Good review! I bought this same scope several weeks ago and love it! Meopta simply makes fantastic optics at a great price. I have 4 Meostar rifle scopes and they are also excellent.
Thank you for the detailed review, I think you made the right choice between the two. I've heard it suggested multiple times by respected people in birding, hunting and astrology forums that there exists variance between the same model and this slight manufacturer variance is enough to recognize consistently. This has lead some to posit that in very close instances of performance it can tip the scale one way or another. Furthermore, the comparison isn't "fair" in the strict sense as the Meopta has a 5mm larger objective, but the comparison to the Kowa 883 would be not "fair" the other way as then the Kowa would have a 6mm larger objective. Finally, the secret to Kowa's prominence is their "fluoride glass" now this is partially a marketing term and over simplifies matters, but it nonetheless helps explain why the Kowa 88X series of spotting scopes are the best (at the very least) in reducing chromatic aberration. While some go as far as to say out right the best in their class. The Kowa 77X series does not have this fluoride glass and I am sure there are other optical differences that exist as well. I've read some reviews of this Meopta and looked at some picture comparisons and from what I could glean I would say it is fair to say this Meopta is better than the Kowa 77X. While it still looks like it is under the Swarovski 95mm and Kowa 88X series in terms of optical performance. The question then becomes if most people are able to regularly discern or need the difference? To which I would say, probably not. It is nice to see some new competition in this space.
To be fair to Meopta, slight variance and consistency is true for ALL manufacturers. I have tested 100s of Zeiss, Leica, Swarovski, Nikon and Kowa scopes over the years, and variance is there with all of them. If I were in the market for a quality European made scope, it would likely be Meopta. The Kowa Flourite scopes I think are the best from Japan. The Kowa 88 series use Flourite not flouride glass. It certainly isn't a marketing term. Calcium Flourite is a crystal which a single lens in the front objective group is made of. It has better colour correction properties than low dispersion glasses used in many scopes, particularly useful in optical telescopes with relatively short focal ratios. Flourite is brittle stuff and very expensive to make lenses from. I notice that Kowa have joined the "race to the top" aperture-wise by introducing a 99mm aperture Flourite scope pair. Not being a hunter I can't say whether this will shows you anything you can't see with the 88mm scope. Unless they improve the prisms, 11mm gain is not going to be blindingly obviously different. Certainly not in sunlight or most daylight conditions. I have used 125mm spotting scopes and even 150mm scopes, and at magnifications under 100X a top quality 80+mm scope quite often all you need. The problem for hunters and birders are two-fold. One is the quality of the atmosphere you are forced to look through is rarely ideal. The second is refracting spotting scopes are short focal ratio instruments, which often require internal tele-extender or Barlow systems built in to the focus lenses. You put a flourite 80mm astro refractor on a tripod that is f/8 or longer and they will retain image quality at higher magnifications than spotting scopes usually do. Hats off to Kowa and Co. for designing these scopes to perform as well as they do.
@@offraed6156 I had meant to write fluorite crystal, but made an error and didn't bother to edit it. You're absolutely right and more knowledgeable on the subject than myself. I generally agree the extra aperture wont make as much of a difference in this case as the outdoor conditions. I have experienced this myself too. You're right about variance as well. I've observed something similar with top tier manufacturers. I got a good deal on a used Kowa 88 series scope so I bought one otherwise the Meopta would have largely been good enough especially given the price. For chromatic aberration correction the fluorite crystal is a clear winner. I find it hard to differentiate between these top tier scopes without really spending some time doing so, but fluorite crystal glass always stands out at least for CA correction. Thanks for the reply.
