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Leupold BX-4 McKinley (1 Viewer)

Interesting video. ED glass in the objectives and "edge to edge" clarity. $750 price range. I wonder if these are the ones destined to replace the Golden Rings?
 
FrankD said:
Interesting video. ED glass in the objectives and "edge to edge" clarity. $750 price range. I wonder if these are the ones destined to replace the Golden Rings?
Click to expand...


I talked to the Leupold guys at their booth last weekend at DSC. They are for 2013 anyway, as there will be no GR HD replacement this year. The McKinley also promises a flat field of view according to their brochure. I understand his bias, but one of the Leupy guys said he had them side by side with several different binos costing $1500+ and couldn't see any difference at all. We'll see I guess.
 
Interesting. I wonder what improvements the "possible" new Golden Rings would have to better the McKinley if all you mentioned turns out to be true.
 
jgraider said:
I talked to the Leupold guys at their booth last weekend at DSC. They are for 2013 anyway, as there will be no GR HD replacement this year. The McKinley also promises a flat field of view according to their brochure. I understand his bias, but one of the Leupy guys said he had them side by side with several different binos costing $1500+ and couldn't see any difference at all. We'll see I guess.
Click to expand...
Did they have a McKinley on hand? I'm guessing not. I'm looking forward to seeing one myself. Hopefully sooner rather than later, but you just never know. ;)
 
They did not have one at the show unfortunately. They claim (as you said you never know) that they'll be ready to ship after the SHOT show.
 
Sounds like they are following Vortex with Warranty. Throw your bino against the wall... say you dropped it... and you get a new one... how nice! Don't particularly agree with it and wonder how much it adds to the cost of the product. Have noticed w/ other industry that did the same type of warranty that everything was grand on the front end but years down the road became problematic. It will be interesting to see what evolves over the years.

CG
 
cycleguy said:
Sounds like they are following Vortex with Warranty. Throw your bino against the wall... say you dropped it... and you get a new one... how nice! Don't particularly agree with it and wonder how much it adds to the cost of the product. Have noticed w/ other industry that did the same type of warranty that everything was grand on the front end but years down the road became problematic. It will be interesting to see what evolves over the years.

CG
Click to expand...

Vortex came along after Leupold by a good number of years. Leupold has always had one of the very best service and repair efforts in the optics industry. Vortex probably molded theirs after after Leupold, not the other way around.
 
I had wondered if these McKinleys would be similar in the bino line as the Kenai is in their spotter line, since they're both HD, and leaving room in the future for a flagship golden ring bino. However, the Kenai is a BX-2 and the McKinley is a BX-4, so I suppose not.

Very interested to see a pair of these and how they compare to the upper "HD" binos for under $1000.
 
Looking at the specs just now I am sort of questioning what isn't there to like about this binocular? I think it will be very tough to better it overall from a specs/features perspective. Oh, I am sure some folks would like it if it were 4 or 5 ounces lighter and had less than a 56 mm IPD but other than that...
 
FrankD said:
Looking at the specs just now I am sort of questioning what isn't there to like about this binocular? I think it will be very tough to better it overall from a specs/features perspective. Oh, I am sure some folks would like it if it were 4 or 5 ounces lighter and had less than a 56 mm IPD but other than that...
Click to expand...

6/10th's of an inch shorter and ditto on the weight!

Does it remind you any of the brown one?

CG
 
I saw this noted somewhere else, but it has almost identical specs and similar look as compared to the Zen-Ray Prime. I never consider this, but when you compare the two they are surprisingly or maybe not so surprisingly similar (based on other twins produced in the same factory with different nameplates).

Is that the case here? I look forward to finding out...

Todd
 
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I don't think SteveC would mind me relating the fact that he and I have been given the opportunity to review the new McKinleys. Mine arrived today. Steve has had his for awhile. Nothing more for me to post as I haven't had a chance to look at them in daylight yet. I am sure Steve has more to share and is probably putting something together. ;)
 
Just need to ask Leupold a couple more questions. The review is about ready. While it looks like it has a lot of similarities to the Prime, there are a couple of significant differences too. Great binocular.
 
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