Kowa 664 vs Leica 62 televid

[rogerthat]

Anybody on here got a kowa 664 and or know how it would stack up against a Leica 62 televid optical quality weight and size? Seems like they should be really similar. Thanks

 

[shrapnel]

No comparison to the Kowa, but this is the quality of the image with an iPhone on phoneskope through a Leica Televid 77 at 900 yards.

 

[Schaaf]

Anybody on here got a kowa 664 and or know how it would stack up against a Leica 62 televid optical quality weight and size? Seems like they should be really similar. Thanks

I would think the Leica will be quite a bit better. I am probably one of the biggest fans of Kowa spotting scopes out there but there's a big difference between their 664 series and the Fluorite series (554, 774, 884, and now 994) Supposedly Kowa is coming out with a fluorite spotter in a 66ish mm objective soon but I wouldn't hold my breath.

How old is the Televid you're looking at?

 

[rogerthat]

I'm not sure how old it is. Its a straight leica 62 televid Pre-APO model. My understanding is the APO model would be better but I haven't seen one that is a 62 for sale just the newer 65's although I'm sure there are some out there.

 

[rogerthat]

I would think the Leica will be quite a bit better. I am probably one of the biggest fans of Kowa spotting scopes out there but there's a big difference between their 664 series and the Fluorite series (554, 774, 884, and now 994) Supposedly Kowa is coming out with a fluorite spotter in a 66ish mm objective soon but I wouldn't hold my breath.

How old is the Televid you're looking at?

If you were going to go the Kowa route, the flourite series sounds like it might be the way to go? The 554 is intriguing for its small size. At 28 oz I would happily pack even a pound more. I'm used to packing a 60 oz plus scope but I cuss it on the long walks and backpacking

 

[Schaaf]

I've never spent any time with the 554 outside of sitting on a deck one evening. My initial impressions are that if you're someone that doesn't enjoy looking through a spotting scope, it will work. It has a narrow FOV but the glass is amazing. Would be great to use for Sheep or Mule Deer if you're counting inches. My favorite is the 774, It's remarkably small and compact for an almost 80mm objective and I've kept it over Swarovski, Leica, and Meopta. I've never been on a hunt where it wasn't in my backpack.

 

[rogerthat]

I've never spent any time with the 554 outside of sitting on a deck one evening. My initial impressions are that if you're someone that doesn't enjoy looking through a spotting scope, it will work. It has a narrow FOV but the glass is amazing. Would be great to use for Sheep or Mule Deer if you're counting inches. My favorite is the 774, It's remarkably small and compact for an almost 80mm objective and I've kept it over Swarovski, Leica, and Meopta. I've never been on a hunt where it wasn't in my backpack.

Thanks for the insight. I think a 774 with that flourite glass might just be the ticket maybe since I'm used to backpacking with a giant scope as it is. Believe it or not my favorite spotter so far was a cabelas hd big sky with a 27-80x80 mm. My brother had a zeiss diascope he paid $3200 for and I used to chuckle when I could count points and see better detail with my $500 crapper. It had japan glass in it. Sadly it fell out of my pack on a Colorado deer hunt while riding a stupid four wheeler(hate atv's) to get in and out of the spot. I'm sure some CO hunter found and thought to themselves I found a scope to pawn for $100. I replaced it with some cabelas euro spotter with ed 20-60x80 mm just because I could get it quick. Cost $1000 and it is a giant piece of crap compared to my old scope. I'm going to ditch it this year for sure. Nothing worse than carrying a heavy spotter that really doesn't perform that well. I have packed that scope hundreds of miles. I bet I can shed some weight with better performance pretty easy. I could spend whatever on glass but I'm tight haha. I'm going to take a closer look at the 774. I flip back and forth on whether I need 2 scopes. One lightweight packer and one alpha truck glass. Honestly think maybe the 774 and just do it all.