pbjosh
missing the neotropics
Hello all,
Travel misadventures left me in California to weather the Covid-19 global lock down, as I cannot get back to Argentina for the foreseeable future. Being 10,000km from my partner basically sucks. But the situation yields some niceties as well - seeing my mom, enjoying a bit of socal spring migration, working on her yard list, doing a lot of gardening, and being able to try some new binoculars!
I'd long wanted a lower powered pair of binoculars, preferably compact, but was never tempted enough by any of the options out there to take the plunge. The Maven B3 6x30 was always the closest to what I was looking for but I never managed to pull the trigger. So when the Kowa came along with reportedly pretty good optics and critically (for my desires) the magic combination of a large FOV, sufficient eye relief, and a compact package, I was itching to try them.
Out of the box, the fit and finish is quite good - on par with Nikon M7 series, perhaps just a hair off something like a Zeiss Conquest. The binocular feels very solid and dense in the hand, a function of it's weight (modest) relative to it's form factor (really quite compact). The four position (down / two intermediate steps / up) eyecups are solid and feel like they came from a more expensive binocular. The rubber armoring is simple, has good texture, is well fitted with no looseness, and leaves me nothing to worry about. Focus is fairly smooth and has no slack or backlash on my example. It is not the smoothest focuser I own (clearly not as good as my Victory SF or MHG) but it is good, it functions perfectly, and it's the kind of thing that I quickly cease to notice in prolonged use unless it's particularly sticky or has a lot of slack. As others have mentioned, the ocular cover is way too tight fitting. For now I just barely fit it on when out and about but I will look for a better-fitting cover. Strap lugs appear to be plastic - generally not a problem unless an unlucky collision snaps/crushes one, which happened to me once on a different bin. The good thing about the strap lugs is they are rounded a bit and don't poke the hand too much if your preferred grip pushes your hand up against or over them. The strap itself is far too short for me, but then again I basically never use provided straps. Heavier bins go on shock-cord harnesses, and lighter bins go on long thin straps to be worn bandolier style.
As far as use goes, the functional ER works out for me with glasses. It is "barely comfortable - but comfortable," exactly the same as my 8x30 MHG. I do need to press them to my glasses lightly to get the full view, but I don't need to mash my glasses into my face (8x30 M7 and many others in the 15mm range of stated ER).
One minor oddity is that the neutral spot of the diopter is not at zero. I had to tick it over about one full mark out of 4 (not sure if one mark is meant to be one diopter or not) to get a good relaxed view. As long as it does not wander in the future this does not bother me. Most other binoculars I own the diopter stays right at zero. I've had one other binocular that required a non-zero diopter setting, and that bin eventually needed to be replaced under warranty as the diopter wandered far enough to be unusable after a couple of years of daily birding, so I'll keep a close eye on the diopter on this unit.
Central sharpness is quite good. The sweet spot is symmetrical and the same size on both tubes, and extends out to about 70-75% of the massive FOV with my accommodation. Basically, for me, it passes the test of the sweet spot being big enough (in absolute terms) that I have to make an effort to look into the out of focus area, so I don't notice the drop off. Out to 95+% of the FOV you can handily focus back into view but who does that instead of swiveling their head to what they want to see? Contrast seems good if not remarkable (less than MHG / SV / SF, but as good or better than many mid-tier bins). Color is pretty neutral - with varying lighting I cannot see a difference in white paper through the bin vs naked eye, and I've yet to notice any colors looking off. I have not yet seen any on-axis CA, including looking for it. CA is readily apparent, when looked for, in the outer part of the field of view. But again, the FOV is really large and you aren't going to spend time studying something without centering the bin on the subject so, effectively, the bin "seems" free of CA in my use. Flare / glare also seems quite well controlled though I've not had as much of a chance to really evaluate this aspect thus far. One small thing that is quite apparent is how close to the end of the tubes the objective lenses are mounted. I think this is a binocular that will deserve a bit of extra care; the objective lens feels a touch more exposed to scratching. Close focus appears to be just about on specification, though I've not measured it. The view at less than 2m is not 100% comfortable and I can't quite get the two tubes to resolve into a single circle.
Overall, I think they are physically and optically very good, particularly for the price. The large FOV is spectacular and the sweet spot is large enough that I don't notice that the outer field curves out of focus. Overall impression of the image - the combination of FOV, ease of view, sharpness, color, saturation, is really quite nice. I would say that I still clearly prefer the view through my MHG 8x30, as the MHG has comparable sharpness, a larger sweetspot, and a bit more contrast and saturation. But the Kowa wins against my M7 8x30, with the Kowa being sharper, more neutral, providing an easier view, and perhaps comparable contrast. Merely writing this review made me curious about the Maven B3 6x30 again but review specs and thinking about a ~51 degree AFOV vs ~65 degree AFOV was enough to remind me why I never pulled the trigger on even a demo Maven in the past.
For now, these Kowas seem like they definitely fit my parameters and are pretty much exactly what I was looking for. I look forward to trying them from boats, cars, and trains, and spending more time watching insects and herps. Initial use just around the yard and walking the dogs makes it clear that I prefer 8-10x for general birding, and makes me recall how fond I am of the MHG 8x30 on all fronts - great image, great ergonomics, comfortable in the hand, super compact and light weight. It's a shame there isn't a 6-7x MHG or CL-B, though if there were I would be $800-1000 poorer instead of $370 poorer
Cheers and happy yard-listing to all!
