Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Minox 10x52 HG?

Your friend is the first case of a Leica fogging I've ever heard of.
I've even heard of a couple Zeiss Classics fogging. But it appears to be quite rare. I personally know a couple of dozen serious hunters who use them w/o problems.
Swaro binoculars, on the other hand, appear to have a much higher problem rate. Some examination of their internals and their development history supports this.
What it comes down to is what do I get for my money ? Zeiss, Leica and Nikon all make binos which are so close in performance to the El's as to make putting up with their flimsy constuction unnecessay. E

"flimsy constuction"

Pretty strong words for someone that hasn't a clue about the matter, you should be ashamed.

At one time I consulted with a couple of well informed people on this. I got the details of the differences. The term "filmsy construction" were their words not mine.
I can't reveal who they are because they asked me not to ID them.
It wouldn't be so bad, the details of their constuction, if we were talking binoculars in the $200-$400 range. But EL's are no where near that in price. E

How convienient. Let's hear the "details of the differences", come on E were waiting . . .

Without offering an opinion on the durability of Minox products (I honestly don't know the answer), I would take exception to a couple of gross generalizations:

One possible answer is that their manufacturing center is located farther east?

All birders are not gentle on their equipment, just as all hunters are not especially tough on theirs.

I went through the same thing you are going through here a couple months back. I compared the EL's, the FL's, the Ultravids and the Minox HG's, I compared them in detail in the controlled environment I had available. The bottom line was that they were all close with some having features I liked better than others, my conclusion was that there wasn't $1000 difference between the big 3 and the Minox HG's so I bought the HG's. if that $1000 is of no significance to you, then try out the big 3 and pick the one you like best. I opted for the 10x52's because the weight (28.5oz) was still exceptable for a package that worked for me. I bought mine from Doug and that in itself makes me feel much better if I were to ever have a problem with them I know he would provide me the kind of service he always does in resolving my problem. Its your call.

I just got a pair of the 8.5x43 HG's. I only really use 15x optics, but for stalking and close range hunting I wanted something smaller and compact. Myself and also a friend of mine think the HG's are very clear and a great buy for the price. Cut corners or not, I think they compete with the top three and should be considered as a future major optic player if not already a major optic player. They make a great product at a great price. I have no complaints.

On durability. I will admit the Swaro's have been known to fog and break easy. Still I own a pair because optically I think they are the best. JMHO. However I think the newer version of the SLC are probably made tougher than the previous. I don't know but I hope so.
Optically I think the Minox are just as good. When comparing the 15x Swaro's and MInox, I find a slight difference. The Minox are 98% of what the Swaro's are. Plus they are about a grand less.
Leica I don't know much about since I won't look at them due to them not making a 15x bino besides that Geovid. The Geovids were ok, but not as good as the SLCnew that Swaro has.
The toughest Bino I have owned are my 15x Fujinon HB's. I dropped them off my 4runner in Sonora last year. They flew about 15 ft. I picked them up rescrewed the front barrels in and kept on working. Most optics would have been screwed up for sure. These held up and still were in good shape. Killed two 100 inch coues after that accident too.

I think if you talk with Doug, and go by a sporting goods shop like some others have said. You'll make the right choice.

I got the Minox and am very pleased with them. Time will tell how they hold up, but I think they'll do good. I think you'd be very happy with the Minox HG binos.

Good luck in your search, and remember your eyes will tell you which are better to them. What we say doesn't really matter. The comfort of your eyes does.

Kique

All true. Like I said, I really don't know. I was pretty suspicious of the Pentax SP for quite a while too. That was after I got the information on the very long time Leica took to perfect the sealing of the Ultravid's magnesium frame to prevent them from leaking after a few years of use.
Minox uses german engineers and japanese labor as I understand it. The Nikon LX-L which apparently is a bit better than the Minox optically and the Pentax SP which is not quite as good are designed and built in Japan. Yet the Minox is cheaper, far cheaper than the Nikon LX-L. So I suspect it isn't just cheaper labor costs.
I used a B&L Zephur for many years as my hunting binocular. It is not water proof. It has never fogged, probably because I usually hunt dry or very dry country. It has also been knocked out of alingment twice. Frankly, considering it's Porro constuction, I'm surprised it didn't sustain more damage than that. I have a scratch on one of it's objective lenses, and it's got some ugly dings around the edges. I know a fair number of bird watchers. None of their binos look like or have to put up with that.
Do I really need a tougher binocular ? I might not, but if I choose to spend the money on really fine optics, I'd like that too if another brand will give that to me for roughly the same cost.
I have that choice between the Zeiss FL, the Leicas and the Nikon LX-L vs. the Swaros in the really expensive binoculars. So what am I giving up with a Minox in that price range over the SP. E

