Customer Reviews

Kowa TSN-883 Prominar ED 88mm Angled Spotting Scope

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have been a birder for decades and have always dreamed of a spotting scope of this caliber. From the first view, the Kowa 883 produces a bright, ultra sharp image to the edge of the field at all magnifications. Using the 20 to 60 zoom and the fast ruff and fine focus is so easy that there is no learning curve. I taught astronomy for 32 years and had nothing with this ease of use. Maybe Kowa should build telescopes with the technology they use for spotting scopes? My wife and I both agree this is an amazing product.

My wife and I (birders) have had this scope for about a year. Love it. Great combination of reasonable weight and size with excellent optics and pleasurable view. It comes with a well made fitted protective cover that allows the scope to be used on tripod without removing the cover. The only caveat we have is that the scope is quite expensive. There are other brands that are also expensive and possess reputations for quality. Having tried out a number of scopes, we chose this one and would do so again after using it in the field.

The one thing we soon found problematic was "finding" our desired subject with the angled eyepiece and the "finder" line cast into the scope was not helpful. We found a solution by me making a bracket to hold our Leupold 10x20x-40mm compact scope above the Kowa and using it as our finder scope. See the photo on the Amazon product page. (This photo is also on Amazon's Leupold product page with explanatory notes.) We recently bought a Celestron 52303 Regal Refractor 100mm which is an excellent scope for the price.