Leupold Wind River Yosemite 8x30 binocular review (1 Viewer)

I am brand new to "good" binoculars, so keep that in mind as you read my review.

The "eye relief" is right on the edge of being usable with these binoculars and my glasses (I knew this could be an issue when I ordered them) but by using the eye cups all the way out, I can use them. By setting the right lens "Diopter Adjustment", I was able to adjust the binoculars so that I can push my glasses up on my forehead and easily use the binoculars without my glasses.

The 8 power magnification is excellent for me. I tend to be "shaky", and therefore anything larger then 8 power doesn't work well for me.

The field of view is great because I easily find my subject, and can see things on the periphery that I would never have spotted otherwise.

The "handling" of these binoculars for me is great. The are not so small that they are hard to hold, light enough that my arms/hands don't get tired from holding them (I spent about 1 hour continuously using them - amazing what you will do when you find binoculars that are comfortable), and not so light that they shake around in the wind. I have gotten to the point where I can pretty much follow the finches as they fly away, which for me is saying a lot because with every other pair of binoculars I have ever used, I had trouble finding things that were not moving. I believe the size and weight will be perfect for my mountain trips. I will put them on the Luepold X-treme binocular camera that I currently have on my camera so that they hang on my chest without bouncing around while I am walking, or put them in my Maxpedition Jumbo hip bag where they are easy to get to.


4/23/07:
UPS delivered my binoculars at around 7:45 pm MST.
The sun was setting rapidly, so the lighting was not very good.
I figured that with the lack of light, I would have troubles with them, but I did not. I could see the license plate on a car about 3 blocks from me, see the details on Pikes Peak, and found a small "yard ornament" windmill in a neighbors backyard about 2 blocks away that I did not know existed.


4/24/07:
Very overcast day with snow falling and blowing, but again, everything I looked at was crystal clear (other than the fact that the blowing snow we making it difficult to see anything very clearly).


4/25/07:
About 10" of snow on the ground, temp at about 17 degrees. Looking through the binoculars was somewhat difficult due to the glare from the snow, but it did not seem any worse than with the naked eye. Putting on my sunglasses helped but these particular sunglasses sit a little further from my face, so they don't work as well with the binoculars as my normal glasses. Using the binoculars with my contacts works very well.

I did not experience any fogging even though the binoculars went from inside (about 68 degrees) to outside (about 17 degrees).

I have not had any problems viewing the birds (Mountain Blue Birds, Red-Winged Black Birds, And Sparrows) on my back fence (about 1/3 acre from porch), the birds (Sparrows, Finches And Red-Winged Black Birds) on the feeder in my front yard (about 25 yards away) or the Pigeons and Crows on the roofs of neighbors houses.

If the snow manages to melt (which it is should if the weather forecast is true) by this weekend, I plan on giving them a good test by taking them out where I can use them to scan mountains looking for Big Horn sheep, Deer, Elk, birds, and any other wildlife that is out. This will be in mountainous areas with heavy trees where animals tend to blend in, and my old cheap binoculars did not work well.

After 2 days of having these binoculars, I have no regrets as to having purchased them.

I will post a further review when I get a chance to take them "out in the wild" and really use them.

Eric

Thanks for your excellent and very practical review. We are looking forward to your follow up review.
Good birding,:clap:
Bob

Binocular Review #2:

April 28, 2007

We did not go to the mountains as planned due to the snow in "high country", but instead went to a local nature area (Falcon Creek Nature Trail).
Weather was quite nice, there was a small amount of cloud cover, but for the most part it was sunny and bright.
We walked the 1.1 mile trail (down and back for a total of 2.2 miles) through the trees and out in the open.
The binoculars worked very well all day long. I was able to get them working with my sunglasses (had to pull the eye cups out, and spread the binoculars a little wider than I do with my glasses or contacts).

I was easily able to see bird, ducks, geese and squirrels in the trees, on the ground and on the water.

My first opportunity was when a Blue Heron flew over the creek from behind me to in front of me. My wife saw it coming, and pointed it out to me. I was able to see where it was, grab the binoculars (they were in a Leupold X-treme harness on my chest), quickly pick up the bird with the binoculars, and follow it as it flew past and in front of me for about 100 yards until the trees blocked my view. This was incredible to me since I generally cannot quickly pick things up with binoculars, or follow moving things easily.

My next test occurred when I could hear a bird in trees about 50 yards away, but not find it. I scanned the general area with the binoculars, and noticed movement on the periphery, and was then able to get on the bird and see it quite well. I have no idea what it was, just a little grey bird with a very loud song. This was looking through trees that were between myself and the bird with the bird about 50 yards away plus a good distance up in the air.
While looking at the bird, I noticed something moving on the left edge of the binoculars, and was able to move them slightly in that direction, and found a squirrel further out than the bird up in a tree either working on his nest or rummaging through someone else's nest. I watched the squirrel for about 10-15 minutes, and the weight of the binoculars was such that I did not even notice that I was holding them.

