Best and most thorough reviewer in the business. Killed it like always brother. Went through this whole process when I bought my spotter and I could not believe just how good the Kowa spotting scope was. Ended up with an 88A and I am constantly blown away by just how good it is. For the life of me I can’t figure out how Kowa is still small in the hunting industry. If only people would stop fanboying over the big 3…

@MindfulHunter

7 ай бұрын

Thanks brother! And could not agree more!

Another great review Jay. Appreciate the value you're giving to the community. It would be great to see the small class next: Swaro ATC vs Kowa 553 and an explanation of where you think these should be used versus a 65 or 85mm class.

@MindfulHunter

7 ай бұрын

Copy!

Ive been waiting for a review like this! great info. Thank you

@MindfulHunter

7 ай бұрын

👍

Appreciate the detail you provide in your reviews. Thank you

@MindfulHunter

3 ай бұрын

Thank you!

Another great job on the review man! Setting the bar high thats for sure on what a review is actually supposed to be! That kowa is definitely a sweet looking spotter! Looking forward to next reviews u put out

@MindfulHunter

7 ай бұрын

Appreciate the support as always brother!

Awesome as always man. Keep up the good work!

@MindfulHunter

7 ай бұрын

💪

Great review and perspectives. Lookin forward to 56mm spotting scope review. Especially between swaro ATC and kowa 553.

@MindfulHunter

9 күн бұрын

Working on that right now. Should be 4-6 weeks.

Another kickass job. Thank you.

@MindfulHunter

7 ай бұрын

💪

Really looking forward to the Mini Spotter review. Great job as always. 👍

@MindfulHunter

7 ай бұрын

💪

Amazing breakdown as always! Would love to see the Maven S.2 in the compact spotting scope review!

@MindfulHunter

7 ай бұрын

That seems to be a popular request. I’ll work on it.

Man, I’m impressed with your reviews. I can’t wait to see you do the rangefinder binoculars I’m in the market for a new one.

@MindfulHunter

7 ай бұрын

Thanks man. That’s one’s gonna be intense lol.

Great review as usual man, keep up the good work

@MindfulHunter

7 ай бұрын

🫡

Great review as always man!

@MindfulHunter

7 ай бұрын

💪

I love my Swaro STS 65 but I'd really like to look through the new Kowa 66. S&S archery has a few really good spotter comparison videos comparing swaros with kowas. They rave about the Kowas but they also feel pretty strongly that the ATS 65 with the 25-50 eyepiece is superior to the ATX which is interesting as the ATX is heavier and more expensive.

@MindfulHunter

Ай бұрын

I think the ATS might be the best value spotter on the market. Kowa just sent me the new 55. I’m interested to see how it stacks up. I liked the 66 but it didn’t blow me away

Great job giving the information to allow people to make their own decisions. Another stellar review. 💪🏼

@MindfulHunter

7 ай бұрын

Thanks brother!

Great review as always. Love the comprehensive information, the channel has definitely swayed me to pick up Swaro NL Pures and a Wiser pan head. One question from a fellow beefy guy, what office chair do you use? Seems like most tech and office reviewers are small guys and don't understand the struggles we endure.

@MindfulHunter

6 ай бұрын

Good question. I have the Ergo Chair Pro from Autonomous. Had it three years and it’s holding up very well.

@texag1517

6 ай бұрын

@@MindfulHunter Thank you sir!

Love my kowa 774

@MindfulHunter

7 ай бұрын

Beautiful glass

Big fan of your channel brother, it's great to see a podcast style reviewing show where it's longer format with extremely detailed information on the gears. It's been so helpful in my decisions with choosing my gears that's for sure. Looking forward to your next video 🙌 P.S. If you ever get a chance to try out the backpacks from AKEK, most notably the Climax 5400 I'd love to hear what your thoughts on it

@MindfulHunter

6 ай бұрын

Thanks man! I’ll take a look, never heard of them.

Maybe an idea for an episode, does there come a time to put the rifle down to truly progress as a bow hunter, like is it stunting my growth. Sorry I know it’s unrelated to this episode Lol but I do take your opinions seriously, you are one of the reasons I bought Swarovski binoculars. I was in the market for high-powered binoculars and or a spotting scope, but one of your shows recommended to make sure your chest binos are high quality before moving on.

@MindfulHunter

7 ай бұрын

Great topic for conversation!

