The Bonelli 2.0 is the latest model from Kite sitting at the top of their catalogue, sourced, like much of their range, from Kamakura Japan. Although I made made enquiries about it back in May shortly after I had noticed it on their website, the the first production run of the 10x42 had already sold out and there were no samples available in the UK to try at the time. It wasn't until BirdFair at the end of August that I actually got to have a look. I suppose I've seen a reasonable number of high end models from Kamakura bearing different name tags so I was expecting it to be good; and it really was, but I was rather surprised in that it was somewhat different from what I was expecting. They seem to have taken a step back and headed off in quite a different direction to most. It's somewhat shaken up my personal tick list of what I thought were my priorities, because I think I like this better.
I imagine Kite Optics will be unfamiliar to many here from outside mainland Europe. It is a family company based in Belgium that has been sourcing and commissioning optics, primarily for the birdwatching community, since 1984. In recent years the company appears to have been expanding rapidly on the mainland and now has 15 outlets in the UK, and at least a toe hold in the US through Eagle Optics.
http://kiteoptics.com/en/company
I know there are a number of people interested in this binocular and I particularly need to thank Sebastien of Kite and Frazer of Alpha Optical Distribution for the loan of a sample for a week or so for this evaluation.
Bonelli 2.0 8x42
FOV 132m@100m
AOV 7.5° (7.6°)
Minimum focus 1.55m (1.70m)
ER 18.5mm
(IPD range 56-73mm)
Height 156mm
Weight 820g
Figures in brackets are my estimates. The recommended price is €1170, though it is widely discounted. The UK price is somewhat higher at £949.
I should say I only spent a few minutes with the 10x42 and the 8x42 at the show and I chose the 8x on the basis that my eyes seemed more relaxed using them. The 10x42 actually had a better AFOV and flatter view if I recall correctly, but beyond that I can't really comment.
The Bonelli 2.0 is currently listed alongside the original and still very good Bonelli and shares a very similar specification. Unfortunately I didn't compare them directly at BirdFair when I had the opportunity but I believe the optical configuration is the same, but my reaction to the ergonomics and viewing are quite different and I've found the new version offers a much more rewarding experience.
As usual when reviewing I used a mixture of real, in the field usage, and various back yard tests and comparisons over a week or so to try to include the most diverse conditions possible. I've tried to be as objective as I can be in my observation but some conclusions are a matter of personal taste and not necessarily rational.
Physical Attributes
The most striking visual thing about the design is the squarish cross section to the armour and the sort of hunched shoulders look. The armour has a fine surface texture and a certain amount of give, but perhaps perhaps not the the most grippy compound around. I think it looks smart though with the black anodised metalwork and grey armour. The indents for the thumbs are unusually in the right place for me and it actually doesn't feel quite as bulky in the hand as it looks. After a while I found my hands shifting more underneath the binocular so it was almost resting on my palms giving a relatively stable view for me. I found the grip relaxed and well balance with no strap lug interference which is again unusual. Balanced like that it was a bit of a reach for the focus but no problem in practice. Overall the Bonelli 2.0 gives the impression that there is a high quality solidity about the design and construction unlike some possible alternatives.
The eye cups I measured at 39mm and are slightly tapered and I found they seated very comfortably in the eye sockets leaving plenty of room for my nose which can occasionally be a problem. So many models need some sort of awkward balancing act on the eyebrows these days. The eyecups extend in three stages.The listed 18.5mm ER is rather more than I would normally need using glasses and I would normally expect to need the first stop, but even fully down there was no sign of blackouts. Ease of eye positioning seems to be one of the particularly user friendly characteristics.
The focus is particularly smooth and light with no backlash I could detect. From close focus to 5m was about 1.1 clockwise rotations and from there to infinity another 0.6 turns. Perhaps a bit more leisurely than some binoculars I'm used to but with the fingertip control no problems at all. The dioptre adjustment is in the usual place on the right eyepiece. No fancy locking or anything, just a rather stiff (maybe too stiff for some), viscous movement. I thought the hinge well tensioned.
The rainguard is quite a reasonable fit, but the mismatch of the squarish profile of the barrels and a round objective cover is a bit annoying. They do work, but it takes far too long to fit and remove them for my liking.
At 820g or 29 ounces the Bonelli 2.0 is about the same as a couple of my other binoculars and probably as much as I'd want hanging on a neck strap all day. I haven't fitted the supplied strap for the review but it's 38mm wide and relatively soft so should be fine but some might be more comfortable with a harness for long periods.
A fairly trivial point but I'm personally not particularly keen on the case supplied. It seems a bit utilitarian and the green panels are a bit too green for me but there is plenty of padding in places and generous room inside.
