Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Minox Porros - BD 10x44 BP - anyone?

Did anyone here ever get a chance to try any of the Minox porro-prism binoculars such as the BD 10x44 BP?

I owned the 8x44 for a time a couple of years back. The optics are practically identical to the 8x42 Leupold Cascade porro (now discontinued) and the Opticron HR WP 8x42 porro. The Minox has different ergonomics though because the rubber armoring is thicker and therefore heavier.

Excellent optical performance. Good, pronounced 3D effect, excellent apparent sharpness, brightness and contrast. The only drawback to the design is the relatively narrow field of view in my opinion.

I use them since 2009.







They are small, tough, sharp, internal focus. I put BC caps on the objective. Factory ocular cover and strap in case.

In the backpack in sheep country.



Work for me.

Nice!!! Love the picture crossing the water, pristine!!!

Well thanks for the responses, gentlemen. How would you compare them optically to some of the mid to upper-level roof prisms?
And have either of you compared to them to other top-tier porros like, say, the Nikon SE?

Trigger,

while having looked through the SEs, this was at a trade show.

Never had the chance to compare them in the field.

Albeit - Phil Shoemaker (458Win here on the fire) has and uses his SEs as the mark, by which ALL else is judged.

This includes top tier roofs - where he states, that even Zeiss 2012 models do not equal the SE, but the gap is narrowing.

With this, I would think the Minox are what they are - a very robust and fieldworthy porro design with internal focus at a great price point.

I would not hold it against mine, if they do not measure up to any glass cossting twice to triple their price.

No bino will be twice or triple as good.

Diminishing return per $ spent is one of the most interesting points in optics for me.

I have owned both (Minox/SE) at the same time but it was a few years back. In many ways they are surprisingly similar. Apparent sharpness is about equal. Contrast/color saturation slightly favors the SE while apparent brightness, particularly in low light situations, slightly favors the Minox/Leupold/Opticron. Field of view certainly goes to the SE as well as the size of the sweet spot (though the Minox/Cascade/HR WP is close with a bit more field curvature around the edges).

I think that the Minox are a notable step up optically from reference standard $300 roofs from the same time span (Nikon Monarch second generation, Bushnell Legend (non-ultra), Pentax DCF-SP). They offer better contrast, better apparent brightness and a wonderful 3D effect. I have not compared them to the newer generation of $300 roofs from these same manufacturers but I wouldn't be surprised if the playing field hasn't been leveled a bit more.

I did compare the Leupold Cascades extensively against the original Zen Ray ED and ED IIs. The Zen Rays are slightly better overall with most of that coming from the larger field of view and excellent color fringing control. The Leupolds still had the leg up on the 3D effect because of the porro design.

Hope this proves helpful.

Thanks, Frank.

I bought a couple of pair when they were on a final closeout sale. If you can live with a fairly narrow FOV and moderate CA, then the rest of the view is about as good as it gets. They do show some spikes on bright lights at night, but it does nothing to hurt the stellar view in the daytime.

Bruce

Just in case -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromatic_aberration

This series of binoculars was also built for Leupold as the Cascade porro prism in 8x42,10x42 and for Opticron.

I had a pair of the Minox 10x44 and still have a pair of the 8x42 Leupold Cascade.

The Leupold version is lighter and has much better ergo's, its less bulky, better diopter function.

I have not had a chance to compare a Minox 8x44 against my Leupold 8x42 but my Cascade 8x42 was optically superior to the 10x Minox I had. I sold the Minox.

I had several mid priced 8x roof binos that were bested by the 8x42 cascade as far as image sharpness (brunton epoch 7.5x43,Bushnell elite ed 8x43). It was so frustrating trying to find a mid priced 8x roof that was as sharp that I gave up. I wanted the same sharpness but a wider FOV in an 8x glass. I bought an Alpha 8x.

A couple of days ago while camping my uncle took a look through the Cascade and was so impressed by the image he offered up a straight trade for his 8.5 Nikon Monarch x.

Though the Leupold and Minox version on these binos are discontinued I believe the Opticron is still avaliable. I think the model is the HR WP.

The binos do lack FOV but is is much less of an issue in the 8x . The brightness is up there with the alphas.

The bino in 8x would to this day still be a good value even at $400. You have to go alpha class glass to best the sharpness and brightness.

Thanks for that info, Timberbuck.

The Minox BP's are also water proof to 5 meters.

I set my Minox BD 10X44BP and Zen 8X43 ED2 side by side last Sunday and did probably an hour of A-B testing. The Zen wins by a huge margin on CA control and FOV. For resolution, brilliance and brightness, overall image quality, the Minox destroys the Zen. Some people will think I'm crazy, but I saw what I saw.

Bruce