[sammyboy]

I've just on impulse bought these Minox BD 8x32 BR binoculars on a buy it now for £35 (£41 inc. del) off Ebay - had a quick Google before plunging in and it appears these have been discontinued but are excellent phase coated, aspherical bins that have had good reviews both here and elsewhere.

Now, the bins have lost their 'Minox' label but look identical to any info I've found on these binoculars - have I got a bargain or rushed in and bought something rubbish or possibly fake? Sorry if this is a silly question by the way!

[P H]

Look like all the pics I've seen of em. The seller as got 100% positive feedback so if these are genuine great price Could try getting in touch with Minox to see if it would be possible to get a badge and stick it on (no harm in trying) if I'd seen em I would have gone for them, well done mate. Keep us updated lets know if they are the real deal.

[sammyboy]

Cheers for the replies, the seller said he posted them today (Mon) and should be with me before 12.30 tomorrow, so will report back then!

Looks like they've been well used judging by the pics but a few marks don't bother me, I'd come to the conclusion they were genuine - perhaps the seller didn't realise that these are worth more than he sold them for!

I've gone a bit mad on optics buying of late, think I'd best get some going the other way and sell a couple of pairs either on here or ebay!

[sammyboy]

Got the Minoxes today - and they do appear genuine, there's a Minox badge with serial number under the left lens barrel, and if they are fake the view through them must be as good as the original! They do seem to have seen a lot of action though, had to use my air blower and a brush to carefully remove what seemed like half a beach worth of sand from out of the various nooks and crannies! The seller was a little over-generous when saying the lenses were fine, there are some fine scratches on the eyepiece lenses, though not enough to cause any kind of problem.

Excellent bins, certainly on a par with my Pentax DCF HS's, will have to do a comparison between the two later.

I'm very pleased with the £41 inc. postage I spent on these though, and I should recoup the money as getting these will 'free up' a couple of other pairs for me to sell :)

[davem]

A fine bargain!

Looking at them I think they will be the slightly earlier non-aspherical version but at £41, it's still a find to be proud of!

[sammyboy]

Just about to go to work but I'll try to get a couple of pics up later. Well please with them!

[P H]

Result Sammyboy they should have still got a good few years in them. If you decide to sell them on at a later date you should make a nice profit. Look forward to the photos.

[sammyboy]

Here are the pictures as promised, light was rather poor and using the flash so apologies for the poor exposure!

There's still a bit of sand in the focussing wheel, which I might have another go at removing.

Excuse the dust in the last pic btw!

[ceasar]

Some how or other, I deleted my earlier post by mistake.

I'll make some comments on how my BD 10 x 32 BR compares to the pictures you show in thread #8.

#1. Front view looks the same. #2. The logo on my focus wheel also includes the following: "Aspheric Lens Technology." The name Minox is not on the focus wheel. Instead there is a large ornate "A." #3. The serial # plate is the same as yours. #4. My strap says Minox (in red) and Germany (in white smaller letters.) #5 See comments in #2. The color of the focus wheel seems to be the same--two tone black and gray.

Bob

[P H]

Looks like these could be the first model 8x32 before they changed to the aspherical lenses. Still good binoculars and a good buy, enjoy them.

[davem]

Originally Posted by P H

Looks like these could be the first model 8x32 before they changed to the aspherical lenses. Still good binoculars and a good buy, enjoy them.

Indeed, with a serial number starting 0310xxxx they are indeed the version previous to the Aspherical version, although at £41 I doubt any complaints will be heard!

[sammyboy]

It's a shame it's not aspherical, but I am very pleased with the image quality, especially at the price paid! Is there much difference with aspherical lenses, I find these to be very sharp anyway, only about the outer 1/5 does it get slightly softer. Is there a way of dating the bins from the serial number?

Thanks for the feedback everyone! :)

[Kevin Purcell]

A single aspherical lens is added in the EP to reduce field curvature i.e. to make the image sharper to the edge (a larger sweet spot) and simplify the lns design.

Usually the lens used is a hybrid lens (a glass/plastic composite lens because it's easier to turn a aspherical surface on soft plastic than hard glass.