Optical performance
As usual, this is what really interests me. The Bonelli really is very good indeed but it also appears to buck the current trends in current optical design and may well give some pause for thought.
I'll start with the colour rendition. Kite told me the transmission had improved 4% from the previous version and the values for 450, 550 and 650nm were 84, 93 and 90% respectively. Not quite a flat transmission but the colours look clean, bright, vibrant and entirely natural to me. While I like a strong blue performance, I find it can be over-cooked, a bit anaemic, in some models, so this suites me very well. 93% transmission at 550nm puts it up with the very best Schmidt-Pechan designs. The relatively good blue content can make some scenes appear a bit brighter than my other binoculars but I confess, in normal daylight or even twilight use I struggled so see any practical advantage. However, by moonlight, or across a field lit by a distant street light, the Bonelli 2.0 view is quite noticeably brighter and the detail crisper compared to the others I have.
The field of view at 7.5° (60° afov) is not exceptional these days and there is more field curvature than I was probably expecting. The view is actually sharp to the edge with refocusing, but in poorer light the sweetspot does start to shrink, though this is probably less obvious to younger eyes than mine. I'm generally happy with both flat and curved field design, finding the latter offers better depth perception and spatial positioning. The Bonelli does that extremely well. I know the centre DOF and stereopsis should be the same for all 8x SP prism binoculars but the Bonelli does an excellent job of trying to convince you it does it better. Somehow it seems to conjure up a more three dimensional experience than my other roofs can manage.
As a rule of thumb, increasing the number of elements in the eyepiece would normally result in a wider flatter view. Judging by the number of lens surface reflections I can see, the Bonelli 2.0 appears to have a lot of components. If they are not making the view particularly wide or flat what are they doing? Could they be contributing to the ease of eye positioning or the spacial perception in some way? I've no answer I'm afraid.
Glare is handled very well indeed. All the visible surfaces appear well engineered and blackened. From the rear there are a couple of bright spots about two millimetres outside the exit pupils but those are rear reflections and would normally be blocked by the eyecup. I've tried all kinds of light conditions and and I've struggled to find any weakness at all. If the sun is literally just a dangerous degree or two outside the fov there is a veiling milkiness but overall this counts as really one of the very best I've seen. The Kite description refers to "large format prisms" which I imagine help in this regard.
The Bonelli 2.0 does not have ED glass in the design which I understand is a pricing decision. It means that both longitudinal and lateral CA are present but I found it really only apparent when the eye strayed off centre. I know I have complained in the past that a number of mid-range binoculars have too much CA for their prices. While the level here might be a bit less than those, I'd admit the same could justifiably be said this time as well. However I do feel much more forgiving. The Bonelli offers much more than any of those in the way of other redeeming virtues.
Those who regularly read my reports will know I'm in the habit of estimating both full aperture binocular resolution and particularly the resolution for the centre 20mm of the objective which is most crucial in optimum viewing conditions for an 8x binocular. The DIN ISO standard requires that all "high quality" x42 binoculars should exceed 5.7 arcseconds and the Bonelli does that comfortably at 4.6". What is rather more interesting is that I estimated the 20mm effective resolution at 5.84" which is a really exceptional result, virtually equalling the Dawes limit. That's something that I doubted was achievable using my back yard methods. A result like this far exceeds the limit of even those with 20/10 (6/3) acuity. It's technically not possible so see any more detail with this than with any other very good binoculars, but what the Bonelli appears to do is to to offer even more clarity and transparency than my next best and pretty much anything else I can think of.
I know many are turned off by the mention of arcseconds but I think the effective resolution is an important criteria. By juggling the numbers a bit we can produce a score out of 10 which might get the message across. (10-(effective resolution -Dawes limit)). The Bonelli would score 9.96 out of 10. My next best would be 9.6. The values posted in Tobias Mennie's recent online review of premium models would be 9.2 by this formula. Generally I find anything better than 8.2 entirely satisfactory, but scores around 7 would be fairly common and my worst result so far is 0.8. I think this is an amazing result from Kite. Of course I don't know how representative this sample is.
Discussion
I listened to various user comments on the Kite stand at BirdFair and to a few acquaintances that that have tried my review sample, and a very British, typically understated, "that's nice!", or perhaps "that's really nice" were the most usual comments. Asked to elaborate, I got "it's just right" or "it's like it's not there" and at least one uncharacteristically admitted "it's pretty amazing". I said at the start I chose the 8x42 for it's relaxed view and I think these others are saying much the same thing. There is a naturalness; a lack of distortion, a richness in detail and clarity that I feel is inexplicably rare. And it's nice to handle too. I know some are going to look at the fov, field curvature and CA and think there is more bang for the buck elsewhere. Let's just say I think the Bonelli 2.0 feels like a professional instrument and makes some others with more bells and whistles seem like toys by comparison. There is no getting around that it looks expensive for the specification on paper, particularly at UK prices, but it really is ..... very nice!