@@Ilost11 Hi. The Kowa 88 is a brilliant scope. Possibly the best from Japan. What you can do with spotting scopes is to look at a star image at the highest magnification you have available. Look at the star image just inside and just outside focus so it expands into a small disk. Make sure the scope is roughly the same temp as the outside (don't do it through a window). What you are basically looking for is the same pattern inside and outside focus in the expanded disk. This will tell you a lot about the optics in the scope. It will show whether the scope is correctly aligned, it will show if the scope has spherical aberration, and you will see colour in the expanded star image, if there are any of the chromatic aberrations present. you want a star that is bright, white and high above you if possible. Vega in the summer time and Capella in the winter are the two white stars that are among the brightest and reach high elevation in the Northern hemisphere. If you get fed up with a star drifted out of the filed of the eyepiece, you can find Polaris the Pole star. That one doesn't move. Its all good fun and gets you thought of by your fellow hunters as a geek :)
@@offraed6156 I've read about the star test, but wasn't sure how to correctly go about doing it. Thanks for succinctly and clearly explaining it. I had a suspicion the reason I got this Kowa 88 series scope so cheap used was that it was slightly out alignment or on the lower end of optical performance within model variance. I could just be paranoid. I purchased it from a long range precision shooter who said he needed something with a reticle. Seemed like an honest a nice guy though. I'll definitely give it a try when I get a chance I am quite curious as to how it will perform. Among my collection of rifle scopes, prismatic firearm optics and binoculars. The Kowa truly is a spectacle to look through. I currently have the 11WZ eyepiece wide zoom FOV eyepiece, but I find atmospheric conditions prevent me from getting the most out of my magnification most of the time so I tend to stick to lower magnification. The newish Kowa TE-80XW wide FOV fixed eyepiece looks phenomenal. I'll probably go that route when I free up some cash.
@@Ilost11 Coming from the other side of the pond, I can say I have never been hunting, so the only experience of it is either on TV or in the movies. I would love to go hunting with a genuine US hunter, just for the experience..........anyway, be that as it may. One trick for when its warm and the atmosphere is shimmering. Make a cut-out lens cap for your scope, so it effectively drops the aperture down to 50mm. In other words, make a mask out of cardboard or whatever is to hand, that sits in front of your scope and drops the aperture from 88mm to 50mm. Use that on warm days in bright daylight. A smaller aperture reduces the affect of heat shimmer on the image. If you do an A- B comparison you will see there is an improvement. On a bright sunlit day the pupil of your eye is down to 2 - 2.5mm. That means if you use a mag of 20X, you won't see a difference at 50mm aperture than at 88mm. The iris of your eye has contracted and only a light pencil equivalent to your pupil size is entering your eye anyway. The rest reflects away from around your iris. The way to think about it is, at different light levels, your pupil expands or contracts. Aperture of objective lens divided by magnification equals the diameter of the exit pupil (the small central disc of light that sits in the center of the lens of your eyepiece when you look at it). The diameter of the exit pupil determines the pencil of light that is entering your eye via your pupil. If it is larger than your pupil you are wasting aperture of telescope. All a bit complicated but it means this - a magnification used, that renders an exit pupil the same as, or slightly smaller than, the pupil diameter of the observers eye, provides the brightest image to the observer at that time. Atmospheric conditions allowing, a magnification that renders a near match between exit pupil and observers eye pupil is the ideal. If you are to stray a little, stray on the "slightly higher" magnification choice. This is true of ED or flourite scopes in particular because you don't have to worry about chromatic aberration. Sorry if this seems a little like a lecture, it isn't meant to, its just that optics is maths (or Math as you Americans call it), which explains completely why there is so much nonsense written and believed about it over the many decades. Its midnight here so I have to head to bed. I will try to answer the rest of your points tomorrow.
My buddy just got one of these. I compared it to my Swarovski. The Meopta is not as crisp and does not have the resolution capability. It is a very nice scope but cost wise you are so close to having the best. There’s a nameplate on a transformer down the street. White lettering on black background. I could not read it with the Meopta no matter how I adjusted it. I could read everything with the Swarovski and could make out the detail in the GE logo. In the Meopta, the logo was a nondescript mark. It is pretty good, just not AS good. It retains what sharpness it has out to the edge of field of view with just a bit of blur at the very edge, less than 5%. The Swarovski is sharp to edge.
Propelled what model swarovski and objective size? The only Swarovski that comes close or beats the meopta meostar S2 is the ATX line of Swarovski’s. The S2 outperforms the ATS series lines of Swarovski respectively. Trust me, I love my swaros.. but the S2 is no slouch.