Travel misadventures left me in California to weather the Covid-19 global lock down, as I cannot get back to Argentina for the foreseeable future. Being 10,000km from my partner basically sucks. But the situation yields some niceties as well - seeing my mom, enjoying a bit of socal spring migration, working on her yard list, doing a lot of gardening, and being able to try some new binoculars!
I'd long wanted a lower powered pair of binoculars, preferably compact, but was never tempted enough by any of the options out there to take the plunge. The Maven B3 6x30 was always the closest to what I was looking for but I never managed to pull the trigger. So when the Kowa came along with reportedly pretty good optics and critically (for my desires) the magic combination of a large FOV, sufficient eye relief, and a compact package, I was itching to try them.
Out of the box, the fit and finish is quite good - on par with Nikon M7 series, perhaps just a hair off something like a Zeiss Conquest. The binocular feels very solid and dense in the hand, a function of it's weight (modest) relative to it's form factor (really quite compact). The four position (down / two intermediate steps / up) eyecups are solid and feel like they came from a more expensive binocular. The rubber armoring is simple, has good texture, is well fitted with no looseness, and leaves me nothing to worry about. Focus is fairly smooth and has no slack or backlash on my example. It is not the smoothest focuser I own (clearly not as good as my Victory SF or MHG) but it is good, it functions perfectly, and it's the kind of thing that I quickly cease to notice in prolonged use unless it's particularly sticky or has a lot of slack. As others have mentioned, the ocular cover is way too tight fitting. For now I just barely fit it on when out and about but I will look for a better-fitting cover. Strap lugs appear to be plastic - generally not a problem unless an unlucky collision snaps/crushes one, which happened to me once on a different bin. The good thing about the strap lugs is they are rounded a bit and don't poke the hand too much if your preferred grip pushes your hand up against or over them. The strap itself is far too short for me, but then again I basically never use provided straps. Heavier bins go on shock-cord harnesses, and lighter bins go on long thin straps to be worn bandolier style.
As far as use goes, the functional ER works out for me with glasses. It is "barely comfortable - but comfortable," exactly the same as my 8x30 MHG. I do need to press them to my glasses lightly to get the full view, but I don't need to mash my glasses into my face (8x30 M7 and many others in the 15mm range of stated ER).
One minor oddity is that the neutral spot of the diopter is not at zero. I had to tick it over about one full mark out of 4 (not sure if one mark is meant to be one diopter or not) to get a good relaxed view. As long as it does not wander in the future this does not bother me. Most other binoculars I own the diopter stays right at zero. I've had one other binocular that required a non-zero diopter setting, and that bin eventually needed to be replaced under warranty as the diopter wandered far enough to be unusable after a couple of years of daily birding, so I'll keep a close eye on the diopter on this unit.
Central sharpness is quite good. The sweet spot is symmetrical and the same size on both tubes, and extends out to about 70-75% of the massive FOV with my accommodation. Basically, for me, it passes the test of the sweet spot being big enough (in absolute terms) that I have to make an effort to look into the out of focus area, so I don't notice the drop off. Out to 95+% of the FOV you can handily focus back into view but who does that instead of swiveling their head to what they want to see? Contrast seems good if not remarkable (less than MHG / SV / SF, but as good or better than many mid-tier bins). Color is pretty neutral - with varying lighting I cannot see a difference in white paper through the bin vs naked eye, and I've yet to notice any colors looking off. I have not yet seen any on-axis CA, including looking for it. CA is readily apparent, when looked for, in the outer part of the field of view. But again, the FOV is really large and you aren't going to spend time studying something without centering the bin on the subject so, effectively, the bin "seems" free of CA in my use. Flare / glare also seems quite well controlled though I've not had as much of a chance to really evaluate this aspect thus far. One small thing that is quite apparent is how close to the end of the tubes the objective lenses are mounted. I think this is a binocular that will deserve a bit of extra care; the objective lens feels a touch more exposed to scratching. Close focus appears to be just about on specification, though I've not measured it. The view at less than 2m is not 100% comfortable and I can't quite get the two tubes to resolve into a single circle.
Overall, I think they are physically and optically very good, particularly for the price. The large FOV is spectacular and the sweet spot is large enough that I don't notice that the outer field curves out of focus. Overall impression of the image - the combination of FOV, ease of view, sharpness, color, saturation, is really quite nice. I would say that I still clearly prefer the view through my MHG 8x30, as the MHG has comparable sharpness, a larger sweetspot, and a bit more contrast and saturation. But the Kowa wins against my M7 8x30, with the Kowa being sharper, more neutral, providing an easier view, and perhaps comparable contrast. Merely writing this review made me curious about the Maven B3 6x30 again but review specs and thinking about a ~51 degree AFOV vs ~65 degree AFOV was enough to remind me why I never pulled the trigger on even a demo Maven in the past.
For now, these Kowas seem like they definitely fit my parameters and are pretty much exactly what I was looking for. I look forward to trying them from boats, cars, and trains, and spending more time watching insects and herps. Initial use just around the yard and walking the dogs makes it clear that I prefer 8-10x for general birding, and makes me recall how fond I am of the MHG 8x30 on all fronts - great image, great ergonomics, comfortable in the hand, super compact and light weight. It's a shame there isn't a 6-7x MHG or CL-B, though if there were I would be $800-1000 poorer instead of $370 poorer
Cheers and happy yard-listing to all!