Photos to follow.
David
I imagine Kite Optics will be unfamiliar to many here from outside mainland Europe. It is a family company based in Belgium that has been sourcing and commissioning optics, primarily for the birdwatching community, since 1984. In recent years the company appears to have been expanding rapidly on the mainland and now has 15 outlets in the UK, and at least a toe hold in the US through Eagle Optics.
http://kiteoptics.com/en/company
I know there are a number of people interested in this binocular and I particularly need to thank Sebastien of Kite and Frazer of Alpha Optical Distribution for the loan of a sample for a week or so for this evaluation.
Bonelli 2.0 8x42
FOV 132m@100m
AOV 7.5° (7.6°)
Minimum focus 1.55m (1.70m)
ER 18.5mm
(IPD range 56-73mm)
Height 156mm
Weight 820g
Figures in brackets are my estimates. The recommended price is €1170, though it is widely discounted. The UK price is somewhat higher at £949.
I should say I only spent a few minutes with the 10x42 and the 8x42 at the show and I chose the 8x on the basis that my eyes seemed more relaxed using them. The 10x42 actually had a better AFOV and flatter view if I recall correctly, but beyond that I can't really comment.
The Bonelli 2.0 is currently listed alongside the original and still very good Bonelli and shares a very similar specification. Unfortunately I didn't compare them directly at BirdFair when I had the opportunity but I believe the optical configuration is the same, but my reaction to the ergonomics and viewing are quite different and I've found the new version offers a much more rewarding experience.
As usual when reviewing I used a mixture of real, in the field usage, and various back yard tests and comparisons over a week or so to try to include the most diverse conditions possible. I've tried to be as objective as I can be in my observation but some conclusions are a matter of personal taste and not necessarily rational.
Physical Attributes
The most striking visual thing about the design is the squarish cross section to the armour and the sort of hunched shoulders look. The armour has a fine surface texture and a certain amount of give, but perhaps perhaps not the the most grippy compound around. I think it looks smart though with the black anodised metalwork and grey armour. The indents for the thumbs are unusually in the right place for me and it actually doesn't feel quite as bulky in the hand as it looks. After a while I found my hands shifting more underneath the binocular so it was almost resting on my palms giving a relatively stable view for me. I found the grip relaxed and well balance with no strap lug interference which is again unusual. Balanced like that it was a bit of a reach for the focus but no problem in practice. Overall the Bonelli 2.0 gives the impression that there is a high quality solidity about the design and construction unlike some possible alternatives.
The eye cups I measured at 39mm and are slightly tapered and I found they seated very comfortably in the eye sockets leaving plenty of room for my nose which can occasionally be a problem. So many models need some sort of awkward balancing act on the eyebrows these days. The eyecups extend in three stages.The listed 18.5mm ER is rather more than I would normally need using glasses and I would normally expect to need the first stop, but even fully down there was no sign of blackouts. Ease of eye positioning seems to be one of the particularly user friendly characteristics.
The focus is particularly smooth and light with no backlash I could detect. From close focus to 5m was about 1.1 clockwise rotations and from there to infinity another 0.6 turns. Perhaps a bit more leisurely than some binoculars I'm used to but with the fingertip control no problems at all. The dioptre adjustment is in the usual place on the right eyepiece. No fancy locking or anything, just a rather stiff (maybe too stiff for some), viscous movement. I thought the hinge well tensioned.
The rainguard is quite a reasonable fit, but the mismatch of the squarish profile of the barrels and a round objective cover is a bit annoying. They do work, but it takes far too long to fit and remove them for my liking.
At 820g or 29 ounces the Bonelli 2.0 is about the same as a couple of my other binoculars and probably as much as I'd want hanging on a neck strap all day. I haven't fitted the supplied strap for the review but it's 38mm wide and relatively soft so should be fine but some might be more comfortable with a harness for long periods.
A fairly trivial point but I'm personally not particularly keen on the case supplied. It seems a bit utilitarian and the green panels are a bit too green for me but there is plenty of padding in places and generous room inside.
Optical performance
As usual, this is what really interests me. The Bonelli really is very good indeed but it also appears to buck the current trends in current optical design and may well give some pause for thought.
