Kowa BDII 6.5×32 XD

Specifications:

Objective diameter: 32 mm
Magnification: 6.5 x
Exit pupil: 4.9 mm
Eye relief (acc. to spec): 17 mm
Useful eye relief (measured from rim of eyecup): 14.5mm
IPD: 58 – 77 mm
RFOV (acc. to spec.): 10.0 degrees = 175 m
RFOV (meassured): 9.8 degrees = 171 m
AFOV (measured, rounded): 60 degrees
Minimum focus distance (measured): 1.3 m
Focus type: CF (direction of rotation from close to infinity: > clockwise)
Degrees of rotation of focus wheel from 3m to infinity (measured): 135 degrees
Range of diopter adjustment (acc. to spec.): +/- 4 dpt*
Excess travel of focus wheel beyond infinity position (estimate): 6 dpt*
Prism system: Schmidt-Pechan
Phase coating: yes
Waterproof: yes
Weight (measured, with eyepiece cover and objective caps): 631 g
Made in: China
*range of diopter adjustment not affected by position of focus wheel

Remarks:

There was a time when widefield 6x or 7x binoculars had a fair share of the market. That time is long gone, and it has been missed ever since. Whether the arrival of binoculars such as the 6.5×32 Kowa BD II in 2019 represents the proverbial “silver lining on the horizon” is unknown. Let us hope so! At any rate, the new little Kowa would be a good starting point for the revival of widefield, low magnification binoculars. The challenge that any producer faces: consumers expect much better edge sharpness today than in the old days, but also a widefield image, and edge sharpness and wide field don’t go together very easily, and so most of the widefield binoculars in the past were quite “edge-blurry”. Kowa has tried to find a compromise: sticking with 10 degrees field of view (more would have been possible) and thereby keeping the edge sharpness reasonably good. The result is very satisfactory, in particular since it comes with a very nice finish and build quality and with impeccable mechanics. Good CA control, good image brightness, with distortion characteristics that cause a bit of a globe effect but not too bad, the little Kowa is a pleasure to use. Its siblings within the new BD II series are the following models: 8×32, 10×32, 8×42 (see separate post https://binocular.ch/kowa-bd-ii-8×42-xd/) and 10×42.

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