Nightforce Spotting scope

[DaveBrokos]

Has anyone looked through the new Knightforce spotting scope are they as good as Zeiss and Swaro scopes

 

[wolley]

What I was told at BSWN is that they are rebadged Kowas.
Coincidentally they have almost the same part number.

 

[minnesotamulisha]

They do have similiarities:

http://www.kowaproducts.com/KowaTSN-82SVSeriesSpottingScope/

http://nightforceoptics.com/military/ts-82-xtreme-hi-def-20-70x-spotting-scope/

 

[Forum Boss]

I was informed by a larger vendor than the Nightforce Spotting Scope is definitely NOT made by Kowa.

 

[Dubbo]

Never looked through one,
I hear maybe made by meopta?

 

[KT]

I can assure you that they are not made by Kowa. I own a Nightforce TS82. It's quite a bit different than the Kowa. Especially the focus adjustment! It's a quality piece of glass. I have had the Nightforce next to the Kowa Prominar and you can see very clearly that the Nightforce is better. I had 3 other people say the same thing when we did the test at Camp Butner @ the 1k line. I also had a very good shooter at Bridgeville look through it and compare it to his Kowa and a Vortex spotter he said the same thing. "The Nightforce was better."

I can't comment on the Zeiss or Swaro. I have not been able to compare the Nightforce to them. I only know of one guy that uses a Swaro and I haven't seen him in a while.

I would recommend buying one it's worth the money.

 

[djtjr]

I have the nf a zeiss a Swarovski and have used the Leica and Kowa. The NF is a great optic. As good if not better than the other high end ones and substantially better than the Kowa.

 

[dreever]

Compare it to the Kowa TSN883/884 with the new variable wide angle zoom.

Danny

 

[Jet]

Dave

I picked up my NF spotter a couple weeks ago and have used it a few times. At a 600 yd match last Sunday I was able to clearly make out 6mm holes in the white target paper. In the blue I could not see them. When light mirage came up I could still see them. So far it is performing better than any glass I have used in the past. This includes older Zeiss, Swaro and Leica.

It is worth the price.

Good Shooting

Rich

 

[Ledd Slinger]

What I was told at BSWN is that they are rebadged Kowas.
Coincidentally they have almost the same part number.

They are NOT made by Kowa. They ARE made by Meopta.

The NightForce and the Meopta S2 HD 20-70 spotter are the same exact scope in different clothing. The Cabelas Instinct Euro HD is the same scope as well.

Meopta makes all 3, but of course NightForce and Cabelas dresses them up their own way. Cabelas openly admits it is the same scope, NightForce is hesitant about it, but I was able to pry it from the lead customer rep in Idaho on the phone one day when I was asking him why NightForce was pricing the same scope $300 more than what Meopta themselves sells them for? The only answer he could give me was "it has to stand up to our strict standards" Hogwash! It's the same exact scope and NightForce charges you more for the name and fancy clothing.

And yes, I own a Meopta S2 HD spotter. They have unbelievably excellent quality and arguably the best glass out there right now, in ANY price range. There was no doubt I preferred the Meopta glass over the Swarovski HD glass when I compared the two. I actually walked into Cabelas with $3000 cash in my pocket wanting to buy the Swarovski HD 20-60 spotter, when the salesman said I should take the Meopta outside and compare them. It didn't take very long and I walked out with the Meopta. Or NightForce, or Cabelas Instinct Euro HD...whatever you want to call it. Same thing.

 

[280man]

I have no idea who makes them or in what factory. I can say that I've spent a few hours behind a lot of scopes and this is without a doubt the best scope I have used.

 

[Ledd Slinger]

PS: A lot of people don't realize just how good high end Meopta glass is because they only recently came into the "sporting" world of optics and more recent yet, the HD sporting world of optics. But don't let that fool you. Meopta is one of the oldest and most experienced optics manufacturers in the world. They are made in Czech Republic and have been in the high quality optics business longer than Swarovski.

Swarovski Optik was founded in 1949

Meopta has been at it since 1933. They know what they are doing when it comes to glass. That's exactly why everyone here is positively commenting on the NightForce spotter glass. But in fact NF has nothing to do with the glass. That is ALL Meopta. So now all of you NightForce spotter owners can give credit where credit is due.

