Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Doug, What ever happened to Minox?

I saw Camera Land quit carrying them a while back. I have a set of their 8X HG bino's that I'm quite fond of and I remember there were a couple of their other bino's that folks really liked. Based on my experience with the HG's, I bought one of their Z5 scopes when they first got into the scope business and I thought it was awful. Actually, kind of soured me on buying any more of their products. I should have sent it back, actually. Lots of flare and the focus changed dramatically with a power change and the tube dented very easily, even at a normal torque of 15 in/lbs. I still have it, but it just sits around as a spare.

What's up with them and what made you quit carrying them?

I'm also curious.
I have a pair of 8.5x43 HG binos that i really like.

What happened to Leupold? They don’t track for schidt.

I only tried their higher end scopes (ZP5 and ZP8). Aside from the second turn indicator on the ZP5 I don't have a lot of complaints. I do wish the ZP8 turrets were as tactile as the ZP5.

When we started with Minox they were a sort of a subdivision of Leica. I too thought that the Minox HG series of binoculars were excellent. After a while Minox started getting distributed thru New England Guns and that went on for many years and all was great and customer service was also great. A few years back (I don't recall how many, but a few before Covid) Minox was acquired by Blaser. After that nothing new was happening with Minox and then there was a line of Blaser binoculars. Perhaps Blaser bought Minox for the intellectual property rights to their optics? I'm not really sure. All I know was that Minox' presence at SHOT became insignificant (I'm not even sure if they still exhibit) and they showed nothing new for a couple of years so we made the decision to part ways. I haven't followed Minox in over 5 years so I really have no input, good or bad, as to what's up with them.

There rifle scopes I have used are very nice, still have VX3 and VX5 all still work fine and adjust well.

Both Blaser and Minox stopped exhibiting at SHOT a few years ago. I used to have a contact there around 2018/2019, but that went dead. I tried to reach out a couple of times to see what is happening, but they stopped replying.

I liked Minox ZP5 and ZP8 scopes, but you are right that they have not been doing anything really new for a while under Minox brand and their US presence has really diminished. I suspect they put more effort into the Blaser brand of optics to bundles with their Blaser rifles, but it is just a guess.

ILya

Minox scopes weren't marketed all that heavily here in the states and just didn't seem to catch on.

Mid-to-upper end Minox scopes were superb. While it certainly wasn't a streamlined scope, the ZE5i 3-15x56 featured optical qualities that rivaled the alphas. In its price range, there was no other scope that offered better low-light performance. Its resolution equaled the SB Stratos I had at the time, and the color and contrast were not unlike top-tiered Leica scopes. The modified 4-a reticle was simple, quick to acquire and featured a very good illumination system.

One night, in diffused moonlight, a coyote appeared in a field in which the grass was virtually the same color as the coyote's fur. Most scopes would not have been able to handle that situation without some sort of auxiliary lighting, but the Minox allowed me to pull of the shot and put another fawn killer out of business.

The only thing I did not like about the scope was the overall length.

The ZA5 series was very nice as well -- and quite affordable. I grabbed one as soon as they became available here in the states. My first ZA5 did have an issue with the ocular but was replaced in a very timely fashion. As much as I used and appreciated the Zeiss Conquest scopes back then, the ZA5 out-performed comparable Conquests in areas that mattered to me. I would have preferred the plex reticle be bolder (or that an actual #4 was offered), but that was my only complaint.

The 2-10x50 and 3-15x56 All-Rounder scopes are the lone remaining "hunting" options from Minox and -- with a bit of searching -- can still be found here in the US. I had the 2-10 for a while last year and have no complaints. It performed very well for me. The illumination system is different than what was used in the ZE5i but is still very good.

There's one other thing of note that I liked about Minox: The upper-end models were unique in that they featured two separate illumination curves. And, it was very easy to change from one to the other.

From what I have read Doug is spot on. Minox acquired by Blaser and now Blaser is marketing their own line of optics

Scopes had good glass but poor durability in my experience.

Binos and mini spotter were great values. I still use the 6.5 IF binos and mini spotter.

I have a Minox HG 8x43 BR binocular that is made in Germany I purchased from Doug back in 2016/17. Excellent glass and it's had no issues, used them earlier this morning to see who was visiting the bird feeders and view the turkeys in the front yard.

I also purchased several of the ZA3 and ZA5 scopes about the same time period; I think I still have a ZA3 3-9x40 on a 22 WMR.

I was curious what happened to Minox.

StarchedCover

Hi Ilya,

It's a shame, they have a good product but there wasn't much support for them. Most people don't know about their scopes.

I've used 8.5x43 hg asp binos for nearly 20 years. I sent them back to Germany maybe 5 years ago and had them gone through and they still work well. Last year I went to sig kilo6k 10x42 and really liked having the built in rangefinder but kept switching back to my minor for heavy glassing. I also still use some minor 15x big eyes binos I bought from cameraland years ago. They are always in the hunting truck with a good tripod.


Bb

Several years ago you had Minox 6x IF binoculars on clearance for $199. I purchased a set. I showed them to a friend. He purchased a set.

For someone who hunts "close" they are prefect. A great value!

I called back to purchase another set - they had sold out.

Wish I had purchased a set for everyone in the whole family.

I’ll let you know how their CS is as my 10x43 HG’s were sent to Texas last week via Blazer to get the eyecups fixed. Seems they were dropped on the photo safari part of my last trip to Africa with my family. I’ve tried to talk myself into a pair of 10x42 Swaro EL’s but there’s just not much difference between my HG’s and my 8x32EL’s. The NL’s are a step up to my eyes, but not worth a $3k+ step up.

I bought the same years ago and have found them perfect when hunting deer or turkeys in my Mississippi woods. Fast and cover the necessary ranges. You won’t see anything there that is more than 100 yards away.