New Leupold Binoculars (1 Viewer)

Leupold had a booth at the Sportsman's Show and the had just about all of their current binocular lineup.

Northfork. These are Japanese, and the optics are very much like the MonarchX and Vortex Razor. They advertise them as slim hinge. They are a nice ergonomic package. I think they are a little better than the Gold Ring, and I think that the GR and NF will shoot it out for the top spot in the Leupold line. There was still no one in the Leupold booth who had the first clue as to why the hinge design is like it is. The Northfork does not appear to be the flimsy thing the pictures show. You will have to be extremely picky not to like the image, but it is not quite as clear and sharp as the ZEN.

The Rogue is a nice porro glass. The glass appears to be better than what I recall from my brothers Mesa, but it is very nice. No idea if it it replacing the Mesa or not, but the Mesa is still in the catalog

Olympic Double Hinge is a really nice 25mm pocket size binocular. It is $325 US for the 8x25. It has a 273' fov.

The Yosemite is getting some new finishes. There is a camo finish, a Blaze Orange camo and a pink camo. There were lots of little girls liking the pink.

And finally the actually had the switch powers. The images of these were actually better than I expected they might be. They are better than the Katmai and Pinnacle they resemble, but almost but not quite as bright as the Gold Ring and the Northfork.

The 10&17x43 are a bit light and will be OK at 10x, but there better be a tripod handy for 17. I was pretty taken with the 7&12x32. It is right there with the Swift 7x36, and is surprising bright and sharp and hanholdable at 12x. I might have to shift some binocular inventory around and give these a go.

I won't put a lot of stock in a bunch of quick expo comparisons, but, the new Northforks and the Switch power are on my list of to try out binoculars.

Steve,

Do you know how much you have me drooling with all these optical experiences you had the sportsmans' show? We have a big show going on a few hours away from me this week. I might have to make a trip down to see who is represented.

Well, the 7and 12x32 have a chance. Could not be worse than the old 25mm reverse porro zooms we see around.
Nice website
http://www.leupold.com/observation/...n-ring-712x32mm-with-switch-power-technology/

is 7.1 deg fov enough for the 7x ?

Tero said:

Well, the 7and 12x32 have a chance. Could not be worse than the old 25mm reverse porro zooms we see around.

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The only image that will be better than the 7x Switch power will come from one of the alphas The 7x Switch is very close to the image of the big boys. The 12x deterioriates a little bit at the edge, but the center is still very nice.

Their price has increased in the last 2 months. $950.00 at Eagle Optics. They were under $800.00 a couple of months ago.
Bob

The Switch power picture didn't turn out. Northfork shown below.

Hmm, I get a different impression of the slim bridge design from that picture in comparison to the one posted earlier. The bridge seems to be more in the true center of the barrels or closer to it than conventional bins. I wonder what that is going to do to handling especially with the focusing knob placement.

FrankD said:

Hmm, I get a different impression of the slim bridge design from that picture in comparison to the one posted earlier. The bridge seems to be more in the true center of the barrels or closer to it than conventional bins. I wonder what that is going to do to handling especially with the focusing knob placement.

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That's a reason I took that picture. It did seem to me that it looked a bit different from the representations from other sources. The hinge is indeed pretty much in the middle. However, the focus knob seems to be right where it should be. There seems nothing special about the feel of this binocular except that the barrels in front of the hinge give a longer gripping surface. Plenty of room for three fingers around the barrel. They are not as long as they look, about a hlaf inch shorter than the ZEN.

They are not as long as they look, about a hlaf inch shorter than the ZEN.

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Now that is a surprise. I had assumed they were actually longer and "fatter" than the Zen EDs. When are these set to hit the market?

There was a booth from an outfit called Wilderness Outfitters (I think, and there is a ton of wilderness outfitters) that had a big binocular display, they had the 10.5x45 for sale at $649, So some are probably there now at various places, but nobody that has any shows up with google. SWFA seems to have the best price at $549 for the 8.5x.

My first thought when I see the picture is a doubtfulness about that short stage between the barrels. It may result in that the levering force (in a case of accidently bumping or pressing) applied on the barrels could easy make the binocular out of collimation.

Regards, Patric

Steve C said:

Olympic Double Hinge is a really nice 25mm pocket size binocular. It is $325 US for the 8x25. It has a 273' fov.

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Leupold's site states the weight of these at 14.6 oz! That would seem almost tough to do. Maybe they're made of steel.

I'd like to try out both of the Switch/Power bins.

Kevin Conville said:

Leupold's site states the weight of these at 14.6 oz! That would seem almost tough to do. Maybe they're made of steel.

I'd like to try out both of the Switch/Power bins.

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Kevin,

They look and feel (weight too) exactly like the Pentax in size and shape. The only difference I saw, aside from the brown rubber armor, was the Leupold had an easier to operate focus knob and is easier to focus, despite what looks like knobs from the same batch as the Pentax. The Leupold had what I thought was a sharper image with better color and better apparent brightness. They are somewhere around $300 or so, sort of splits the difference between the Pentax and the alphas, both price and image wise. They have a much more solid feel than the Pentax. The Pentax I used at the Show was a used one from a Camera Store a couple of booth down from Leupold. I might have bought that if the focus wasn't funky.

Those Switch powers are way cool. I'm going to see what I have to get done in order to at least try a 7/12x32. They look a physical twin to the Eaglet, or a bit of a stretched out Katmai. 12x was a lot better than I though. 7x might be a bit narrow fov for some, but from what I could tell sans a direct comparison, you will have to go to the Meopta 8x32 or above to beat it.

Anyone hear anything further on any of these new Leupold models? I have not seen much floating around the various other optics forums yet....even those with Leupold as a sponsor.