I am not agreed with you. I had Celestron Regal ED, Bushnell Elite 80 ED and Vortex Razor HD Spotting before. I sold them and upgraded with Meopta S2 82 HD. It is incredible I can read Brand and model of the air conditioner at a distance of around 500yds. Even I can see flies at good atmospheric conditions. I have not triedSwarovski ATX before. But, I believe S2 is quite close to ATX models.There is zero chromatic aberration and very sharp view at good atmospheric condition. Of course, you get how much you pay. But, I do not pay double for small quality difference. If I had budget I could buy Takahashi FSQ 106 Refractor which outperforms even Canon EF 500mm Super Telephoto lens. Price with accessories is around 10K USD but believe me it worths every penny
Jalen Byon for those of us deciding how to spend 3400-5500 CAD in the coming days for scouting and the upcoming season this is actually a fantastic video.
Kowa would not make a 82mm objective model for me. I guess I could have compared the Kowa 880 but that is larger. That would not, however, be an option following your reasoning. We make comparisons all the time and the specs do not always match up. The Kowa and Meopta while different in specs are in a similar class. The fact that the Kowa is small yet performed almost as well as the Meopta is a testament to how good the Kowa is. I said that I was torn between the two. If you test enough optics you will find that on occasion some optics will outperform other optics with superior specs. An optic that looks good on paper can be outperformed by a lesser spec optics. There is more involved than what is printed on paper and objective size. Glass quality, coatings, and optical design all come into play.
Hello herr DBTN, Thanks for the wonderful video, I often hear that Meopta is a very good optic. I am looking for a spotting scope for nature observation and for professional observation of sport shooting as a spotter. I would ask you for help. Unfortunately, I do not have the opportunity to compare Meopta with other spotting scopes. I would ask you if you can make any more spotting scope comparisons. Meopta MeoStar S2 with other models like; -Kowa 883 with eyepiece TE 11 WZ -Zeis Harpia 95 I am interested in contrast and sharpness. Thank you for your kindness and help Best Regards from Slovenia. LpT
I wish I could. Unfortunately availability and time are constraints that will prevent that. They are all nice scopes. Once you reach a certain level of optical quality, a resolution chart can be the only way to distinguish the best. Even then, best is being defined by the resolution chart. For some color or contrast may yield a more pleasing view and be the determining factor. For others it may be feature set and price.
@@MrDbtn A couple weeks ago, I tested a Swarovski ATX 115 against the NightForce TS 82 (MeoptaMeoStar S2) and I can say from my feelings, at 750 meters, that the NightForce Ts was 10% better in the picture. Contrast, sharpness, colors, details were much better in NightForce (Meopta MeoStar S2). I was positively surprised by the much cheaper product if you don’t see it I almost wouldn’t believe it. I observed nature, houses, trees, roofs, canopies ... everything I could compare with the details. I’m digging a spotting scope for ELR competitions so I can watch the hits as a spotter. The only thing missing from the NightForce (Meopta MEoStar S2) is a magnifying lens (extender) -like Swaro or Kowa has to raise the magnification. I hope Meopta does this missing part in the future. Please support my desire for a magnifying lens (extender) at Meopta or NightForce so we can enjoy looking through the spotting scope for half the money of Swarovski or Zeiss. If you ever have the opportunity to test Zeiss Harpia against Meopta S2, please make a presentation video. With this video about Meopta S2, you said all the features very nicely and very important information of the Meopta S2 spotting scope. The only thing I noticed at the magnification is that up to size 65 the image is very beautiful throughout the whole lens, but when I increase the magnification on the eyepiece to 70 a half-inch ring appears around the outer edge of the lens, and the image is slightly blurred in this ring. Here the gentleman says very nicely th-cam.com/video/_AVqhNMW_Ag/w-d-xo.html Have you noticed the same symptoms on Meopta with eyepiece 20-70? Thanks Best regards
If you all haven't seen a documentary called... It's worse than you think.... By revelations of Jesus Christ ministries.... I suggest you do... All praise and glory to the most high Jesus Christ
Good review! I bought this same scope several weeks ago and love it! Meopta simply makes fantastic optics at a great price. I have 4 Meostar rifle scopes and they are also excellent.