Wow, this was posted literally one hour after I took delivery of a Lecia APO Televid. I would certainly have watched this before making a decision, but I'm very glad to see some vindication for my choice. Thanks for the detailed review!

@MindfulHunter

7 ай бұрын

Excellent choice!

Comparing a 65mm “alpha” to something like a gavia or maven in the 80/85 mm class would be interesting - closer in price comparison.

@MindfulHunter

7 ай бұрын

That’s actually a very cool idea.

Ive had the Maven CS.1 for 3.5 years…when I first bought it the price was only $650 and has since gone up to $800. For the reasons you provided (budget, light and small profile) is the reason i carry it but totally agree that optically it doesn’t compare to the alpha companies but at the time I wasnt willing to spend more than $1k and it was better than the Vortex Razor for less cost. Great review as always and hopefully the tickets I bought can get me a new spotter! 🦾

@MindfulHunter

7 ай бұрын

💪

@zackw9292

7 ай бұрын

I’m in the exact same boat. Thinking I might jump up in glass and down in size and switch to the maven s.1 12-27x56. Hopefully it’ll be included in the mini spotter review!!

Great breakdown on the spotters🤙🏽. What’s your opinion on the leupold sx-5 does that even make the list

@MindfulHunter

7 ай бұрын

😉

Realizing I'm sounding like a broken record but here we go. Another stellar review (as we have come to expect from you, Jay). Purchased my raffle tickets and I'm feelin" lucky.

@MindfulHunter

7 ай бұрын

Thanks man!

Great review as always. If you do a compact spotter review, please throw in an Opticron MM4 60MM SDLV3. That little spotter punches way above its weight and idblove to see someone do an actual head to head with it in the mix. It crushes most of the competition in its price range. Just not a well known brand at all. It would be cool to see you add it in and shake up the scene. Thanks again for your extremely detailed reviews.

@MindfulHunter

6 ай бұрын

👍

What do you think about the Nikon lens scope converter? I’ve heard it’s great, especially together with the Nikon 500mm f8 catadioptric

@MindfulHunter

2 ай бұрын

No experience.

Very surprised by the result of this. Great review.

@MindfulHunter

7 ай бұрын

I think that means I’m doing my job well ;)

Regarding Leica glass and coatings , any differences they make will be to keep in line with the “Leica Look” which is a proprietary colour balance. Many professional photographers regard their colours as The best. I own a pair of Trinovid 10x25 and they’re incredible for the size. Missed out on a Leica 82mm APO with zoom recently for £1350. They’re incredible scopes and Leica build quality arguably the best available. I think Nikon glass is truly excellent and recommend reviewing the Monarch fieldscope, a knowledgeable optics guy told me the Nikons have the best Average sample quality. I suspect your below par experience with Noctivids May be a poor sample , try and find another pair to look at.

@MindfulHunter

6 ай бұрын

👍

I’d love to see the 65mm scopes compared to their 80-88mm counterparts… without buying both and getting field experience it is hard to understand the real world trade off in performance vs ounces.

@MindfulHunter

7 ай бұрын

Fair point.

@yungskullivan

7 ай бұрын

Agreed! As a fellow n00b, it would be helpful in the intro to talk about the use case of the objects in question. Why use a 85mm over a 65mm? Great review as always!

@cannibalholocaust3015

6 ай бұрын

Greater resolution and light gathering. In the twilight that may mean an extra 15-30 minutes of glassing time at a critical time.

Any chance you have tried the ATC 56 yet. Seems like that’s what I’m replacing my vortex with. But looking for some confrimation bias.

@MindfulHunter

19 күн бұрын

I’m trying to get one soon. I have the new kowa 55 on the way and want to do a head to head with the ATC.

Couple of ideas: 1. I like reviews broken up by price point. 2. Thoughts on going with better binos and a lesser quality spotter/vice versa. 3. Image stabilizing bino reviews/ranking

@MindfulHunter

6 ай бұрын

💪

Where did you get a swaro ats that wasn't 20-60? I have had 2 both that magnification. Also why would you use the top of the line kowa and not a swaro atx? Either way I enjoy your podcast and hunt videos.

