Baigish BPOC 10x42? (1 Viewer)

Hello

Thinking to purchase a pair of Baigish 10x42's (Russian Military) from a fellow...

Are they worth buying? Any reviews or advice?
I know they are a bit yellow in view, although I cannot test them before purchase.

I've been offered them for $265 (New). Good or bad buy?

I have one of these and they are well liked. They have unusual flat field eyepieces, either seven elements or initially eight elements I think.
I paid a lot less than that but quite a long time ago.

$265 seems a bit high, but I don't know what they are going for nowadays. I suppose for a new one that might be okay. But when it says new, is it new old stock or newly made? With many Russian or ex-Soviet satellite country binoculars the date is part of the serial number.
Actually with many Russian binoculars they were better in Soviet times as they were heavily subsidised.

There is also the 7×30, from memory, which is basically the same binocular I think with a different front-end.

Are you sure those are real military Allweather 10x42？
Military one has twist up/dowm eyecup.
The third photo showing civilian 10x42

winwinbino said:

Are you sure those are real military Allweather 10x42？
Military one has twist up/dowm eyecup.
The third photo showing civilian 10x42

Click to expand...

Is the Putkin photo taken from the Olympics? Or is this when he rounded up Ukrainians in an arena to fight lions? Not a fan, as you can tell.

Are these still yellow tinted? As I recall, that was an issue early on with the 10x42 and 7x40. The 10x42 was also said to produce "rolling ball" in those susceptible individuals (the 5% minority, according to Zeiss doctors).

Brock

I read somewhere that they changed the eye cups in 1994. (Your military photo has a mfg date of 1991).

I guess you can say I am looking to buy the commercial model, I dont know any Russian Soldiers who would be willing to "lift" a pair.

Actually, If I could find, I would kinda prefer the pre 1994 model with the twist up rubber cups.

I have handled/bought/sold a fair amount of glass, but never any of these. Curious to give them a try....

slingworks said:

I read somewhere that they changed the eye cups in 1994. (Your military photo has a mfg date of 1991).

I guess you can say I am looking to buy the commercial model, I dont know any Russian Soldiers who would be willing to "lift" a pair.

Actually, If I could find, I would kinda prefer the pre 1994 model with the twist up rubber cups.

I have handled/bought/sold a fair amount of glass, but never any of these. Curious to give them a try....

Click to expand...

Think they are a bit of a crapshoot for quality, but the underlying optical design is very good. So do you feel lucky....

Might add that afaik, the old Soviet Union factory is still around and still using the same optics designs, but now under private management. The transition from Soviet era milspec to todays civilian marketplace was very rough. It would not surprise me if there was good quality output today, more consistently than during the chaos years of Yeltsin.

There's quite a lot of information on the web about these binoculars, especially the 7x30. Check Holger's website, for instance:

http://www.holgermerlitz.de/kronos8x40.html
http://www.holgermerlitz.de/bpo7x30/bpo7x30.html
http://www.holgermerlitz.de/edf7x40.html
http://www.holgermerlitz.de/kronos10x50.html

The last reference is about the 10x42. If you search this forum for the 7x30 you'll find quite a lot of information as well, including some pretty recent comments by Renze de Vries. The 10x42 is basically the same binocular as the 7x30.

What I think of the 7x30 (which I've got myself)? It's a very interesting binocular, with incredible edge performance. A must-have for anyone who likes to fool around with binoculars. Not really ideal for birding because of the strong yellow tint and because it's an IF, but just a lot of fun. Optically it's not very good when viewing against the light, that's apart form the yellow tint (and the rolling ball, introduced for Brock's benefit no doubt) the only real fault I can see. OK, if it had modern, up-to-date coating it would be better still. In fact, with up-to-date coating it would run circles around most if not all modern roofs.

BTW, I don't think there a difference between "military" and a "civilian" model at all. They're all the same. The only change I know of was the switch in the eyecup design that was in all likelihood just a measure to facilitate easier and thus less costly production. I've got one with the rubber eyecups and handled a few with the twist-up eyecups, and I couldn't see a difference. I've also never seen one yet one that wasn't very good optically. They seem to know their stuff at Baigish.

Hermann

brocknroller said:

Is the Putkin photo taken from the Olympics? Or is this when he rounded up Ukrainians in an arena to fight lions? Not a fan, as you can tell.

Are these still yellow tinted? As I recall, that was an issue early on with the 10x42 and 7x40. The 10x42 was also said to produce "rolling ball" in those susceptible individuals (the 5% minority, according to Zeiss doctors).

Brock

Click to expand...

Brock,

Surely they show yellow tint includes any other old days military bins no matter USSR, CZJ or anyhting else. People looking for Alllweather 7x30 or 10x42 is for collection purpose. So, must be military issue and they are quite difficult to find.

Civilian counterpart could be obtain anytime under $200 for 7x30 and a bit more for 10x42.

Andy

Hi Andy, thanks for the posting.
Can you share some sources of these under $200? The cheapest I have found were around $270.

. You will probably find a lot of the military versions in Sweden in the near future if the Swedes don't look out and reinstate their defence forces.
Submarines are popping up outside Stockholm. Unfriendly aircraft overflying without challenge.

At least some of their neighbours gave a strong warning and dropped mock bombs on the intruding subs.

slingworks said:

Hi Andy, thanks for the posting.
Can you share some sources of these under $200? The cheapest I have found were around $270.

Click to expand...

They are readily available at most China optics shops imported driect from Russia. I am an Asian so the shipping is not a big deal. Adding postage to USA, the total amount would be some $240 for a brand new bins.

Some photos:

Thanks for the help to all.

. The binocular in the photographs seems to be made in 2012.
The coating colours are typical from this factory.

The paperwork is also typical from this factory.