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Any 8x42 HG Black Edition owners? (1 Viewer)

sw686blue

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Any 8x43 HG Black Edition owners?

Hello,

Are there any Minox HG "Black Edition" owners here? These limited edition binoculars were introduced sometime in 2014 (May or June). I've found a couple of reviews on these binos and they were highly rated. I was hoping to also get some real, hands-on experience with these binos.

I'm in the market for my first pair of binoculars and there is a private seller who is selling his for $800 Canadian which is half price of what they sell for at the store. They are in like-new condition.

So far, I have looked at the Monarch 7, Conquest HD, Bushnell Elite ED and the Vanguard Endeavour II ED. This weekend I will visit another store that carries the Vortex Viper HD and Kowas, as well.

I love the beautiful and classic look of the Minox, but I would like to hear from people that own them and can comment on them as well.

Thank you so much.
Nick
 
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Hello,

Are there any Minox HG "Black Edition" owners here? These limited edition binoculars were introduced sometime in 2014 (May or June). I've found a couple of reviews on these binos and they were highly rated. I was hoping to also get some real, hands-on experience with these binos.

I'm in the market for my first pair of binoculars and there is a private seller who is selling his for $800 Canadian which is half price of what they sell for at the store. They are in like-new condition.

So far, I have looked at the Monarch 7, Conquest HD, Bushnell Elite ED and the Vanguard Endeavour II ED. This weekend I will visit another store that carries the Vortex Viper HD and Kowas, as well.

I love the beautiful and classic look of the Minox, but I would like to hear from people that own them and can comment on them as well.

Thank you so much.
Nick



I don't have one but they seem to have come only in the GERMAN HG 8/10x42 BR series. The special edition is all black and has a black focus knob and diopter ring. Their eye cups also seem to be longer as pictured below. There doesn't seem to be any differences in their optics.

Curiously, their price is also lower than that of the standard gray model.

See the link below with pictures of both the Special Edition Black and the Gray models. They are made in Germany--see link.

http://www.cameralandny.com/optics/minox.pl?page=62189

Bob
 
Over here they seem to be priced the same. I do have a pair in front of me (black 8x43) which I recently bought in a sale while I could. I terms of construction they are nicely made and I set them to my 'standard' dioptre correction and they were spot on, this seems to be the case with all Minox bins I have handled recently.

The fast focussing action is one of its great selling points for me, however, for anyone who has difficulty with anything that doesn't focus in the same direction as Nikon or modern Zeiss it may not appeal. As I have a complete mishmash of bins that focus differently it ceased to be a problem for me years ago.

The eyecups are nicely detented and stay put, I can't comment on eye relief as I don't wear glasses.

I havn't had these long and they havn't been out in the field yet, but they seem to have CA well controlled, none discernable centre field with the standard top of tree against white cloud test.

I do find eye placement quite critical, but that may have a lot to do with my facial geometry, however it is something that I am aware of.

(Update - I have just been out comparing them with a number of assorted bins and I feel much more favourably disposed towards them - they do have a nice crisp, contrasty view and certainly have none of the 'tunnel' view you get with a lot of them. The colour transmission seems similar to my FLs in the current light. The eye placement seems to be less of a problem now, I think if the eye cups were a different shape they would suit my facial contours more, but since this is a common problem for me maybe it can be disregarded.)

Unfortunately I don't have any of the similar priced roofs you list to compare them with and saying that my 8x32 FLs are better in most respects, is not a great help (I do prefer the Minox focusing action it is fast, smooth without any excess drag).

As a car set I know they are reasonably bomb proof - I once left a pair of Minox 8x32 mijs out overnight in a thunderstorm with the covers off, once I had shaken the pools of water out of the eyecups they were fine - so they are definitely waterproof.

The only Vortex Viper I ever tried was not as sharp as these, however, as it was being sold second hand it may have been a bad example.

Not really an in depth review, and real use will be the decider in the long run on what I think of them, but a first impressions summary as a starter.

N.B. I actually prefer the MIG 8x33 grey dial model from the point of view of their balance and increased angle of view, but in terms of eye cup size and the general image they are the same. The closer focussing of the 8x33 can be ignored, my eyes can't distort enough to take advantage, they are both good in this respect.
 
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Camera Land is running a promo sale on the Black Edition models $200 off regular pricing everyone else is selling the gray model for $1150 USD the MSRP is $1549 USD (this is the price your seeing on Camera Land's website.) Looks like they neglected to update the price for the gray models.

They are the exact same aside from the color of the control elements. See link!

https://www.all4shooters.com/en/home/optics/2014-news/Minox-HG-Black-Edition-binoculars/
 
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They are definitely made in Germany and, I too, found it odd that they were priced lower than the gray model.

Hey Blue I have a (like new) made in Germany 10x43 Minox HG (gray) silver model for sale send me a PM if your interested asking $750
 
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