Steve C
Well-known member
Leupold BX-3 Mojave 8x32 Review
Subtitle: The Mad Binocular Scientist vs the Arts and Accessories Department.
Well, I’ve had this binocular for some time now, so here is the review. This took Leupold some time to get out, but, I think it will prove worth the wait.
http://www.leupold.com/hunting-shooting/binoculars/bx-3-mojave-series/bx-3-mojave-8x32mm/
I won’t bother to list specifications and such information as the viewer can get from the above link to the binocular’s page. For general information, this a Japanese OEM/Leupold project. MSRP is $439.
The binocular scientist got things right here, but as I found out, one will have to deal with the accessory folks before you can get into the good stuff. The first thing you don’t notice right off, but it will become apparent that the case is too small. The new plastic wrapped binocular slips right out. However what you will notice is the rain guard. Yeah, the blasted rain guard, of all things to make a first impression. It is of ample size, is well enough made. So, what’s the problem? It is so slick that it makes the suction grip from hell with the softer somewhat textured rubber eye cup coverings. Trust me, it is not easy to get off. The slightly short case requires the eye cups to be screwed down and when the Velcro case closure is fastened, there is that suction seal all over again. This is all pretty minor as any rubber eye guard of the right size other than the slick plastic contrivance solves the issue. I quickly decided to use a case from an old Yosemite. The accessories folks did get the neck strap right. It is just right in length, about an inch and a quarter wide, nicely padded, and very stretchy. It comes with nice snap on connectors, which Leupold needs to make standard on all of its lines. There is a little blue cleaning cloth in the package too.
As to the arts people, I can’t say I’m really a fan of the artsy design the included in the rubber armor. The smooth, slightly raised ridges are no particular hindrance, but the feel would be enhanced if the whole rubber suit was the stippled, textured style present in the bulk of the armor. That would enhance the grip, slim up the profile a bit as well. But, not much of an issue.
When the binocular finds itself freed from the bonds of the case and rain guard, we are in for a surprise. The short story is the optical performance is superb. Four things stand tall as strong points in the new Mojave. First is it has an apparently flat field, certainly flatter than anyone would tend to suspect from a binocular lacking field flattening technology. Second is that the edge performance is at least as good as the flatness of the field. Third is how bright it is, particularly in light limited situations. Forth, for having no ED glass, CA is as well controlled as several highly regarded ED binoculars.
Optical Performance- field.
As the short story says this has a very flat field. No, it is not as flat as would be expected from a binocular with field flattening oculars, but still it was a surprise and immediately obvious as it happened that and the edge performance were the first things I happened to look at here. I had to stop and call Leupold to confirm they had not inserted field flatteners or ED glass. There is a peripheral appearance, or hint of a slight outer curvature ring, but just a hint, and may well be just a function of normal peripheral vision. If there is any accommodation at all left in your eyes, it vanishes as you look to the edge to define it. When I was checking the fov specifications, the reading on the tape measure at the edges was every bit as sharp as anywhere else across the field. Edges are usually blurry enough it takes a little effort to read the outer numbers on the measuring tape, not here. By the way it seems to be spot on at the listed 8*. It seems to project a sweet spot that is at least 90% in terrestrial viewing. Star images will blur beginning about 75%. This gives the Mojave a better picture window experience than with the other less apparently flat 8x32 binoculars I will review elsewhere. A nice complement to the small size.
Optical performance- image
As mentioned above this is a bright glass. Not blindingly bright or standard setting bright, but more than amply bright to give a crisp, clean, sharp view. It stands up amazingly well in light limited situations and will not be embarrassed with its smaller objective by even a top quality 42 mm binocular. The color balance looks pretty neutral when viewing brightly lit white surfaces through the objectives. In field use, I’d judge it to be ever so slightly warm. Be that as it may, the colors are bright, vivid, and appear completely natural. Contrast levels are good enough to snap the colors right out, and varying shades of color appear sharply defined. Stray light issues and glare is very well controlled, practically non-existent. So are reflections from the ocular lens.
L-Coat
This coating plays a reasonably visible part in the packaging and in general information about this glass. L-Coat is Leupold’s proprietary, new generation, cold fusion, multi-layer prism mirror coating. This is part of the tweaking that went on with this glass. While they certainly will not tell anyone what the secret sauce is, I was told that it is unique in that it uses a silver based compound in the formula at some point in the process.
The lens coatings have a green tint, as opposed to the purple/violet tinge shown on the Leupold site. The objectives perhaps darker than the oculars. The ocular reflects three reflections, yellowish, then green, then pink. The objectives reflect two. One green, and the deeper one pink.
