An article on the 24hr Campfire by Rick Bin recently caught my eye. article link

I'm an avid hunter and 55yr old outdoor sportsman that usually get's to spend about 80-100 days afield a year in the pursuit of game and "adventure".

When I read Rick's article my interest was piqued since my favorite hunting method is spot and stalk and I spend a LOT of time with binoculars "growing out of my face".

On a whim I decided to get a pair of them if I could find a good deal. I was looking on ebay when Doug of CameraLand put them on special for a good bit less than $800 shipped to my door. As you can imagine I grabbed a pair...
Doug's Latest Sale Link

Doug claims that they're demo units but I couldn't find any indication that they'd ever been handled or even out of the box. They're new as far as I'm concerned.

These binoculars come with a tripod adaptor included and you're likely to need it. I have very steady hands and can hold them quite well for short periods of time for fairly short range glassing but you should consider that an idle brag that means nothing. They're heavy and bulky and we'll ALL need support.

I guess if you want to see as far and as clearly as "big eyes" binoculars let you, then you're going to have to put up with something that isn't going to hang from your neck all day or even your shoulders as with the Crooked Horn Bino System. I assure you'll probably be ready to give up in a short period of time and get a solid rest.

These binos and any others that provide 15x magnification require a tripod. Get used to the idea now and you'll be glad you did. I opted for the Gorilla pod for bench and "truck hood and roof" glassing and a heavy duty yet somewhat light full sized tripod that Doug recommended for the rest of the time.

Both systems provided me with excellent comfort and I quickly found that I could glass for hours with minimal eye strain and it was quite enjoyable.

The glass in these binoculars is quite good. As Rick pointed out it's VERY sharp and edge to edge clarity is excellent.

I only had a pair of Zeiss 10x56 Victory FL T binoculars with me to compare them with and these cost more than double Doug's price on the Minox binoculars but that's what I had so that's the comparison I offer.

I started off in midday on a sunshiney bright Florida day with temperatures hovering in the mid 60's and the humidity was quite low. I was on a long piney ridge with palmetto cover. Views were from 30 feet to a thousand yards.

The Minox binoculars quickly established their superiority over the Zeiss Victory binoculars in this situation. Clarity was nearly as good with the Minox but with the extra 5x magnification, detail was better and I was easily able to make out bark on pine trees in very good detail at maximum ranges.

Edge to edge clarity was excellent with no problems noticed at all.

I noticed that eye relief was a good bit more critical with the Minox binoculars than with the Zeiss but then it should be due to the extra magnification. Once adjusted it was easy to grab them and glass quickly or get behind them and establish a good sight picture but if I purposely misadjusted them and tilted them on the tripod I was easily frusted trying to regain a good sight picture if I felt hurried.

Another test that is very important to me is the ability to look across a bright spot and into deep shaded woods to spot game. This is where the glass on the Zeiss binoculars is outstanding and the Minox glass was slightly inferior but it still worked quite well and I was surprized to see very good detail quite deeply into the heavily shaded swamps located well across well lit ridges.

This brings up the only place I felt the Minox binoculars had a week spot. While glassing across the hood of my grey pickup in the sunlight I noticed that the Minox binoculars picked up a good bit of glare off the hood and the Zeiss showed a good bit less. I also noticed that when I looked down a brightly lit white sand road later that the Minox binoculars had a similar difficulty and it was less obvious with the Zeiss unit. To be honest this observation has little merit in the real world because anybody that had this problem would change their view slightly to avoid the glare and it was more of a nuicance than an actual barrier to seeing clearly.

I purposely tried to make my eyes tired and glassed the rest of the day and into the evening with these binoculars with short comparisons with the Zeiss binoculars every few minutes.

I was favorably impressed and never did notice any eye strain at all. I was able to glass long ridges and down roads with many looks into the dark and deep swamps that frequent our landscape here in the north Florida piney woods of Apalachicola National Forest. I spotted a lot of game including a few deer that I wouldn't have seen without high quality binoculars in my hands.

