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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

BX-4 McKinley HD, new version (1 Viewer)

Should have had mine by now but have not seen therm. I've been so busy with 12-16 hour days lately I frankly forgot about them :eek!:. I actually called my Leupold contact and asked what's up.
 
Steve,

Any updates?

I finally had time to get to my contact at Leupold. This is my busiest time of the year and I'm logging 12-18 hours a day these days. He said they McKinley is selling faster than they can order more. This has my Leupold guy all smiles ;). I "think" I will have a specimen from the Leupold Optics lab on the way tomorrow or the next day.

I had told him to get to their orders first. So that cost me some ;).
 
Steve,

Please put the new McKinley in the freezer overnight , at least 8h at -18°C or colder..It would be interesting to hear if they have improved sub zero performance on the new version. If you still have the old version at hand, put it in the freezer at the same time to compare the two, and let us know your findings....

There is no information about temperature performance in the specs on their web site: http://www.leupold.com/hunting-shoo...kinley-hd-binoculars/bx-4-mckinley-hd-8x42mm/

It is fun to read "Add in Leupold´s legendary rugged dependability and you may never need another pair of binoculars"....I wonder why they wrote "...and you may...." hmm :)

Concerning my own McKinley, the first version, which has very bad sub zero performannce concerning focusing, and my attempt to find out if it is possible to get a service on it to get better sub zero performance, I got a telephone number to a guy at a company here in Sweden, who is "the" contact for leupold service here, I tried to phone him maybe ten times on different days two month ago, but no one answered, so for now I cannot recommend people buying Leupold products here in Sweden. I emailed Leupold in USA some months ago but no reply there either.....

My ZR Prime got rather loose in the hinges when i was out yesterday, it was sunny and warm... so it seems warm and cold temperatures may be a problem for at least chin bins :)


Anders
 
...and could you drive over it a few times and shoot it with a gun! :clap:

-18c for 8hr seems to be pretty extreme.

I've fallen off the Leupold bandwagon, but I'm hoping they hit a homerun with the new unit.

I suspect they will be competing with the Vortex Viper HD and better given the price point.

The old version was very slow to arrive at stores around here. When it did, they were already marked down on-line for clearance and the new unit was nearing release.

Wish that would change. No fun for a bino to be out for a year before the local retailers start carrying it.

CG
 
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...and could you drive over it a few times and shoot it with a gun! :clap:

-18c for 8hr seems to be pretty extreme.
CG

Well, it is made for hunters....and rugged :)

-18c is not extreme here in Sweden, i guess not like in Kanada either.

I wonder if Leupold has any binocular that has easy focussing at -18c?

For summertime use i like my McKinley, very good optics.
It is a pity some vendors can't specify temperature performance so we know in advance what we are buying....it becomes a lottery..

Well, we have discussed this issue earlier in another thread, we have different point of views, and that is good.

Anders
 
Steve,

Anything new to report???
I ran into a Leupy rep at Cabelas about two weekends ago. He thought the BX-4 would be shipping in another week.....

CG
 
Slow boat from China.

Jerry

Who knows? I thought I had some handle on these, but I guess not. Have not seen one yet. Calls in to Leupold. Sorry I could not get into this before now, but time has not been my friend lately. Long days and out of town.

EDIT: My Leupold guy just called back. Maybe this time I'll get one. When I know more so will you folks. However the review might not be here. Frank and I are working on our own site, and the review might go there...depending on ...stuff.
 
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Who knows? I thought I had some handle on these, but I guess not. Have not seen one yet. Calls in to Leupold. Sorry I could not get into this before now, but time has not been my friend lately. Long days and out of town.

EDIT: My Leupold guy just called back. Maybe this time I'll get one. When I know more so will you folks. However the review might not be here. Frank and I are working on our own site, and the review might go there...depending on ...stuff.

Steve:

Its good to see a post from you. I'm sure you've been busy this year trying
to keep the crop watered.

It seems delays are common throughout the optics industry.
Better to get it good, than to speed up one that was not ready.

Jerry
 
Steve:

Its good to see a post from you. I'm sure you've been busy this year trying
to keep the crop watered.

It seems delays are common throughout the optics industry.
Better to get it good, than to speed up one that was not ready.

Jerry

It may be because all the stuff is farmed out to someone else to build these days?
 
It may be because all the stuff is farmed out to someone else to build these days?
That has to play a large part in the issue. However we seem to see all sorts of instant gratification type early product release announcements, far, far in advance of the product actual appearance, in just about every retail field. For instance the latest and greatest big deal new smartphones often are not available for months after they are announced.

I really think that the deal Leupold wanted to do with the move of the diopter from the right barrel to the center focus turned out to be a bigger issue than anyone figured it would be. So if that's the case then I am glad they made the decision to do it right (at least I hope it will be right...I'll know that when I finally see one). We see far too many prototype product releases as regular run items when they need another prototype stage or two before they get released.
 
That has to play a large part in the issue. However we seem to see all sorts of instant gratification type early product release announcements, far, far in advance of the product actual appearance, in just about every retail field. For instance the latest and greatest big deal new smartphones often are not available for months after they are announced.

I really think that the deal Leupold wanted to do with the move of the diopter from the right barrel to the center focus turned out to be a bigger issue than anyone figured it would be. So if that's the case then I am glad they made the decision to do it right (at least I hope it will be right...I'll know that when I finally see one). We see far too many prototype product releases as regular run items when they need another prototype stage or two before they get released.

I bet youre right on early product release announcements. Keeping the name on peoples tongues.

That rush to get to market, it seems it used to be that companies wanted to produce a product that was solid, now they just use the customer for quality control.
 
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