money on another scope. Are there any recommendations for a great first scope?

Thanks

 

[MacGee]

Overpriced, I'd say. For your budget, you could look at a Kowa 613 or Nikon ED50. Timedrifter was selling a Nikon EDIIIA recently. If the weight isn't too much for you, it might be worth considering.

Michael

 

[superfastferry]

Many thanks for the useful advice Michael

 

[richardwp]

This set up in Classified section isn't far over your budget and looks good value to me.
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=105264

 

[Steve Jones]

I've still got my old TS601 (it lives in the boot of my car 'in case of emergency'). I bought it with a 20x (good) 40x (poor) and also acquired a 20-60x TSN zoom (slightly better than the 40x, but still not that good). The 'best' lens I ever tried was a borrowed TSN30x. Having said that, the view at 20x is better than some of the 'budget' models on the market today that I've seen.
I would agree with what has been said previously - I'd go for a secondhand TSN611, 613 or Nikon ED 60mm scope for that money (much brighter. lighter and some with ED optics).
I wouldn't pay more than £100 for a reasonable condition TS601.

 

[superfastferry]

Steve,

Thanks for the sound advice. Always good to hear from someone who has experience of the same model. Cheers

 

[GarnockFocus]

For your budget I would recomend a s/h TS613 with a 20 or 30x wide eyepiece, these little ED scopes are fantastic and the wide eyepiece is excellent (I used and still use the cheap £70 20x wide eyepiece and it is very sharp indeed), my only dislike was the scope not being waterproof!