Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Kowa Genesis 10.5x44: Rolling Ball Effect?

So I'm heavy into the market to buy 10x binocs, have narrowed to 10x42 SLC (I thought) but am intrigued by the Kowa Genesis. Swaro ELs are not in the budget. I've read about the EL rolling ball effect but haven't looked through a pair of them to know if I "have it." Do the Kowa's have the same style of glass such that they could also give the rolling ball effect? Anyone have experience-based info on this? Just a thought, if I were to go to Cabela's and look through EL's in their store, would rolling ball effect be evident if my eyes are susceptible to it? No place around me carries the Kowa products.

Thanks in advance.

I have seen others on this site mention rolling ball with regards to the Kowa Gennys. I have not experienced it at all in my 10.5x44s. I also have not experienced it with my friends' ERs or SLCs. They say that some experience it and others don't. I'm obviously one of those that don't.

Very glad I bought the Gennys. Sorry if I sound like a fan boy, but when I find a product this good, at such a great price, I feel obligated to give others a heads up.

BTW, for tripod mounting, give the RRS Cinch-LR BA a look. It's a bit spendy but works extremely well. Easy in and out of bino pack, and switching out with your spotter on the tripod is a breeze.

I had a 10.5x Genesis about 10 years ago, briefly and had them side by side in the field with a set of 10x SLC HD's. The rolling ball to my eyeballs was terrible so I traded them in to SWFA. I would buy the SLC's any day of the week over anything Kowa makes binocular wise, and quite obviously you'll never see RB in any binocular that doesn't have a field flatteners, which the SLC's do not. I also had over 150 hunters in various camps over a 15 year period and never saw the first Kowa binocular show up for any hunt, ever.

Wound up with 10x50 Swaro SV's a few years later and see no RB at all. Keep in mind this is the way my eyeballs see things.

Just curious...what is the rolling ball effect? This is the first time I’ve seen that term.

Kind of hard to explain, but it's basically that the image kind of looks like a sphere as you scan with you're binos. It only affects a small percentage of users when using binos with field flattening lenses.