Thank you for the detailed review, I think you made the right choice between the two. I've heard it suggested multiple times by respected people in birding, hunting and astrology forums that there exists variance between the same model and this slight manufacturer variance is enough to recognize consistently. This has lead some to posit that in very close instances of performance it can tip the scale one way or another. Furthermore, the comparison isn't "fair" in the strict sense as the Meopta has a 5mm larger objective, but the comparison to the Kowa 883 would be not "fair" the other way as then the Kowa would have a 6mm larger objective. Finally, the secret to Kowa's prominence is their "fluoride glass" now this is partially a marketing term and over simplifies matters, but it nonetheless helps explain why the Kowa 88X series of spotting scopes are the best (at the very least) in reducing chromatic aberration. While some go as far as to say out right the best in their class. The Kowa 77X series does not have this fluoride glass and I am sure there are other optical differences that exist as well. I've read some reviews of this Meopta and looked at some picture comparisons and from what I could glean I would say it is fair to say this Meopta is better than the Kowa 77X. While it still looks like it is under the Swarovski 95mm and Kowa 88X series in terms of optical performance. The question then becomes if most people are able to regularly discern or need the difference? To which I would say, probably not. It is nice to see some new competition in this space.
To be fair to Meopta, slight variance and consistency is true for ALL manufacturers. I have tested 100s of Zeiss, Leica, Swarovski, Nikon and Kowa scopes over the years, and variance is there with all of them. If I were in the market for a quality European made scope, it would likely be Meopta. The Kowa Flourite scopes I think are the best from Japan. The Kowa 88 series use Flourite not flouride glass. It certainly isn't a marketing term. Calcium Flourite is a crystal which a single lens in the front objective group is made of. It has better colour correction properties than low dispersion glasses used in many scopes, particularly useful in optical telescopes with relatively short focal ratios. Flourite is brittle stuff and very expensive to make lenses from. I notice that Kowa have joined the "race to the top" aperture-wise by introducing a 99mm aperture Flourite scope pair. Not being a hunter I can't say whether this will shows you anything you can't see with the 88mm scope. Unless they improve the prisms, 11mm gain is not going to be blindingly obviously different. Certainly not in sunlight or most daylight conditions. I have used 125mm spotting scopes and even 150mm scopes, and at magnifications under 100X a top quality 80+mm scope quite often all you need. The problem for hunters and birders are two-fold. One is the quality of the atmosphere you are forced to look through is rarely ideal. The second is refracting spotting scopes are short focal ratio instruments, which often require internal tele-extender or Barlow systems built in to the focus lenses. You put a flourite 80mm astro refractor on a tripod that is f/8 or longer and they will retain image quality at higher magnifications than spotting scopes usually do. Hats off to Kowa and Co. for designing these scopes to perform as well as they do.
@@offraed6156 I had meant to write fluorite crystal, but made an error and didn't bother to edit it. You're absolutely right and more knowledgeable on the subject than myself. I generally agree the extra aperture wont make as much of a difference in this case as the outdoor conditions. I have experienced this myself too. You're right about variance as well. I've observed something similar with top tier manufacturers. I got a good deal on a used Kowa 88 series scope so I bought one otherwise the Meopta would have largely been good enough especially given the price. For chromatic aberration correction the fluorite crystal is a clear winner. I find it hard to differentiate between these top tier scopes without really spending some time doing so, but fluorite crystal glass always stands out at least for CA correction. Thanks for the reply.