After seeing the squirrel, I started slowly scanning the area, and found 5-10 other nests (some were large Heron nests, others were small bird nests) and found it was quite easy to pick out the individual materials and sticks that the nests were made of.

The next really cool spotting was 4 turtles on a rock about 150-175 yards away on the far side of a pond. My wife spotted them, and I quickly got the binoculars into position and took a look, and sure enough, there were 4 turtles sunning themselves. We got out my wife's tripod and 500mm lens for her camera, and while she was taking pictures, I sat down on the small hill we were on, rested my elbows on my knees and spent the next 20-30 minutes watching turtles. I was really excited that I was able to see details on the turtles and watch them moving around on rock.
When we got home and looked at the pictures, I realized that I had a much better view of the turtles, with more detail than what the camera was able to pick up.

We then had the opportunity to watch and take pictures of a Blue Heron on the far side of the creek (about 30 yards away) as it walked along the edge, climbed over a downed log while using its wings to step up and over, strike at a fish (he missed it), watch the water intently for about 5 minutes, then catch a small fish, then scratched itself. We got some great shots with the cameras, but even better, using the binoculars, I was able to see really fine details on the feathers on top of his head, his feet, and face.

As we headed back down the trail to the car, I saw movement in the trees about 25 yards in front of us (which were mostly branches with foliage from trees behind them making it somewhat difficult to see), and using the binoculars, was able to find a tiny grey bird with yellow on its shoulders. It sat for a couple of minutes then it jumped/flew quickly to my left to another little tree branch, almost came to a stop, then went to the tree to the right, then back to the left, then up into a larger tree, then flew away. All this movement was probably about 25 feet to each the left and right of the original location. It was quite easy to follow the bird as it "flitted" around. Again, due to my past experiences with binoculars, being able to track this little bird was amazing to me.

A little further along the trail, I saw something move about 25-30 feet above me in a tree that I was almost under. Walking about 5 feet forward for a better view, I again saw something move. It appeared to be something on the back side of the tree moving periodically showing itself. Getting the binoculars out, I was able to find the area quite quickly, and waited for about 5 minutes before I saw a tiny bird head at the very top of my view with the binoculars. Moving up, I kept watching, and suddenly a Wood Pecker (red head grey speckled body) landed on the branch I was watching. Then the tiny head popped out of a hold right about the branch. The tiny bird wound up being a baby in a hole in the tree. I was able to watch the ??momma?? stick her head and top half of her body into the hole 2-3 times (I assume she was feeding the baby), then fly off, but I never saw the baby again.

About 50 feet further along the trail was another Wood Pecker pruning itself, so I watched it for a few minutes, then headed back down the trail.

During the walk I watched ducks, Canada Geese and scanned the trees many times and never had any issues with the binoculars (other than when I was looking up a tree I was under and "found" the sun - chalk that up to "user error").

Many times I was able to find birds using the binoculars and point them out to my wife for her to take pictures of.

I also had the opportunity to scan a large military transport plane that was flying by the other evening, and could very easily read the markings on the plane.

I found that I cannot use the binoculars zoomed out fully unless the subject is over 150 yards, or they are fuzzy (I was not able to view the turtles with them fully zoomed, but had to keep them about 3/4 zoomed).
I had been worried about using the binoculars with my glasses due to the eye relief, but with a little practice, I am finding that it is not an issue. It is easier to use them "bare eyed" (either with glasses pushed up on my forehead, or with my contacts), but can use them with glasses or sunglasses if need be, which is nice when something happens fast.
Due to the size and weight of the binoculars, I am easily able to carry both the binoculars (using the harness) and my Canon PowerShot S3is camera (using neck strap) and as long as I am careful, the do not get tangled up, and I can quickly grab whichever one is needed

The only complaint I have with the binoculars is the lens covers for the front of the lenses are not tight, and tend to fall off. After our outing, I ordered the "Bushwacker bino-optic cover (size 5)" from EagleOptics, and they are great. These are lenses covers that have pop-up covers that are always attached and are hinged so that a small amount of pressure pops them open. The URL is <http://www.eagleoptics.com/index.asp?pid=1383>.

As far as EagleOptics goes, they were great. I sent an email on Sunday evening at 5:20pm asking what size was needed for these binoculars, and had a response Monday morning at 8:30am. I ordered the covers Monday morning and they shipped Monday afternoon.
I have been extremely pleased with the level and quality of service that I have received from EagleOptics in both my questions to them and orders I have placed through them.

I can honestly say that if you are in the market for a good general purpose binocular, you should really that a long hard look at the Leupold Green Ring Yosemite 8x30 binoculars. I have been extremely pleased with this purchase and actually surprised at the quality I have gotten at the price I paid. I really figured that for the money, I would get "good" but not "great" glasses, but these are worth way more than I paid for them in my opinion.

Later,

Eric