Field Usage performance;
The focus is counterclockwise to infinity and moves through one and one half turns. There are three approximately equal in movement, “usage zones” in the travel. This one focuses to the advertised close focus distance maintaining a unified image. It will come about 18” closer if you use a single eye. It focuses from close to 30 meters (100’) or so in one third of travel, using up the first usage zone. The second usage zone takes you to infinity, with the third usage zone leaving ample room past infinity if needed. This will leave most use of the focus in the first whole rotation of the wheel. The focus seems well done, soft without being too soft, and is quite precise. There was some unevenness out of the box but that worked out pretty quickly.
The diopter is click stop, and is located on the front of the focus knob. It is a pull out affair and locks snugly in place. It has showed me no sign of drift and focuses my right eye just where I need it to.
The eye relief is listed as 16.0 mm but there is 12.0 mm available. The eye cups do extend fully to 16 mm above the ocular lens, but you can only get within 4 mm with the eye cups turned down. The eye cups actually roll over the edge further than needed and are thick enough to lose about 2 mm. The rest is a metal ring around the ocular lens which extends above the lens surface another couple of mm. Before the “woe is me” alarm sounds, I will point out that with my reading glasses and some of the sunglasses I use, there is ample relief for me to see the entire fov. So eye glass wearers, do not dismiss this out of hand.
The binocular in hand differs from the specifications in a couple of other ways. First, the weight is listed as 17.0 oz. or 482 grams. Mine, sans covers and strap weighs 19.0 oz. or 530 grams. That is not much difference and this is still a nice, small easy to pack and handle binocular. With eye cups extended it is 5.25 or 133 mm. With eye cups down it 4.8” or 122 mm. When expanded to a 65 mm IPD, it is 4.25” or 108 mm. wide. The high single hinge allows the barrels to extend about 2", or 50 mm or so from the hinge. That will easily fit two larger fingers, or three smaller ones.
The specifications list a minimum IPD of 58.0 mm, this one is 56.0 mm and leaves 15.0 mm between the eye cups at minimum setting.
So, how does this compare to;
This is larger than 8x32’s like the Opticron Traveler, the Leupold Acadia, and the Vortex Diamondback, just a bit bigger than the ZRS, and just a bit smaller than the Theron. The high single hinge is like the ZRS. It is a nice sized and compact binocular.
It is a superior binocular to the rest of the 8x32 mid-size I have around, which include the Leupold Acadia, Opticron Traveler and the ZRS 8x32. I also have the Theron Wapiti LT 8x32 which is closest of the 30-32 mm stuff I have to the Mojave, but it is just a tiny bit less sharp and the edge is not as good as the Mojave.
So, after I’d had these for a day or so, I set off for a couple of local dealers. One has the Zeiss Terra 8x42 and the other, the Nikon Monarch 7 in 8x42. On a gray, about to rain, sort of light limited day, the Mojave was brighter, and sharper and had MUCH better edges than the same fov in the Monarch 7, in spite of a 10 mm handicap in objective size. I would take the image of the Mojave to either of the above two. I would put the Mojave in the same class as the Vortex Viper HD. The center sharpness, detail, and brightness are on par, but the Mojave has the edge in apparent size of the size in the sweet spot in the view. That is not meant to be a knock on the Monarch 7 or the Terra. If I had either I could be quite happy with it. I have not seen the Monarch 7 30 mm binocular, but unless Nikon has sharpened the 30 mm edge and brightened the coatings and improved those facets from the 42 mm M 7, the 30 mm I would expect to fall short of the Mojave. They hold their own very well with the other 8x42 binoculars I have on hand, the Leupold Gold Ring HD, the Leupold McKinley HD, the ZEN Prime HD, the Kruger Caldera, and the Promaster Infinity Elite ED.
Summary;
Overall a very nice binocular. It is a binocular to go on the short list if you are looking for a compact that won’t break the bank, has sharper edges and a flatter field than expected on a mid-level binocular, that is pretty compact, easy to handle, well built, and offers a bright, sharp, high contrast image. Top notch warranty service from Leupold hurts noting either. I realize we have all come to think of all, or at least some of the combinations of the new bells and whistles are necessary for enjoyment of a modern binocular. I would not worry about the fact the Mojave lacks ED glass. It is bright enough, sharp enough, and CA is well enough controlled, that I believed the Leupold engineer I talked to who said it would add nothing but cost. They apparently did a lot of work with coatings and lens geometry and I happen to think most people will be well satisfied. This hits a fair bit above its price class. I’d dearly love to get a new Kite Lynx HD, a Meopta Meostar, or a Zeiss Conquest alongside this one to see how it stood up. Pretty well would be my guess.
