Specs for Northfork and Rogue (1 Viewer)

Specifications for the new Northfork, compact dual hinge Olympics, and Rogue binoculars from Leupold are now on the Leupold website.

The Northfork appears to be similar to the new Monarch X, sans front hinge and center rod.

The Rogue appears to be nothing more than the Mesa with new coatings. I had wondered if they might be a larger version of the Yosemite, apparently not.

http://www.leupold.com/hunting-and-shooting/products/binoculars/rogue-series/

http://www.leupold.com/hunting-and-shooting/products/binoculars/northfork-series/

http://www.leupold.com/hunting-and-shooting/products/binoculars/olympic-compact-dual-hinge-series/

Thanks for the links, Steve.

Looks like the Rogue is doing the (now common?) "constant exit pupil size family" design with shared prism enclosure and eyepieces with different objective tubes added for each magnification.

This seems to be coming he standard in recent porro designs e.g Nikon SE family, Nikon E2 family, Bushnell Legend porro family. So they can minimize the number of different parts and maximize the number of "expensive bits" to keep the price down.

They have quite a narrow field (6.5 degrees). The quote exit pupil size is 4.9mm less than one might expect. And have external focusing but are waterproof. But they do only weight 23.5oz.

But their 24 feet close focus distance will kill them for birders.

The Northforks are quite long (just over 6 inches) and they do seem like an open bridge without the bottom part. They're not light either (27oz). Narrow FOV.

For others who missed the first comments after the SHOT Show see this thread

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=132188
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=132008

When I called Leupold to ask a couple of questions, they said everybody was still finishing the new optics introduction courses and they would be up to speed next week. Those Rogue look just like the Mesa, right down to the last spec. So what I was wondering is what is different and are the Mesa going to go away when the last once so labelled is sold.

I can't shake the image of a fragile binocular when I look at that Northfork. So there were two of the questions for Leupold. I haven't checked the exhibitor's list, but I hope they will be at the Sportsman Show. It's in their backyard, so they should be there.

Leupold had the Northfork, Rogue, and the Olympic double hinge compact. Quick first impressions;

Northfork; looks like the optics of the Razor, and Japanese. They were maybe six booths from Zen Ray, so I packed in my Promaster and a ZEN ED from the ZR booth. The Northfork Leupold had was 8.5, Wilderness Outfitters had a 10.5. Images were pretty comparable, but I'd put the ZEN/Promaster a bit ahad. The Lepold guys thought I meant EP (exit pupil) when I asked about ED glass, so I don't know about that. Wilderness Outfitters hd the 10.5 for $649.00. The Nortfork is at least as good as the Gold Ring. When I asked how they thought they were going to sell the Northfork for $650 when the better ZEN was there for $400, they emphasized the service, warranty, and, longeviety of Leupold. Valid enough, I suppose. The Norhfork has no flimsy appearance about it. It is definitely good enough to go.

Rogue; If it is different from th Mesa, I can't see it, except that the eyecups are different. They didn't have a Mesa, but the Rogue is very bright and sharp.

Double Hinge Olympic; Darn fine double hinge small pocket size bin. They said dealer price was going to be in the $300 range. THe fov is small @273', but a good image. I wonder about the price, will need to check that further.

They also had both switch power binoculars. More there later, but these have a thumbs up for now.