This past August I bought a pair of Minox German BL 15x56 binoculars from Neal at Camera Land NY. http://www.cameralandny.com/optics/minox.pl?page=62044 My intent was to replace a 15-45x65 spotting scope that was always a disappointment because of image quality and not enough eye relief for easy use with glasses. I am extremely happy with the performance of these Minox binos and the purchasing experience from Camera Land NY.

I have a set of BogPod CLD tripod/shooting sticks and the PCA Profesional Camera Adapter to go with it. So, I bought the BBR Binocular Rest to mount atop the PCA, so that I could put the binos on and off quickly and easily. The system worked excellently and met all my expectations. Here are a few pics:

Minox German BL 15x56 binoculars mounted on BogPod CLD + PCA + BBR in the field about 30 miles southeast of Riverton, WY this past September:



Another view, with the trusty Taco sharing the pic:



Yet another view, with friend George on his Vortex Viper HD 15-45x65 spotter in the background. (Sorry about the sun glare.)



I've read on this forum about using "Big Eye" type binos, and decided to give them a try. My initial observations are this:
- The image brightness and definition out of these Minox binos is excellent.
- I really liked the wide field of view compared to a spotter at the same power. That made it easier and quicker to acquire distant targets.
- Early morning and late evening, the spotter was able to zoom in and use some of it's higher magnification, but for most of the day, the binos had it beat because of heat waves. Even without the heat waves, the binos were lots brighter and their resolution and definition erased much of the magnification advantage of the spotter.
- I was able to easily see and judge antelope and mule deer from well over a mile away. At one point we were looking at a group of goats that were around three miles out, right after sunrise, and I could tell the bucks from the does, and was able to pick out what turned out to be the largest buck.
- I really liked the extra eye relief allowing me to see the full field of view with my glasses on.
- The Minox German BL binos had that same "snap" or ease of focus that I really like in my Swarovski binos.
- The eye cups were easily adjustable, and held their adjustment when my friend, who doesn't wear glasses, wanted to use them.
- The diopter adjustment was easy to do and it held its setting securely and wasn't accidentally knocked out of adjustment.
- Even though these are "Big Eye" binos, they balance in my hands very well, and with a little practice, I was able to hold them MUCH more steady than I had ever imagined, and actually use them hand held.
- They're light enough that you really can use the strap to carry them for an hour or more, without breaking your neck.

Here's a view through one side of the binos that I shot with my cell phone. All I did was hold the camera lens of the phone up to the bino ocular and move it till I had most of the field of view on the screen. There's a goat waaaay out there a little above and to the right of the center of the field of view. Right-click on the pic and select "View Image", then when it comes up in Photobucket, do it again to get the full size that Photobucket will allow. In the original pic, at full resolution, you can see a lot more detail of the goat.

Thanks for postings his up; excellent food for thought.

Sounds like those binos are a heckofa value!

Great setup and prime country for those bigeyes, that is what they are made for....