Zeiss Conquest Gavia 85mm vs. Victory Harpia 85 Spotting Scope Reviews

[carsonkeys]

Looking for reviews from folks who've used either piece of glass. What you liked, didn't like, would you buy again, value of Gavia vs. clarity of Harpia, weight issues, edge-to-edge clarity, etc etc.

Thanks!

 

[Browninglover1]

I spent a good deal of time with the Gavia last year. It falls in the middle of performance between the Vortex Razor and the Meopta S2. If I couldn't afford the Meopta, I'd likely just buy the cheaper Vortex and be happy with it.

The jump from the Razor to the Gavia wasn't quite as apparent to me unless I had them side by side. The jump from the Gavia to the Meopta was more noticeable to me and would be worth my time to wait and buy the Meopta.

I peeked through a Harpia at SHOT and it looked beautiful. I'd love to handle one in the field.

 

[carsonkeys]

I spent a good deal of time with the Gavia last year. It falls in the middle of performance between the Vortex Razor and the Meopta S2. If I couldn't afford the Meopta, I'd likely just buy the cheaper Vortex and be happy with it.

The jump from the Razor to the Gavia wasn't quite as apparent to me unless I had them side by side. The jump from the Gavia to the Meopta was more noticeable to me and would be worth my time to wait and buy the Meopta.

I peeked through a Harpia at SHOT and it looked beautiful. I'd love to handle one in the field.

With the buy once cry once mantra in mind...would you recommend the harpia over the gavia?

 

[Browninglover1]

I don't have field use with the Harpia but yes I would agree it's the better scope based off my limited experience. The Meopta S2 is still my favorite scope to recommend. It holds it's own with a Swaro X series at half the price.

The only thing I don't know about Meopta is their cost for repairs. I've heard people complain that to repair their items is almost as much as buying a new one and that would be a major bummer if you ever broke something that needed repair.

 

[Pronghunter]

I have the 95 Harpia as well at the ATX 95/Kowa 883 and APO 82. Completely different beast. I would without a doubt purchase the Kowa 883, ATX, Meopta Meostar, and the Leica APO 82 over the Zeiss Harpia. There is so much to say about the Zeiss Harpia, how the slow/fast focus functions, how the objective end is your magnification end. Can’t use an extender at this point in time. How it does not utilize its full 95 objective under about 40 magnification. The objective end is stopped down or substantially smaller under 40x power and the negative to this is low light/twilight glassing is not that great. In order to use all of its 95 objective, you pretty much have to use 70x. At 70x, glassing is difficult at dusk and dawn. It was not designed as a low light spotter. I’ve compared for 2 months the difference between my ATX 95 and Kowa 883. Both are substantially better than the Harpia in every way. I honestly think Zeiss threw a spotter together that was “just good enough.” I will say that daytime use the glass is quite brilliant. Still shows some chromatic aberration and is still slightly warmer than the others. It’s definitely Zeiss quality. But if you really wanna take full advantage of it, the magnification has to be up above 40x. In my opinion, the one thing it has over every other spotter is it’s FOV. It maintains the same FOV on any magnification which is genius. But that doesn’t make up for all that’s lacking. Just my .2. If you want the very best spotter out there, you go....

Kowa 883
Swaro ATX
Leica APO/Meopta Meostar. Your really splitting hairs here. The Leica has that 3D appearance like the Nocitivids. The Meopta is very hard to see a difference next to the ATX, but if you look hard enough it’s there. You can’t go wrong with any.

I’m sure others will disagree, but I have them and have compared for quite sometime and it’s the conclusion I’ve come to. Good luck.

 

[carsonkeys]

