Vanguard vs Kowa Binoculars

[Joshelerry]

HI, am looking at the Vanguard Endeavour series vs Kowa SV series... anybody who is quite an expert or experienced in binoculars usage especially in these 2 brands can advise more?

Went to shop in Funan and sales did mentioned that Kowa is slightly on the higher range (of course the price is higher)..

So will like to hear more.. these series are Roof type ... magnification around 10x - 12x and 42-50 diameter for the lens... generally these 2 specs are quite similar... I am checking more on the glass and clarify and performance!

Thanks!

 

[An drew]

Binoculars rankings - 10x42 - allbinos.com

This is a hard call. While the Kowa BD (No 25) is higher up on the list than the Vanguard Spirit (No 65), the Kowa SV is lower range than BD and Vanguard Endeavour is higher range than the Spirit. So I think they should be optically close to each other.

Here is a good review of the endeavour:
Birding In the Parks: Reviewing Binoculars from Vanguard | National Parks Traveler

If you can, compare them side by side for periphery sharpness and overall brightness, otherwise just choose the one that you like the feel and looks better. Good luck!

 

[Joshelerry]

Binoculars rankings - 10x42 - allbinos.com

This is a hard call. While the Kowa BD (No 25) is higher up on the list than the Vanguard Spirit (No 65), the Kowa SV is lower range than BD and Vanguard Endeavour is higher range than the Spirit. So I think they should be optically close to each other.

Here is a good review of the endeavour:
Birding In the Parks: Reviewing Binoculars from Vanguard | National Parks Traveler

If you can, compare them side by side for periphery sharpness and overall brightness, otherwise just choose the one that you like the feel and looks better. Good luck!

Thks, Vanguard Endeavor ED is 10x45 while Kowa SV is 12x50. I suppose Kowa will be brighter with bigger diameters?
Also 12x for Hand hold is still manageable for hand shake right?

 

[An drew]

Thks, Vanguard Endeavor ED is 10x45 while Kowa SV is 12x50. I suppose Kowa will be brighter with bigger diameters?
Also 12x for Hand hold is still manageable for hand shake right?

Bigger objective will definitely be brighter. 45mm is considered bigger than the normal at 42 mm. But if weight is no issue you can even get an 82mm scope.

Most people can only handhold 8x. Some people can do 10x so 12x would be considered difficult to handhhd
Then there are image-stabilized bins. So for good performance get one that is as big as you can comfortably carry. But depending on your age and how much your pupil can dilate, big objectives may be useless.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exit_pupil