 

[Ledd Slinger]

I have no idea who makes them or in what factory. I can say that I've spent a few hours behind a lot of scopes and this is without a doubt the best scope I have used.

Did you just skip over my post? I'm NOT guessing. It's a fact. call Meopta or NightForce if you don't believe me.

 

[280man]

I have no idea who makes them or in what factory. I can say that I've spent a few hours behind a lot of scopes and this is without a doubt the best scope I have used.

Did you just skip over my post? I'm NOT guessing. It's a fact. call Meopta or NightForce if you don't believe me.

I read your entire post. I was simply stating that I do not know who actually builds them. The other thing is I don't really care.

 

[Ledd Slinger]

I have no idea who makes them or in what factory. I can say that I've spent a few hours behind a lot of scopes and this is without a doubt the best scope I have used.

Did you just skip over my post? I'm NOT guessing. It's a fact. call Meopta or NightForce if you don't believe me.

I read your entire post. I was simply stating that I do not know who actually builds them. The other thing is I don't really care.

Well you did know after reading my post. I just told you!

And it does matter who makes them when you can buy the 'actual' Meopta S2 HD spotter for $300 less money than the Meopta in NF clothing and it's the same exact quality scope. Something I'm sure the OP would appreciate to know...

 

[Ledd Slinger]

Now here's another valuable piece of information to carefully consider.....

NightForce only offers a "Limited Lifetime" warranty against manufacturer defects and workmanship on the Meopta they dress up. And NF's idea of "Lifetime" on the spotting scope (unless they recently changed it) is actually only 20 years. Though a pretty shotty warranty on such and expensive piece of equipment, it is still fully transferrable. So not only are you paying more money for the name and clothing, you are getting very poor warranty coverage. Obviously they do this because the don't actually make it. So just be aware of that.

Meopta themselves offers a FULL Lifetime transferrable warranty on the scope and I've heard their customer service is excellent to deal with. And Lifetime means Lifetime, not 20 years. Though turn around may be a little while because of shipping and repair times.

Now the best warranty of the 3 versions of the Meopta S2 HD come with the Cabelas Instinct Euro HD version. Cabelas sells it with their FULL Lifetime UNCONDITIONAL Warranty. So if anything happens to the scope at all, you just take it in to a Cabelas retail store and they exchange it for a brand new one off the shelf. Then they send the broken or defective scope into Meopta for replacement on their behalf. So if you have a Cabelas nearby, the Instinct Euro HD version of the Meopta S2 HD is definitely the way to go. If something happens to your scope in the middle of hunting or competition season, the only turn around time is how long it takes you to get to the store and back home.

 

[ryanjay11]

They need to release a 25x fixed power long eye relief eyepiece to get my money.

 

[Ledd Slinger]

They need to release a 25x fixed power long eye relief eyepiece to get my money.

Meopta makes a 30x-60x wide angle eyepiece for it. Street price is about $500. I have the 20-70, but plan on getting the other one as well.

The Meopta/NF/Cabelas scope probably has some of the best eye relief I have seen in a high power spotter. Even on 70x, I still don't have to worry about my eyelashes touching the glass of the eyepiece.

And again, the Meopta S2 HD eyepieces will fit right on the NightForce because they are exactly the same

 

[ryanjay11]

The Kowa 25x LER eyepiece has 32mm of eye relief vs. 18mm for the both the 30-60x WA and 20-70x Meopta/Cabelas/Nightforce eyepieces. For use with shooting glasses, I prefer a LER eyepiece.

 

[Ledd Slinger]

The Kowa 25x LER eyepiece has 32mm of eye relief vs. 18mm for the both the 30-60x WA and 20-70x Meopta/Cabelas/Nightforce eyepieces. For use with shooting glasses, I prefer a LER eyepiece.

That would definitely make a big difference with shooting glasses. You're sacrificing a lot of magnification power just because it seems inconvenient to flip your glasses up on your forehead when viewing through the scope. There isnt any high power variable eyepiece that will give you 32mm of eye relief. Whether magnification or LER is more important is for each individual to decide. But you can't have both. In wanting LER, it sounds like the Meopta scope would not meet your personal preferences.

My preference is high magnification because I like to see extreme detail when hunting. For competition use, I don't think detail is quite as important. So the decision will have to be based on your application of the optic.