Comments on: Optics Review: Kowa TSN-884 Prominar (PFC) Spotting Scope

By: Tom Alves

Tom Alves — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 18:43:54 +0000

Thanks, fellows. I’ve had a KOWA TSN-1 since the mid 90’s. The both of us are getting a little worn so I’ll take a look at the info you cited. Keep up the good work. Eagle Optics has some good prices too. Not sure about the PF80-ED compared to Amazon.
Tom Alves

By: Editor

Editor — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 15:49:18 +0000

Tom,

One of the best Spotting Scopes for the money right now IS mentioned in the article. The Pentax PF80-ED is a very good product with outstanding eyepieces. The Pentax will also take most astronomy type eyepieces. On Amazon.com you can get the PF80-ED body for under $700.00 and the 20-60X zoom eyepiece is about $320.00. That will give you an outstanding spotting scope for about a grand.

By: Roy

Roy — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 15:26:52 +0000

A quick note that there is an adapter available that allows the use of older eyepieces from the 77mm and the 82mm scopes to work on this scope.

I personally prefer the 30xWA to the 25xLER…..the wider view is helpful at longer ranges.
Roy

By: JabaliHunter

JabaliHunter — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 15:03:41 +0000

They do. The article referred to is here
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/Page.aspx?pid=1039#top

and the results chart is here
http://www.livingbird.org/netcommunity/bbimages/lb/pdf/ScopeChart2008.pdf

The rankings and prices are listed so everyone can choose according to how much they want to spend.

By: Tom Alves

Tom Alves — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 14:34:56 +0000

I would appreciate it if someone would do a “Best Spotting Scope for the Money”. The above article is very informative and appreciated but not practically useful for many competitive shooters in today’s financial environment. Everything is a compromise and I have to believe there are spotting scopes out there that are very good but not quite as expensive. Thanks for your efforts.
Tom Alves

By: Jim Hardy

Jim Hardy — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 03:37:44 +0000

During the Long Range National Championships at Camp Perry in 2010, I had a chance to do a side by side comparison of my beloved Optolyth 100mm spotting scope with a with a friend’s Kowa TSN 88mm Prominar. As good as the Optolyth was, the big Kowa blew it away — no comparison when looking at the target and mirage from behind the 1000 yardline. There is a reason that the AMU uses this spotting scope.

Jim Hardy

By: John S

John S — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 00:33:41 +0000

Great scope, can’t image why it would be necessary for anything other than girl watching.