@@Ilost11 Hi. The Kowa 88 is a brilliant scope. Possibly the best from Japan. What you can do with spotting scopes is to look at a star image at the highest magnification you have available. Look at the star image just inside and just outside focus so it expands into a small disk. Make sure the scope is roughly the same temp as the outside (don't do it through a window). What you are basically looking for is the same pattern inside and outside focus in the expanded disk. This will tell you a lot about the optics in the scope. It will show whether the scope is correctly aligned, it will show if the scope has spherical aberration, and you will see colour in the expanded star image, if there are any of the chromatic aberrations present. you want a star that is bright, white and high above you if possible. Vega in the summer time and Capella in the winter are the two white stars that are among the brightest and reach high elevation in the Northern hemisphere. If you get fed up with a star drifted out of the filed of the eyepiece, you can find Polaris the Pole star. That one doesn't move. Its all good fun and gets you thought of by your fellow hunters as a geek :)
@@offraed6156 I've read about the star test, but wasn't sure how to correctly go about doing it. Thanks for succinctly and clearly explaining it. I had a suspicion the reason I got this Kowa 88 series scope so cheap used was that it was slightly out alignment or on the lower end of optical performance within model variance. I could just be paranoid. I purchased it from a long range precision shooter who said he needed something with a reticle. Seemed like an honest a nice guy though. I'll definitely give it a try when I get a chance I am quite curious as to how it will perform. Among my collection of rifle scopes, prismatic firearm optics and binoculars. The Kowa truly is a spectacle to look through. I currently have the 11WZ eyepiece wide zoom FOV eyepiece, but I find atmospheric conditions prevent me from getting the most out of my magnification most of the time so I tend to stick to lower magnification. The newish Kowa TE-80XW wide FOV fixed eyepiece looks phenomenal. I'll probably go that route when I free up some cash.
@@Ilost11 Coming from the other side of the pond, I can say I have never been hunting, so the only experience of it is either on TV or in the movies. I would love to go hunting with a genuine US hunter, just for the experience..........anyway, be that as it may. One trick for when its warm and the atmosphere is shimmering. Make a cut-out lens cap for your scope, so it effectively drops the aperture down to 50mm. In other words, make a mask out of cardboard or whatever is to hand, that sits in front of your scope and drops the aperture from 88mm to 50mm. Use that on warm days in bright daylight. A smaller aperture reduces the affect of heat shimmer on the image. If you do an A- B comparison you will see there is an improvement. On a bright sunlit day the pupil of your eye is down to 2 - 2.5mm. That means if you use a mag of 20X, you won't see a difference at 50mm aperture than at 88mm. The iris of your eye has contracted and only a light pencil equivalent to your pupil size is entering your eye anyway. The rest reflects away from around your iris. The way to think about it is, at different light levels, your pupil expands or contracts. Aperture of objective lens divided by magnification equals the diameter of the exit pupil (the small central disc of light that sits in the center of the lens of your eyepiece when you look at it). The diameter of the exit pupil determines the pencil of light that is entering your eye via your pupil. If it is larger than your pupil you are wasting aperture of telescope. All a bit complicated but it means this - a magnification used, that renders an exit pupil the same as, or slightly smaller than, the pupil diameter of the observers eye, provides the brightest image to the observer at that time. Atmospheric conditions allowing, a magnification that renders a near match between exit pupil and observers eye pupil is the ideal. If you are to stray a little, stray on the "slightly higher" magnification choice. This is true of ED or flourite scopes in particular because you don't have to worry about chromatic aberration. Sorry if this seems a little like a lecture, it isn't meant to, its just that optics is maths (or Math as you Americans call it), which explains completely why there is so much nonsense written and believed about it over the many decades. Its midnight here so I have to head to bed. I will try to answer the rest of your points tomorrow.
Please run for president, press secretary you never said um or uh! our country needs you
My buddy just got one of these. I compared it to my Swarovski. The Meopta is not as crisp and does not have the resolution capability. It is a very nice scope but cost wise you are so close to having the best. There’s a nameplate on a transformer down the street. White lettering on black background. I could not read it with the Meopta no matter how I adjusted it. I could read everything with the Swarovski and could make out the detail in the GE logo. In the Meopta, the logo was a nondescript mark. It is pretty good, just not AS good. It retains what sharpness it has out to the edge of field of view with just a bit of blur at the very edge, less than 5%. The Swarovski is sharp to edge.
Thanks for sharing that you're better at buying something than another person
Not the point at all smart guy. The point is for a hair more money you can get better.
Propelled what model swarovski and objective size? The only Swarovski that comes close or beats the meopta meostar S2 is the ATX line of Swarovski’s. The S2 outperforms the ATS series lines of Swarovski respectively. Trust me, I love my swaros.. but the S2 is no slouch.
