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Misaligned new Minox BL HD 8x33 (1 Viewer)

Labdad

Member
Hi, I'm new here, but thought some might be interested in what I found to be a surprising experience.

I'm in the market for a pair of 8x32-ish roofs in the $400 - $500 range, and have ordered a couple of candidates from B&H for evaluation. First to arrive today was a pair of Minox BL HD 8x33. The packaging boasts that it contains "German. Precision. Optics." (I guess the periods are for emphasis or something.)

Because I didn't get my hands on them til after dark, all my testing so far has been indoors.

They look and feel nice but the two barrels are so horribly vertically misaligned that it seems pointless to evaluate anything else about them. It is impossible to get a fused image looking through both barrels.

At first I couldn't quite believe that brand new bins from a known manufacturer could be quite this bad. I made a target consisting of an 8-inch black circle on white paper with a crosshair (vertical and horizontal line) through the center, stuck it on the wall and viewed from around 15 feet. The lines seemed reasonably sharp but there were TWO horizontal lines offset vertically from each other by around 2.5 inches (measured afterward on the target). Do the trigonometry and this works out to around 0.8 degrees vertical misalignment. Wondering if there was something wrong with *me* I had my wife look through them without describing to her what I was seeing. She reported exactly the same.

Needless to say they'll be going back to B&H tomorrow.

I've seen lots of talk on this forum about sample variation and QC problems in mid-priced bins but this seemed extreme to me. Have others encountered anything like this in brand new buns in this price range (I paid $400 at B&H)?

--Russ
 
Sorry, NDhunter, my intention wasn't to "vent". Based on other posts I've read on this forum, (1) I thought some others might find this of interest, and (2) I'm genuinely curious about how unusual something like this is.

Perhaps I was mistaken about point #1.
 
I suppose just send it back to the seller, that would be the thing to do. Get your money back.

I should not have been so harsh. Good luck with this.

Jerry
 
lots of things could have happened to them that would throw them out of culmination...banged around, dropped, maybe just a misassembled unit....send them back and get a refund or have them send you a different one.....they are known to be pretty good mid range binoculars....
 
Surprised to hear that. The build quality was excellent but the optics weren’t the greatest. No misalignment but just not the sharpest or brightest. Actually would have kept them if the optics were a little better. Glad to have folks let us know about their experiences with different brands and models.
 
lots of things could have happened to them that would throw them out of culmination...banged around, dropped, maybe just a misassembled unit....send them back and get a refund or have them send you a different one.....they are known to be pretty good mid range binoculars....

"Collimation," not "culmination." :cat:

Bill
 
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