Subtitle: The Mad Binocular Scientist vs the Arts and Accessories Department.
Well, I’ve had this binocular for some time now, so here is the review. This took Leupold some time to get out, but, I think it will prove worth the wait.
http://www.leupold.com/hunting-shooting/binoculars/bx-3-mojave-series/bx-3-mojave-8x32mm/
I won’t bother to list specifications and such information as the viewer can get from the above link to the binocular’s page. For general information, this a Japanese OEM/Leupold project. MSRP is $439.
The binocular scientist got things right here, but as I found out, one will have to deal with the accessory folks before you can get into the good stuff. The first thing you don’t notice right off, but it will become apparent that the case is too small. The new plastic wrapped binocular slips right out. However what you will notice is the rain guard. Yeah, the blasted rain guard, of all things to make a first impression. It is of ample size, is well enough made. So, what’s the problem? It is so slick that it makes the suction grip from hell with the softer somewhat textured rubber eye cup coverings. Trust me, it is not easy to get off. The slightly short case requires the eye cups to be screwed down and when the Velcro case closure is fastened, there is that suction seal all over again. This is all pretty minor as any rubber eye guard of the right size other than the slick plastic contrivance solves the issue. I quickly decided to use a case from an old Yosemite. The accessories folks did get the neck strap right. It is just right in length, about an inch and a quarter wide, nicely padded, and very stretchy. It comes with nice snap on connectors, which Leupold needs to make standard on all of its lines. There is a little blue cleaning cloth in the package too.
As to the arts people, I can’t say I’m really a fan of the artsy design the included in the rubber armor. The smooth, slightly raised ridges are no particular hindrance, but the feel would be enhanced if the whole rubber suit was the stippled, textured style present in the bulk of the armor. That would enhance the grip, slim up the profile a bit as well. But, not much of an issue.
When the binocular finds itself freed from the bonds of the case and rain guard, we are in for a surprise. The short story is the optical performance is superb. Four things stand tall as strong points in the new Mojave. First is it has an apparently flat field, certainly flatter than anyone would tend to suspect from a binocular lacking field flattening technology. Second is that the edge performance is at least as good as the flatness of the field. Third is how bright it is, particularly in light limited situations. Forth, for having no ED glass, CA is as well controlled as several highly regarded ED binoculars.
Optical Performance- field.
As the short story says this has a very flat field. No, it is not as flat as would be expected from a binocular with field flattening oculars, but still it was a surprise and immediately obvious as it happened that and the edge performance were the first things I happened to look at here. I had to stop and call Leupold to confirm they had not inserted field flatteners or ED glass. There is a peripheral appearance, or hint of a slight outer curvature ring, but just a hint, and may well be just a function of normal peripheral vision. If there is any accommodation at all left in your eyes, it vanishes as you look to the edge to define it. When I was checking the fov specifications, the reading on the tape measure at the edges was every bit as sharp as anywhere else across the field. Edges are usually blurry enough it takes a little effort to read the outer numbers on the measuring tape, not here. By the way it seems to be spot on at the listed 8*. It seems to project a sweet spot that is at least 90% in terrestrial viewing. Star images will blur beginning about 75%. This gives the Mojave a better picture window experience than with the other less apparently flat 8x32 binoculars I will review elsewhere. A nice complement to the small size.
Optical performance- image
As mentioned above this is a bright glass. Not blindingly bright or standard setting bright, but more than amply bright to give a crisp, clean, sharp view. It stands up amazingly well in light limited situations and will not be embarrassed with its smaller objective by even a top quality 42 mm binocular. The color balance looks pretty neutral when viewing brightly lit white surfaces through the objectives. In field use, I’d judge it to be ever so slightly warm. Be that as it may, the colors are bright, vivid, and appear completely natural. Contrast levels are good enough to snap the colors right out, and varying shades of color appear sharply defined. Stray light issues and glare is very well controlled, practically non-existent. So are reflections from the ocular lens.
L-Coat
This coating plays a reasonably visible part in the packaging and in general information about this glass. L-Coat is Leupold’s proprietary, new generation, cold fusion, multi-layer prism mirror coating. This is part of the tweaking that went on with this glass. While they certainly will not tell anyone what the secret sauce is, I was told that it is unique in that it uses a silver based compound in the formula at some point in the process.
The lens coatings have a green tint, as opposed to the purple/violet tinge shown on the Leupold site. The objectives perhaps darker than the oculars. The ocular reflects three reflections, yellowish, then green, then pink. The objectives reflect two. One green, and the deeper one pink.
