Minox binoculars: Are they bad or have I been unlucky?

["calyptorhynchus ." <>]

I bought a $300 pair of Minox 10 x 42 a few years ago. They were very good and then inexplicably one of the lugs holding the strap broke. Minox sent me a new pair and they have been excellent and no more broken lugs.

I also have a pair of Pentax in the same price range that are almost as good.

I have taken both pairs to the wet se Asian tropics (the real test for binoculars) and neither got moisture inside.

Sometimes you just get unlucky, if you pay $2000-3000 for a pair of binoculars you might expect flawless performance. 

:-)

But at least Minox have been good to you even if their products fail.

John Leonard

On 14 December 2014 at 10:51, John Brown <> wrote:

 

I am wondering if others have had trouble with Minox binoculars. I’ve recommended them in the past, but not anymore! I am not sure if  I’ve just been very unlucky or they have remarkably poor build quality.

 

I’ve already sent mine back for replacement twice – taking months each time – and my 3^rd set arrived with exactly the same problem that the 2^nd pair had!

 

In April 2013 I bought a pair of Minox BL 10x52 plus a cheap harness online from the USA for $USD571 inc P&P

 

I soon found that the dioptre adjustment didn’t work on such that it wasn’t possible to focus them properly, so I returned them. The Australian distributor was very helpful and there wasn’t any problem with the international warrantee. A replacement pair arrive a few months later. (In the meantime I bought a $200 pair of Nikons which are much lighter and actually quite nice. I’ve ended up using them a lot more than the Minox!)

 

The second pair of Minox were fine when they arrived, and I enjoyed using them. However, the problem you can see in the attached photo developed, so eventually I returned them as it was clearly just going to continue to get worse. The problem appears to be some kind of coating on the ~inside~ of the objective lens delaminating

 

The third pair arrived during the week with the same problem as the 2^nd pair out of the box! See photo. I haven’t used them at all. I opened the box, noticed the problem, took a photo, and have now packaged them back up ready to return immediately. Very frustrating!

 

I’d be interested to hear if others have bought Minox binoculars, and if they have had any problems with them.

 

John

 

 

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John Leonard
Canberra
Australia
www.jleonard.net

I want to be with the 9,999 other things.