As evening approached I compared more and more often with the Zeiss binoculars and the difference between the brighness of the two binoculars wasn't pronounced until way into the last vestiges of light when many hunters have long since fired up their pickup trucks and gone home to supper.

All in all the Minox BD 15x58 ED BR binoculars deserve much more comment than "a good buy for the money" in my sincere opinion. They're excellent binoculars that should satisfy any outdoors person that has need for high quality optics for long term viewing and I give them a 5 star rating with no hesitation.

Note that I also had a Swarovski 20-60x65 spotting scope with me and expected to use it in the comparisons but every time I set up the scope and started to use it I realized that the Minox binoculars were light years ahead of the spotting scope in ease of use and practicality.

The spotting scope ended up riding in the pickup and I don't even know if I'll keep it. I imagine I will in the end but the Minox 15x59 binoculars are so "handy" it's really hard to put them down and bother with anything as cumbersome and slow as a spotting scope.

$bob$

I bought a pair of the "demos" myself, 5 months ago or so. I like them. Only real complaint is the crappy plastic eyecups which won't hold adjustment (that is, stay in the position you put them) well at all. All in all, good glass for the money.

Minox does make a pretty good glass. I tried out a 10X42 ASPH last spring that was very sharp.
I also tried out the lowest grade of Minox in their 15X58 size. I wasn't impressed. At 250 yds., I could see a hair more detail with my 8X42 Leica.
I bought a 12X50 Leica BN during this time. The big advantage to a 12X over a 15X is you can use them w/o a bipod. Not from standing, but they do work very well w/o a bipod.
I stacked them against the 15X all the way out to 1.5 miles. At no time, under any light conditions, did the 15X show me more. Quality counts more than magnification.
Rick tested a late model Swaro 15X against a 12X50 Leica Ultravid. He reported the Ultravid would show you anything the swaro would until it got quite late and the distances long. There the Swaro would outperform the Leica to some degree because of it's higher twilight factor. E

Gatogordo,

Yep... The plastic eyecup lens covers are pretty crappy... Agreed....

Can we get something better?

$bob$

LD:

I dunno if we can get better, but it is details like that that separates the great glass from the wannabes. As you mentioned, eye distance for focus is fairly critical and I can't tell you the amount of times I've grabbed the Minox and one cup, usually the right one had slipped so the eye distance was not right.

You know, you're talking about maybe 10c worth or materials vs 50c for something better, hard to understand. Doesn't anyone who makes these things use them.

To repeat, I like the glass, just could like it a lot more for very little monetary costs on Minox's part.

I forgot that I took some photos on the day I did the product testing... Here they are.

First are the Minox Binocs on a Gorilla Pod on the roof of my truck from the front.


Second is the same but a side view...


Third is the Zeiss Victory 10x56 Binocs sitting on top of the Minox 15x58 Binocs so you can see the actual size difference.


Fourth is the big tripod that Doug recommended. For some reason I don't have the Minox Binocs on it but do have my Swarovski 20-60x65 Spotting Scope on it.


$bob$

I bought a pair of the HG 10x43's a few months ago from Doug. I think they are outstanding optics....and told the guys so at the SHOT show. IMO they are one of the best deals going right now for quality/price.

Gary
DRSS
NRS Lifer

I knew a guy that bought some huge Minox binoculars for astronomy, but looking out across Lake Washington by day, I was amazed what I could see.

I am going to get some.

I shopped and shopped until I dropped and gr8fuldoug at Cameraland had by far the best prices I found....

Here's a link to one of his sale ads.

Cameraland Sale

$bob$

ya the minox 15's are really strong optically, the worst negative is the small focus whell, it really gets stiff in the cold, the diopter is easy to bump.

I bought some minox HG 8.5 X 52 BR binos and, imo they are excellent value for money. i compared them against the 10X version and these were brighter. being 1.5X less in power didnt concern me. if you want to look far, i believe a spotting scope is the bees knees.

I took them out this morning and found they they were brighter than my leupold vx3 4.5-14x40 on a similar power setting, obviously the 12mm extra on the objective lense helps!

overall excellent binos, and no complaints with them!