@MindfulHunter

7 ай бұрын

Good questions. The 25-50x is their premium eye piece. It’s more expensive and has a much superior field of view. That 20-60 has a 30% smaller field of view even though it’s lower magnification. Just doesn’t make sense to use that for the comparison. And I reviewed the kowa 88 against a the ATX a few months back. In my opinion the ATX and the 66 is basically a tie and you’re going to personal preference. I just thought I could add more value to the conversation by including the ATS. The 4oz weight benefit is not insubstantial.

I was waiting for your awesome comparison video and here it is.

@MindfulHunter

6 ай бұрын

👍

That poor Maven in there with the big boys. I have one and really like it for its intended purpose. It really only gets pulled out 2-3x a day to give a "yay/nay" on whether that lump under a tree at a mile is a deer or a rock, or whether that bull is a legal 4 pointer. Definitely not intended to sit behind all day. You mentioned the top end magnification being not quite as sharp as the lower levels, I've noticed this as well and have questioned how manufacturers decide what FOV and magnification limits they'll accept. For example, it seems some companies will have a narrower FOV but be tack sharp right to the edge and people love it, yet another can have nearly identical glass that has a wider FOV with a little distortion at the edges and people call it garbage. Had they cut it back a little bit mechanically, it would get a better review even though all they did was rob you of 20 feet of image. I personally would prefer the extra view just to pick up movement. I think the same may be going on with magnification. The maven might be amazing up to 42x, but I don't mind having the extra 3x if it means a touch more information coming in a little fuzzy. May be something to keep in mind when you do the compact review since the Razor has a weird 13-39 magnification range and the Swaro is 17-40.

@kee7678

7 ай бұрын

Hmmmmmm. I was looking hard, at the Maven..

@MindfulHunter

7 ай бұрын

Great point!

@AB.284

7 ай бұрын

@@kee7678 It's definitely worth the money. There are very few hunters that really "need" more glass. Its a great compromise for shedding some pack weight.

Really good honest review, as you mentioned a lot of this stuff is highly subjective.

@MindfulHunter

5 ай бұрын

Thanks!

If you get a chance you should take a look at the maven S.3A scope. It is a higher quality scope from maven and should compare better with these your looking at but curious to see how it does

@MindfulHunter

5 ай бұрын

If that’s the one, I’m thinking of it wasn’t released at the time of recording, and I actually have one on the way now.

The more of such unbiased high-quality reviews there are, the more the manufacturers will compete with each other on merit, instead of just relying on marketing jargon to sell their stuff, once they realize such reviews are what buyers use to make a decision. A world class company like swarowski realized from the beginning that to pride themselves in quality is a long term strategy that will pay off eventually. But if some company is more controlled by the marketing department than its engineers, the independent reviews are able to give back the power to the engineers once the marketing realize they are out of their depth without at least consulting with engineers.

@MindfulHunter

3 ай бұрын

I could not agree more!

The best reviews in the business. The least I could do is to give you a sub and like. I know you spend a lot of time on these videos and it is much appreciated. I am a casual user with low budget. I would like to have seen the Athlon Ares included in the comparo to see how you saw the performance vs. the group. After looking up the Tract story and their use of high end glass from Germany, I expected them to be much closer to the top three than the bottom performer. My guess is that the Athlon Ares would be closer to the Tract performance at less than 1/2 the cost. I own a Midas 12x50 G2 UHD that compares favorably to binos in the $900-1,200 range.

@MindfulHunter

2 ай бұрын

I’ll work on including more budget friendly options.

@boristahmasian1644

2 ай бұрын

@@MindfulHunter Awesome. Thanks.

Might be a little late for you to see this comment, but prior to your video I was looking at a Kowa 66 or 88. I’m trying to decide between the two. I live on the coast in South Carolina, and I don’t have very far distances in comparison to out west. I know objective lens size helps with lighting and color to a degree, but I’m using it mostly for birding and nature shots. I’m just trying to justify the extra cost for the larger objective lens. They have the same zoom, so I guess that doesn’t matter, but I just wanted to see if you had any input on that to justify spending the extra cost for the 88?!

@MindfulHunter

4 ай бұрын

For hunting low light conditions like dawn and dusk are big deals to us and that’s where the large objectives and their better light gathering ability really shine. Also it’s not uncommon for me to be glassing up to 2-3 miles. Again an 88 is far superior to a 66 at those distances. All that being said if low light and extreme distances are not an issue in your hobby I think the 66 would be a great option and much more affordable.

