• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Yosemite BX-1 10x30 *NEW MODEL* (1 Viewer)

brocknroller

porromaniac
United States
I don't see a thread with this title, so maybe it's news to some of you, it was news to me. Dick's Sporting Goods will probably carry these so I'll get to try them and post my impressions. The big draw, well, besides the price, is the FOV 6.7*/67* AFOV. If the edge sharpness is comparable to the 8x30 model, that should be a sweet view if the pincushion isn't excessive.

Yosemite 10x30

@ 15mm, the ER should work better for me than the 18.5mm on the 6x30, which seemed longer than the eyecups. I had to hold them back from my face to avoid image blackouts.

My only concern with the 10x model is that the weight (17 oz.) will be too light to keep those bad vibrations from a-happenin' with her.... Gotta keep those bad vibrations from a-happenin'...

Having sold all three of my 10x bins last year - EII, SE and Celestron Nova - I miss the LARGER view of the bird, but being poorer than a church mouse's housekeeper, I need to downsize my budget, and with the Yosemite, The Price Is Right.

Bob Barker
 
Hey Brock,

Before you get a 10x Yosemite, you might look into the Redfield Renegade 10x36 that you can get for $62 (w/free shipping) from Midwayusa.com. I haven't looked through the 10x version, but I can tell you that the 8x version is an astounding buy for $55. The 8x Renegade is slightly larger and heavier than the Yosemite, but IMO provides a better view. It also provides a sharper and brighter view than does the Sightron SII Blue Sky 8x32. If the 10x provides a similar measure of performance, it would be a great buy indeed.

Phil
 
Hey Brock,

Before you get a 10x Yosemite, you might look into the Redfield Renegade 10x36 that you can get for $62 (w/free shipping) from Midwayusa.com. I haven't looked through the 10x version, but I can tell you that the 8x version is an astounding buy for $55. The 8x Renegade is slightly larger and heavier than the Yosemite, but IMO provides a better view. It also provides a sharper and brighter view than does the Sightron SII Blue Sky 8x32. If the 10x provides a similar measure of performance, it would be a great buy indeed.

Phil

Phil,

Heavier is not necessarily a bad thing with a 10x bin, and the 10x36 configuration is more appealing for its larger aperture and exit pupil size. I thought the 10x35 EII was "just right" - not too small, not too big. Even though it only weighed 22 oz., the view was steady in my hands unlike the 24 oz. 10x42 SE, which gave me the DTs. Great view, but shaky. The Nova had an 80* AFOV! Space walk view on the night sky, but @39 oz., though steady as a rock, was too heavy for birding, and the eye relief → 0 mm.

The Redfield has inverted prisms like the old Bushnell Custom, do you find it comfortable to hold?

Redfield Renegade 10x36

Brock
 
I got the 10x30 yosemites last year. I've found it to be a really fun bin to use, even though the eye relief is a bit short for an eyeglass wearer like myself (peeling off the rubber eyecups helps). I'm not sure if the 6.7* fov figure is accurate. That's the number printed on the side of the box, but 6.6* is printed right on the binocular itself, so which one should we believe?
As far as the view, I was pleasantly surprised by the size of the sweet spot. Lots of porros in the $100-150 price range have +/- 65* eyepieces (for example, 7x35s with 9.3* fov, 8x42s with 8.2* fov, 10x50s with 6.5* fov), and of the handful that I've tried, I've typically found the sweet spot to be around 50% with really soft edges. The sweet spot for this version of yosemite seems noticeably bigger to me, probably over 60%. Optically, the only issue I've had with my pair is a notable amount of purple fringing /CA along the edges of the field stop, which can sometimes present itself as a flash of purple on high contrast areas on the extreme edge of the field (I've tried to take a picture of this, below). But all-in-all I think this is a good value bin for non-eyeglass wearers.
 

Attachments

  • DSCN1751.JPG
    DSCN1751.JPG
    119.1 KB · Views: 427
  • DSCN1755.JPG
    DSCN1755.JPG
    110.8 KB · Views: 436
  • DSCN1748.JPG
    DSCN1748.JPG
    88 KB · Views: 482
Peatmoss,

Thanks for sharing that information. 6.7* would have been nice, but 6.6* is not far behind and still quite good for a 10x bin. I didn't realize they already were out last year. Dick's doesn't have the 10x model listed on its website and it usually carries the 10x model in the bins they sell. Last time I visited the store, I tried a BX-1 8x30 Yosemite, a Nikon 10x42 M5, and a Nikon 10x42 Prostaff 7. They didn't have 8x42s in the M5 and P7s, but I figured they only had the 8x in the Yosemite because that's all that Leupold made. I'm sure they will eventually get the 10x Yosemite in stock.

My only reservation is the CA. As long as it's in the extreme edges of the field, that wouldn't be an issue, but if it were noticeable on-axis, that would be since being waterproof I would tend to use this in "iffy" weather and in the winter. Well, also the weight. @ 17 oz. it might not be heavy enough to keep those bad vibrations a-happenin' with her.

Repeatmoss
 
There are some oddities on the Leupold website which shows two 10 x 30 Yosemites. An older 10 x 30 BX-1 Clamshell which costs $149.00 and a new 10 x 30 BX 1 which lists for $129.00. The pictures of them look alike. Does anybody here know what is going on with that? You will find them under the "Observation" heading on the website. The website is dated 2014 but it does not look up to date.

http://www.leupold.com/observation/binoculars/

I also note that Eagle Optics now is carrying only 5 different Leupold Binoculars and the Yosemites, Hawthornes and McKinleys are not listed.

http://www.eagleoptics.com/binoculars/leupold

Bob
 
Last edited:
Brock, the CA through most of the field isn't too bad... no worse than the 6x30. It's just at the extreme edges that it will show itself. I actually have no problems handholding the 10x30 in spite of its light weight, but that's probably because the yosemite body just happens to fit my small hands really well, and I can brace the bins against my glasses.

Caesar, about Eagle, SteveC had a throwaway line in his Mojave thread where he seemed to say that EO was phasing out it's Leupold dealership. I didn't think much of it at the time, but as you noticed their Leupold selection does seem to be shrinking. I actually got my Mojave from them for around $250, and a couple of weeks later, they stopped selling that model. Not sure what's going on with them. Over the past year or so, they've stopped carrying Nikon, Kenko, and now maybe Leupold. On the other hand they've picked up Opticron. I hope the store is doing ok.
 
I got a small catalog from Cabelas today for June 19th through 4th of July savings. They are offering the 8x30 BX1 Yosemites in Black for $99.99, Mossy Oak for $109.99 and the Black 10x30s for 119.99. That's $30.00 off the regular price they say. No other binoculars listed.

Bob
 
Interesting the spacing and blackouts of the 8x30s persist in the 10x30s.
The easy solution, if you wears glasses, is to always wear glasses with Yosemites.
It adds fixtured relief, and your glasses (if you are neearsighted) push away the
spherical aberration and blackouts.

I ended up loving the Barska crossover 8x30 clones....no blackouts and a full field for glasses.
Very crisp. I had to soup up the focuser, though. Doing it all again, I'd be tempted to try
the Redfield Renegades. The rebuilt Barskas take care of my cheap-but-great 8x30 need,
tossing in the trunk, though. For 10x, I'm at 42mm, so I can also do astro.
 
Last edited:
Warning! This thread is more than 9 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top