Kowa 554 - Christmas in July

[AZ_Hunter_2000]

Christmas came a bit early as my Kowa 554 just was delivered. Big thank you to Doug at CameraLand.

Initial impressions are positive. My only gripes so far is the eye piece and objective lens caps do not have a “from factory” connection to the scope. The caps do have attachment points which is nice.

I was anxious to see how it stacks up against my STX in size; I already knew it was about 2 pounds lighter. The STX is not significantly larger in length and height. This was a surprise but I should have looked at the specs ahead of time.

With both wearing their protective cases and Outdoorsman plates, the Kowa still was a bit under 2 pounds lighter.


Looking forward to taking the Kowa out and compare it to the STX 65 under field conditions. Hopefully it lives up to the hype.

Note: I am looking at the Kowa as another tool in my optics arsenal and not replacing my STX.

 

[tdhanses]

You’ll either love it or hate it, I love mine. Some just can’t get past the fov.

 

[ZackP]

You’ll either love it or hate it, I love mine. Some just can’t get past the fov.

Judging the numbers, the FOV doesn’t honestly look that bad. Although I’ve never looked through one.

 

[fatrascal]

I have a Kowa 553 and the swaro atx 65. The kowa is pretty good but the 50 is not a fair comparison to the 65. The 65 wins hands down. But if you are like me the question was, is it good enough to leave the 65 at home and save the weight. In my opinion yes. The kowa 50 has great quality and will get the job done. Certain hunts will require the extra magnification of the 65 when you need to count points at a further distance or look at sheep horns. But if you really want to save weight then this certainly is a good option. Fatrascal

 

[WRM]

I bought the 554 solely off an article written on here by (I believe) Luke Moffat. His conclusion (then) was he really only needed the Swaro for curl counting on sheep. I don't have that problem, unfortunately, and I find the Kowa more than up to the challenge when I need more than the 15 x 56s.

How does that coat fit by the way? Do you like it?

 

[antlerz]

I have a Kowa 553 and the swaro atx 65. The kowa is pretty good but the 50 is not a fair comparison to the 65. The 65 wins hands down. But if you are like me the question was, is it good enough to leave the 65 at home and save the weight. In my opinion yes. The kowa 50 has great quality and will get the job done. Certain hunts will require the extra magnification of the 65 when you need to count points at a further distance or look at sheep horns. But if you really want to save weight then this certainly is a good option. Fatrascal

Good summary. Ive got ATS65 (25-50) and kowa 554. If i'm climbing or on a remote hunt, the 554 gets the job done with minimal compromise. The straight scope is easy to get on target with the smaller FOV. Still able to digiscope OK with the kowa.
The ATS is better, well corrected, awesome optic.
The weight difference is significant enough that the kowa ends up in the pack almost all of the time. 20oz less and it fits in the top pocket for easy access.
Good that you have bought it as an extra tool, not a replacement fot ATX. Everyones uses are so dependent on their style of hunting.