@ld5984

4 ай бұрын

@@MindfulHunter Roger that. I think I already knew the answer, but I just wanted to hear from somebody more qualified. If I were to go step up to the 88 I guess I would at least have more capability with the cost of extra weight, extra length, and a bit more cost in general.

@MindfulHunter

4 ай бұрын

@@ld5984 the 88 is definitely better. The only reason every hunter doesn’t walk around with one is the weight.

@ld5984

4 ай бұрын

@@MindfulHunter 100% makes sense! Thanks again for your input.

How can I enter the Leica raffle? lol Great indepth video!!

@MindfulHunter

6 ай бұрын

🤣 thanks man!

Curious if there was any reason you didnt have a Zeiss in there?

@MindfulHunter

7 ай бұрын

I had two Zeiss spotters in my last review. I try to mix it up. Also if I go over 5-6 optics it gets too long and messy.

Not sure I understand your review. The 65mm Swaro does have the option of 20x60 reticle. What isn’t this mentioned?

@MindfulHunter

7 ай бұрын

That eyepiece is not comparable with these at all. The FOV at 20x is only 106 ft. It’s also significantly cheaper the 25-50 is their premium eyepiece.

@johnconklin5180

7 ай бұрын

I own both eyepieces. For you to say they don’t offer a magnification greater than 50 isn’t accurate. While I agree the 25x50 may be the better option there is the 20x60. The price difference is very small too.

@WadeTheWild

3 ай бұрын

@@johnconklin5180 the amount of detail @MindfulHunter had to cover for this review is incredible. In my opinion to focus on him not mentioning the Swaro 20 - 60 zoom option (when it's inferior) is picking fly shit out of Chili.

@WadeTheWild

3 ай бұрын

@@MindfulHunter the amount of detail you had to cover for this review is incredible. In my opinion to focus on not mentioning the Swaro 20 - 60 zoom option (when it's inferior) is picking fly shit out of Chili. Great job as always Jay! These unbiased reviews are what we need, saves us all a ton of time and money.

@johnconklin5180

3 ай бұрын

I really don’t care.@@WadeTheWild

Revic glass man. I’d love to see some reviews with it. Especially the rangefindibg binos and the 65 mm spotter.

@MindfulHunter

7 ай бұрын

Copy

Wish he would have thrown in the Athlon Ares as a budget option.

@MindfulHunter

7 ай бұрын

Gotta draw the line somewhere.

Guess I should have watched the whole video before sending a comment 🤷🏻‍♂️

@MindfulHunter

7 ай бұрын

🫡

You keep calling Fluorite Crystal as in the Kowa flagship scopes ,glass. It is grown , no glass in it!!. Only one element is fluorite crystal the other elements are glass of one kind or another. Something else worth knowing is HT glass is usually only used for prisms.

@MindfulHunter

Ай бұрын

Appreciate the clarification.

@peterbowler6524

Ай бұрын

@@MindfulHunter A Pleasure. Good review.

Way too much talking for no reason.

@MindfulHunter

11 күн бұрын

🫡

Have you ever tried a zeiss diascope 65mm? From what I've seen even the 20 year old ones manufactured by Meopta for them are amazing and still out resolve swarovski new stuff and any leica. Kowas probably matched them or best them now very slightly but zeiss tend to make optics with better depth of field. Too bad no one had one around too send you to test especially because you seem to always like zeiss optics. Great reviews as always

@MindfulHunter

Ай бұрын

Heard great things about out that spotter.

I want you to make another video about same top expensive spotting scopes why any 1.25 in astronomical eyepieces can't be used on these spotting scopes to fullfill our need of higher magnification and more details demand because i found there is only one spotting scope which is Pentax PF 80 ED snd Pentax PF 100 ED accepts all astronomical eyepieces ,i think these astronomical eyepieces can be fitted on these most expensive spotting scopes if we can make theirr adapter which allows us to fit these astronomy eyepieces for more information.

@MindfulHunter

6 ай бұрын

👍

@trident8872

6 ай бұрын

@@MindfulHunter will you please make a video on this topic??

Yeah! It's really a mind-blowing review you have made however you missed one point and that is ate higher magnification every spotting scopes exit pupil becomes smaller and it becomes difficult to get best view through eyepiece of that spotting scope and you tempt to push your eye into the eyepiece that needs to improved and I don't know how good kowa about this issue if you look through Kowa scope at higher y you don't need toe struggle to gete bettt view.

@MindfulHunter

6 ай бұрын

👍