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Kowa BD-XD 8x42 vs. Viper HD 8x42? (1 Viewer)

cder

Member
Hello,
I’m new to this website and am not sure whether to post this on the Kowa or Vortex forums. I’m hoping for advice. I’m looking for new, better 8x42 birding binos. With my glasses, I need very long eye relief, typically greater than 18 mm (I’d love to have Zeiss Conquest, but the eye relief was not sufficient when I tried them), though it seems that listed eye relief specs don’t always accurately predict differences among brands/models. Possibly related to the long eye relief, I’m sensitive to glare/”washing out” when bright light comes (into the eyepiece?) from the side or rear. Two models that seemed work well when I’ve briefly borrowed them while on bird walks with friends are the Vortex Viper HD 8x42 (optics seem very nice, field of view only modest) and the Kowa BD-XD 8x42 (which I’d not seen nor heard of until this past weekend). Has anyone tried both who could compare them? Thanks
 
I can't answer your bino question (although I do love my Vortex Razors), but as far as light coming in from the sides, I've been very pleased with my aftermarket eyeshields from Field Optics Research. They simply slip on over the eyepiece and work great. I started using them because of cold winter winds, but now use them all the time. You can google them and go to their website, but last I saw Adorama Camera had them for $11 with free shipping.
 
They look identical to me. I would go with the Vipers because I like Vortex as a company and am not very familiar with Kowa. Their spotting scopes are excellent but that's all I know.

CameralandNY has the Zeiss Conquest 8X as demo units from 450-750 depending on the specific model. That is the same kind of money as Viper Binoculars.
 
ptickner, do the eyeshields work with glasses/sunglasses?

I don't really know for sure, as I don't wear glasses (yet), and don't look through the binos while wearing my sunglasses. My guess is that they would be less than ideal, but that is only a guess.
 
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