Kowa has recently been upgrading their eyepieces for their superb line of Kowa spotting scopes. First, they came out with a new Z7C 20-60 zoom eyepiece for their 820 series. With this eyepiece, the big 823M actually edged out everyone else on the scopes I tested for resolution except for the Nikon, which it tied for first place. By the slightest of margins, it edged out the Swarovski HD, the Leica APO and the Zeiss 85. Very impressive with excellent contrast and brightness, too.

Now they have come out with a new and much improved Z9B 20-60 zoom for their 600 and 660 series. Just for kicks, I decided to put a little 601 (the 60mm non-ED version) on the test target with this new eyepiece.

First thing I noticed with the new model of zoom was the improvement in the eye relief at the higher magnifications. The new eyepiece is also smoother as you zoom up and down. Also liked the new twist up eyecup. But the real question was how it would perform optically.

In short, it blew me away. Here was a little, non-ED 60mm scope that tested out for resolution nearly as well as some 80mm ED scopes! It also beat out all of the 100mm cheapies from China. Wow! Keep it up, Kowa.