Field Usage performance;
The focus is counterclockwise to infinity and moves through one and one half turns. There are three approximately equal in movement, “usage zones” in the travel. This one focuses to the advertised close focus distance maintaining a unified image. It will come about 18” closer if you use a single eye. It focuses from close to 30 meters (100’) or so in one third of travel, using up the first usage zone. The second usage zone takes you to infinity, with the third usage zone leaving ample room past infinity if needed. This will leave most use of the focus in the first whole rotation of the wheel. The focus seems well done, soft without being too soft, and is quite precise. There was some unevenness out of the box but that worked out pretty quickly.
The diopter is click stop, and is located on the front of the focus knob. It is a pull out affair and locks snugly in place. It has showed me no sign of drift and focuses my right eye just where I need it to.
The eye relief is listed as 16.0 mm but there is 12.0 mm available. The eye cups do extend fully to 16 mm above the ocular lens, but you can only get within 4 mm with the eye cups turned down. The eye cups actually roll over the edge further than needed and are thick enough to lose about 2 mm. The rest is a metal ring around the ocular lens which extends above the lens surface another couple of mm. Before the “woe is me” alarm sounds, I will point out that with my reading glasses and some of the sunglasses I use, there is ample relief for me to see the entire fov. So eye glass wearers, do not dismiss this out of hand.
The binocular in hand differs from the specifications in a couple of other ways. First, the weight is listed as 17.0 oz. or 482 grams. Mine, sans covers and strap weighs 19.0 oz. or 530 grams. That is not much difference and this is still a nice, small easy to pack and handle binocular. With eye cups extended it is 5.25 or 133 mm. With eye cups down it 4.8” or 122 mm. When expanded to a 65 mm IPD, it is 4.25” or 108 mm. wide. The high single hinge allows the barrels to extend about 2", or 50 mm or so from the hinge. That will easily fit two larger fingers, or three smaller ones.
The specifications list a minimum IPD of 58.0 mm, this one is 56.0 mm and leaves 15.0 mm between the eye cups at minimum setting.
So, how does this compare to;
This is larger than 8x32’s like the Opticron Traveler, the Leupold Acadia, and the Vortex Diamondback, just a bit bigger than the ZRS, and just a bit smaller than the Theron. The high single hinge is like the ZRS. It is a nice sized and compact binocular.
It is a superior binocular to the rest of the 8x32 mid-size I have around, which include the Leupold Acadia, Opticron Traveler and the ZRS 8x32. I also have the Theron Wapiti LT 8x32 which is closest of the 30-32 mm stuff I have to the Mojave, but it is just a tiny bit less sharp and the edge is not as good as the Mojave.
So, after I’d had these for a day or so, I set off for a couple of local dealers. One has the Zeiss Terra 8x42 and the other, the Nikon Monarch 7 in 8x42. On a gray, about to rain, sort of light limited day, the Mojave was brighter, and sharper and had MUCH better edges than the same fov in the Monarch 7, in spite of a 10 mm handicap in objective size. I would take the image of the Mojave to either of the above two. I would put the Mojave in the same class as the Vortex Viper HD. The center sharpness, detail, and brightness are on par, but the Mojave has the edge in apparent size of the size in the sweet spot in the view. That is not meant to be a knock on the Monarch 7 or the Terra. If I had either I could be quite happy with it. I have not seen the Monarch 7 30 mm binocular, but unless Nikon has sharpened the 30 mm edge and brightened the coatings and improved those facets from the 42 mm M 7, the 30 mm I would expect to fall short of the Mojave. They hold their own very well with the other 8x42 binoculars I have on hand, the Leupold Gold Ring HD, the Leupold McKinley HD, the ZEN Prime HD, the Kruger Caldera, and the Promaster Infinity Elite ED.
Summary;
Overall a very nice binocular. It is a binocular to go on the short list if you are looking for a compact that won’t break the bank, has sharper edges and a flatter field than expected on a mid-level binocular, that is pretty compact, easy to handle, well built, and offers a bright, sharp, high contrast image. Top notch warranty service from Leupold hurts noting either. I realize we have all come to think of all, or at least some of the combinations of the new bells and whistles are necessary for enjoyment of a modern binocular. I would not worry about the fact the Mojave lacks ED glass. It is bright enough, sharp enough, and CA is well enough controlled, that I believed the Leupold engineer I talked to who said it would add nothing but cost. They apparently did a lot of work with coatings and lens geometry and I happen to think most people will be well satisfied. This hits a fair bit above its price class. I’d dearly love to get a new Kite Lynx HD, a Meopta Meostar, or a Zeiss Conquest alongside this one to see how it stood up. Pretty well would be my guess.
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