I have the 95 Harpia as well at the ATX 95/Kowa 883 and APO 82. Completely different beast. I would without a doubt purchase the Kowa 883, ATX, Meopta Meostar, and the Leica APO 82 over the Zeiss Harpia. There is so much to say about the Zeiss Harpia, how the slow/fast focus functions, how the objective end is your magnification end. Can’t use an extender at this point in time. How it does not utilize its full 95 objective under about 40 magnification. The objective end is stopped down or substantially smaller under 40x power and the negative to this is low light/twilight glassing is not that great. In order to use all of its 95 objective, you pretty much have to use 70x. At 70x, glassing is difficult at dusk and dawn. It was not designed as a low light spotter. I’ve compared for 2 months the difference between my ATX 95 and Kowa 883. Both are substantially better than the Harpia in every way. I honestly think Zeiss threw a spotter together that was “just good enough.” I will say that daytime use the glass is quite brilliant. Still shows some chromatic aberration and is still slightly warmer than the others. It’s definitely Zeiss quality. But if you really wanna take full advantage of it, the magnification has to be up above 40x. In my opinion, the one thing it has over every other spotter is it’s FOV. It maintains the same FOV on any magnification which is genius. But that doesn’t make up for all that’s lacking. Just my .2. If you want the very best spotter out there, you go....

Kowa 883
Swaro ATX
Leica APO/Meopta Meostar. Your really splitting hairs here. The Leica has that 3D appearance like the Nocitivids. The Meopta is very hard to see a difference next to the ATX, but if you look hard enough it’s there. You can’t go wrong with any.

I’m sure others will disagree, but I have them and have compared for quite sometime and it’s the conclusion I’ve come to. Good luck.

That was a helluva review, man. Just the kind of thing I was looking for. Thanks!

 

[CLibka]

I have the 95 Harpia as well at the ATX 95/Kowa 883 and APO 82. Completely different beast. I would without a doubt purchase the Kowa 883, ATX, Meopta Meostar, and the Leica APO 82 over the Zeiss Harpia. There is so much to say about the Zeiss Harpia, how the slow/fast focus functions, how the objective end is your magnification end. Can’t use an extender at this point in time. How it does not utilize its full 95 objective under about 40 magnification. The objective end is stopped down or substantially smaller under 40x power and the negative to this is low light/twilight glassing is not that great. In order to use all of its 95 objective, you pretty much have to use 70x. At 70x, glassing is difficult at dusk and dawn. It was not designed as a low light spotter. I’ve compared for 2 months the difference between my ATX 95 and Kowa 883. Both are substantially better than the Harpia in every way. I honestly think Zeiss threw a spotter together that was “just good enough.” I will say that daytime use the glass is quite brilliant. Still shows some chromatic aberration and is still slightly warmer than the others. It’s definitely Zeiss quality. But if you really wanna take full advantage of it, the magnification has to be up above 40x. In my opinion, the one thing it has over every other spotter is it’s FOV. It maintains the same FOV on any magnification which is genius. But that doesn’t make up for all that’s lacking. Just my .2. If you want the very best spotter out there, you go....

Kowa 883
Swaro ATX
Leica APO/Meopta Meostar. Your really splitting hairs here. The Leica has that 3D appearance like the Nocitivids. The Meopta is very hard to see a difference next to the ATX, but if you look hard enough it’s there. You can’t go wrong with any.

I’m sure others will disagree, but I have them and have compared for quite sometime and it’s the conclusion I’ve come to. Good luck.

Great Write up per usual! Hopefully this isn't a derail, but Kowa 883 vs. atx ... who wins that battle if they are both truly above the Harpia? Have been considering all 3.

 

[Pronghunter]

Great Write up per usual! Hopefully this isn't a derail, but Kowa 883 vs. atx ... who wins that battle if they are both truly above the Harpia? Have been considering all 3.

Between the ATX and the Kowa 883....

Swaro ATX....but only because of its modular design. Being able to swap 65mm up to the BTX and between is brilliant. Some may say the Kowa due to its price. These two are so close optically that I’m not so sure the human eye can actually resolve well enough to really appreciate their image. What’s impressive is the fact that the 883 has a smaller objective than the 95 yet there view at last light are almost simultaneously. The 85 ATX would be a better comparison. I will say that both using their extenders, the Kowas image is near perfect right to max magnification. The Swaro seems to drop off slightly near max magnification.

If I were to start all over, I would choose the Meopta Meostar due to its price. Absolutely beautiful image through its entire magnification. Build quality is excellent. A very close second to the Kowa and ATX But much cheaper. If you’ve ever looked through a Leica 62 or 77, that was Meopta made.

 

[carsonkeys]

Great Write up per usual! Hopefully this isn't a derail, but Kowa 883 vs. atx ... who wins that battle if they are both truly above the Harpia? Have been considering all 3.

Not a derail at all. Thanks for piping up with that question man!