I am not agreed with you. I had Celestron Regal ED, Bushnell Elite 80 ED and Vortex Razor HD Spotting before. I sold them and upgraded with Meopta S2 82 HD. It is incredible I can read Brand and model of the air conditioner at a distance of around 500yds. Even I can see flies at good atmospheric conditions. I have not triedSwarovski ATX before. But, I believe S2 is quite close to ATX models.There is zero chromatic aberration and very sharp view at good atmospheric condition. Of course, you get how much you pay. But, I do not pay double for small quality difference. If I had budget I could buy Takahashi FSQ 106 Refractor which outperforms even Canon EF 500mm Super Telephoto lens. Price with accessories is around 10K USD but believe me it worths every penny
Jalen Byon for those of us deciding how to spend 3400-5500 CAD in the coming days for scouting and the upcoming season this is actually a fantastic video.
Very nice review
Great review! Thanks!
the kowa 773 is a smaler scope with 77mm objerctive lens vs meopte 82mm so one should not compare the two.
Kowa would not make a 82mm objective model for me. I guess I could have compared the Kowa 880 but that is larger. That would not, however, be an option following your reasoning. We make comparisons all the time and the specs do not always match up. The Kowa and Meopta while different in specs are in a similar class. The fact that the Kowa is small yet performed almost as well as the Meopta is a testament to how good the Kowa is. I said that I was torn between the two. If you test enough optics you will find that on occasion some optics will outperform other optics with superior specs. An optic that looks good on paper can be outperformed by a lesser spec optics. There is more involved than what is printed on paper and objective size. Glass quality, coatings, and optical design all come into play.
Hello herr DBTN,
Thanks for the wonderful video, I often hear that Meopta is a very good optic.
I am looking for a spotting scope for nature observation and for professional observation of sport shooting as a spotter.
I would ask you for help.
Unfortunately, I do not have the opportunity to compare Meopta with other spotting scopes.
I would ask you if you can make any more spotting scope comparisons.
Meopta MeoStar S2 with other models like;
-Kowa 883 with eyepiece TE 11 WZ
-Zeis Harpia 95
I am interested in contrast and sharpness.
Thank you for your kindness and help
Best Regards from Slovenia.
LpT
I wish I could. Unfortunately availability and time are constraints that will prevent that. They are all nice scopes. Once you reach a certain level of optical quality, a resolution chart can be the only way to distinguish the best. Even then, best is being defined by the resolution chart. For some color or contrast may yield a more pleasing view and be the determining factor. For others it may be feature set and price.
@@MrDbtn
A couple weeks ago, I tested a Swarovski ATX 115 against the NightForce TS 82 (MeoptaMeoStar S2) and I can say from my feelings, at 750 meters, that the NightForce Ts was 10% better in the picture.
Contrast, sharpness, colors, details were much better in NightForce (Meopta MeoStar S2).
I was positively surprised by the much cheaper product if you don’t see it I almost wouldn’t believe it.
I observed nature, houses, trees, roofs, canopies ... everything I could compare with the details.
I’m digging a spotting scope for ELR competitions so I can watch the hits as a spotter.
The only thing missing from the NightForce (Meopta MEoStar S2) is a magnifying lens (extender) -like Swaro or Kowa has to raise the magnification.
I hope Meopta does this missing part in the future.
Please support my desire for a magnifying lens (extender) at Meopta or NightForce so we can enjoy looking through the spotting scope for half the money of Swarovski or Zeiss.
If you ever have the opportunity to test Zeiss Harpia against Meopta S2, please make a presentation video.
With this video about Meopta S2, you said all the features very nicely and very important information of the Meopta S2 spotting scope.
The only thing I noticed at the magnification is that up to size 65 the image is very beautiful throughout the whole lens, but when I increase the magnification on the eyepiece to 70 a half-inch ring appears around the outer edge of the lens, and the image is slightly blurred in this ring.
Here the gentleman says very nicely
th-cam.com/video/_AVqhNMW_Ag/w-d-xo.html
Have you noticed the same symptoms on Meopta with eyepiece 20-70?
Thanks
Best regards
@Jeclub Bob-- you Sir, are some type of writing professional…. perhaps an English Professor? I say to myself, this is very possible!
If you all haven't seen a documentary called... It's worse than you think.... By revelations of Jesus Christ ministries.... I suggest you do... All praise and glory to the most high Jesus Christ
Meopta is better than Kowa?? This is first time I hear it from you or there mustard be some defect the Kowa scope you used as demo.