I'll start with the colour rendition. Kite told me the transmission had improved 4% from the previous version and the values for 450, 550 and 650nm were 84, 93 and 90% respectively. Not quite a flat transmission but the colours look clean, bright, vibrant and entirely natural to me. While I like a strong blue performance, I find it can be over-cooked, a bit anaemic, in some models, so this suites me very well. 93% transmission at 550nm puts it up with the very best Schmidt-Pechan designs. The relatively good blue content can make some scenes appear a bit brighter than my other binoculars but I confess, in normal daylight or even twilight use I struggled so see any practical advantage. However, by moonlight, or across a field lit by a distant street light, the Bonelli 2.0 view is quite noticeably brighter and the detail crisper compared to the others I have.
The field of view at 7.5° (60° afov) is not exceptional these days and there is more field curvature than I was probably expecting. The view is actually sharp to the edge with refocusing, but in poorer light the sweetspot does start to shrink, though this is probably less obvious to younger eyes than mine. I'm generally happy with both flat and curved field design, finding the latter offers better depth perception and spatial positioning. The Bonelli does that extremely well. I know the centre DOF and stereopsis should be the same for all 8x SP prism binoculars but the Bonelli does an excellent job of trying to convince you it does it better. Somehow it seems to conjure up a more three dimensional experience than my other roofs can manage.
As a rule of thumb, increasing the number of elements in the eyepiece would normally result in a wider flatter view. Judging by the number of lens surface reflections I can see, the Bonelli 2.0 appears to have a lot of components. If they are not making the view particularly wide or flat what are they doing? Could they be contributing to the ease of eye positioning or the spacial perception in some way? I've no answer I'm afraid.
Glare is handled very well indeed. All the visible surfaces appear well engineered and blackened. From the rear there are a couple of bright spots about two millimetres outside the exit pupils but those are rear reflections and would normally be blocked by the eyecup. I've tried all kinds of light conditions and and I've struggled to find any weakness at all. If the sun is literally just a dangerous degree or two outside the fov there is a veiling milkiness but overall this counts as really one of the very best I've seen. The Kite description refers to "large format prisms" which I imagine help in this regard.
The Bonelli 2.0 does not have ED glass in the design which I understand is a pricing decision. It means that both longitudinal and lateral CA are present but I found it really only apparent when the eye strayed off centre. I know I have complained in the past that a number of mid-range binoculars have too much CA for their prices. While the level here might be a bit less than those, I'd admit the same could justifiably be said this time as well. However I do feel much more forgiving. The Bonelli offers much more than any of those in the way of other redeeming virtues.
Those who regularly read my reports will know I'm in the habit of estimating both full aperture binocular resolution and particularly the resolution for the centre 20mm of the objective which is most crucial in optimum viewing conditions for an 8x binocular. The DIN ISO standard requires that all "high quality" x42 binoculars should exceed 5.7 arcseconds and the Bonelli does that comfortably at 4.6". What is rather more interesting is that I estimated the 20mm effective resolution at 5.84" which is a really exceptional result, virtually equalling the Dawes limit. That's something that I doubted was achievable using my back yard methods. A result like this far exceeds the limit of even those with 20/10 (6/3) acuity. It's technically not possible so see any more detail with this than with any other very good binoculars, but what the Bonelli appears to do is to to offer even more clarity and transparency than my next best and pretty much anything else I can think of.
I know many are turned off by the mention of arcseconds but I think the effective resolution is an important criteria. By juggling the numbers a bit we can produce a score out of 10 which might get the message across. (10-(effective resolution -Dawes limit)). The Bonelli would score 9.96 out of 10. My next best would be 9.6. The values posted in Tobias Mennie's recent online review of premium models would be 9.2 by this formula. Generally I find anything better than 8.2 entirely satisfactory, but scores around 7 would be fairly common and my worst result so far is 0.8. I think this is an amazing result from Kite. Of course I don't know how representative this sample is.
Discussion
I listened to various user comments on the Kite stand at BirdFair and to a few acquaintances that that have tried my review sample, and a very British, typically understated, "that's nice!", or perhaps "that's really nice" were the most usual comments. Asked to elaborate, I got "it's just right" or "it's like it's not there" and at least one uncharacteristically admitted "it's pretty amazing". I said at the start I chose the 8x42 for it's relaxed view and I think these others are saying much the same thing. There is a naturalness; a lack of distortion, a richness in detail and clarity that I feel is inexplicably rare. And it's nice to handle too. I know some are going to look at the fov, field curvature and CA and think there is more bang for the buck elsewhere. Let's just say I think the Bonelli 2.0 feels like a professional instrument and makes some others with more bells and whistles seem like toys by comparison. There is no getting around that it looks expensive for the specification on paper, particularly at UK prices, but it really is ..... very nice!
Photos to follow.
David