They do compete with the top four. My Leica 8X42 was a bit sharper than the Minox 10X I tried out last spring. But to really see the difference you had to stack them. I wouldn't call the difference real close. I'd rate them at 95%. E

E I owned the Pentax SP's, and although some really like them, they did not impress me much over a pair of Monarch ATB's. Thats just my opinion, the Minox HG's IMO are several steps above the SP's and not near as many steps below the Big 3.

The SP's are no better than the Nikon ATB's ? No wonder you don't think much of the SP's.
I've only played with one SP, a 10X43. It was, I suspect, better than the older Zeiss Classics. I had a new, out of the box ATB for testing this spring. They weren't even remotely close. I do agree that the Minox I tested in 10X42, their latest one which I suspect was an HG, was far better than the Nikon ATB, however.
Are you sure the Pentax you owned was an SP ? Pentax make several levels of binoculars just like Nikon. E

Yes they were the SP's I got them from Doug damn near $500. They were just okay to me, but not much better than a $250 pair of Monarchs.

Aggressive pricing by a new company, trying to earn market share, is a tried and true marketing strategy. It could be that Minox is cutting corners, or it could be the other thing.

That's true. Nikon LX-L's were quite a bit cheaper just a few years ago until the word got out on them. It could also be a combination of both. Time will tell.
I'd also repeat that the only way to really tell if one bino is better thn another, is to focus and stack them. I didn't believe this until I really tried it. I can't rely on memory, even the memory of more than a few seconds. Even when you do stack them, if they are really close, it may take a while to see the difference. I've also had some examples of binoculars that were in reality pretty far apart, but, for whatever reason, this difference didn't show until I'd stacked them and gone between them for several minutes. Then difference became apparent. Sometimes this difference is surprisingly more than you thought. E

I'm still undecided about which ones I'm going to buy? It will either be the 10x52 Minox, or the 10x50 Trinovids. Am leaning toward the Leicas as I have peered through these, but not the Minox.
Several here have posted that they did not like the Pentax WP's and SP's, but I think they are very decent glass. In fact I like them better than 10x40 Classics, even though the classics have better resolution.

If you would like us to send you one of each to check out please let me know. This way you can do a side by side and decide which you prefer. We are down to just two of the 10x50 Trinovids, so if you want one of those please contact me.

Enrique,

How do Fujinon HBs compare with other binoculars you use optically? I've been wondering about these, but have not seen them in person yet.

Thanks.
ILya

I played with all of these last time I was in Sportsmens. I have had Minox 10x42 for a few years now and love them. I also a have a pair of the 10x28 Leicas, and love them to. When I was in Sportsmans I was really interested in the 10x52s Minox. I compared them to the Swaros, Leicas, Pentax and the 10x43 Minox HGs. After all of that I found that yes the Leica Ultra where a touch crisper, I thougt the Minox HGs where right there with the Swaros, and they were just as bright I thought as both swaros and Leicas. Also I did not see a whole lot of difference in the 43s vs. the 52s. I would go with the Minox HGs 10x43s in heart beat, seemed they would be a whole lot nicer to pack around.

I went to the Bass Pro shop in Broken Arrow Oklahoma (Suburb of Tulsa) and talked to the binocular salesman who had just finished a hitch in the Marine corp as a sniper. He has been to Afganastan once and Faluja three times(as an aside - He was upset about having to go into Faluja three times to liberate it and see his buds die, He felt one time should have been enough). I asked him what the order the of durability was for the Binoculars. His response in order of best durability in the field was: Leica, leupold, zeiss, and last was Zwaro El which he said should be taken out of conssideration due to too many problems. There was no comment on steiners which he sold, but I did not ask about.
I do not remember his name and I have not seen him their again. I know this is second hand info, but may be of interest.

Minox silver coats their schmidt-pecan prism
Leica uses a more expensive, newer Dielectirc mirror coating that produces marginally higher light transmission across most of the visible spectrum. Obviously, your eyes can only be the judge!