Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Kowa BD II 10x42 reviews?

Any experience with KOWA BD II 10x42 out there? How do they compare to other binos? I am also considering the Tract 10x42s

Wil be interested- talked to at least one other person on here about them. The 6.5 have me VERY interested. Not sure how you could go wrong with them ro what could be any better for the $$$.

One that might be worth comparing given the price point is the newer Steiner Peregrines. as the Tracts are more money.than either. by a fair amount.

For a lesser price comparison I am interested in the Celestron Trailseeker ED.

no Chinese.

Yep - if I go with the Tract it will be because I am thinking they are worth the extra money --

Elkrazy I hear you and have a bit of a self debate on cost vs rewards. If interested- here is my brain on it.

My thought is the Kowa's may offer a sort of peaking in bang for buck in an appreciated quality name brand. I am not ashamed to say having a noted name brand in hand might offer some satisfaction ....for various reasons. Ego being an accepted part of that but there is a trued recognition of quality level. I am doubting I would feel the 'worth' or return on the investment as much with the Tracts given the added $$$-though I would of course love them. You may have more to spend than I do so everyone has a different level on what is the best you can afford.

Years ago the Leupold Pinnacles were getting hot reviews. At the time a lot more than I might spend on a pair but I dove in. Loved the feel and initial performance but being honest after time I found myself too often fiddling with adjustments and when comparing these roof prism to porro I learned what people meant about certain advantages to porro's. I ended up buying a good but rather chunky pair of porro's for about 1/3rd the price of the Pinnacle roofs and enjoying their performance a whole lot more.

Fast forward a few years and I gifted those to a friend in need and gave my great little 6x30 Yosemite's to my brother in law after he fell in love with them. I felt high satisfaction from a value to performance perspective -as Ia had not had to sacrifice one for the other. I had become a solid porro fan due to brightness, depth, field of view etc... because to get something close to as good was evidently going to cost me more than three times as much.

Then came a sort of boom in optics and the best silver coating (such as used by the Pinnacle's, Meopta Meopro's, and Sightron Sii ) became challenged - in my mind- when the cost of dielectric coatings started to come down. . My Zen Rays are the first roofs I have owned that could compete with porros for brightness etc... Now that I have had them some seasons I see some faults but brightness isn't one of them (just that the image fades a little soon around the edges). I also would like something less than 8x and am missing my yYosemites that were better than what I replaced them with (not meaning the ZR's) . .

So, I am too often looking at new stuff. The newer ED version of the Kowa's check everything off my list. Value, weight, aesthetics, ED, dielectric, field of view, non-Chinese, consistent user and field reviews - and offer a 6.5 for some of us wanting a little less X and bigger FOV. So while I might spring for the extra more over what I paid for my Zen Rays it shakes out
something like this:- FOR ME:
Celestrons might be hard to pass up, too feature rich and positive not to consider
My 'target goal' might be Kowa's - like the looks of them a lot
My "dream" might be Torics.
Steiner Peregrines somewhere strong in that mix.
I would be happy with any but for different reasons and in a few years probably still be looking at optics stuff I likely don't really need. :-)

Kenjs1 - thanks for your comments. I appreciate it. I decided to buy a Kowa and see what I think. The best Bino I own is an older Cabela Europtic made my Meopta. I like the glass but it is a bit heavy. I’ll compare it those and then take it into the local Scheels and compare it to the Swaro models they have. (I am hoping they will let me do that )

Anybody else have any experience with the Kowa or Tract?

Very Cool Elkcrazy congratulations - thinking you will love them. I will fwd this to another fire member that is interested in Kowa. We will both be looking forward to your critical review.

Hoping you got a great deal.

I really like my 6.5x32's, and I'd love to compare the 8x42's to my Swaro SLC 8x42s...scared I'd recoup to much $ I guess.

I bought a pair of Kowa BD II 8x32s off Doug awhile back. Are they alpha glass? No. Are they close to alpha glass performance? Fairly close but cost far less. Depends on your budget or what you want to spend.

I do like Kowa's quality, a friend gave me an old vintage Kowa 20x50mm spotter he found in a dumpster. It's very clear and the lenses are perfect. No degradation of the coatings whatsoever considering its age.

The Kowa Genesis 8x33 that I have is alpha glass and I think they are on sale at camera land.

We have an as new open box in our sale that ends tonight priced at only $799.99

Great binos Doug I am happy i purchased it from you.

Thanks for the support. Kowa binoculars really are great quality with above average fit and finish

Go with Tract Toric.

After getting mine, I sold my Swarovski 10x42 ELs.

I did not know Tract is as good as Swarovski.They are much less in price.I will have to take a serious look at them.