Hello binocular fans;

This afternoon I picked up a pair of Leupold Olympic 10X50 binoculars from Cabela's in Phoenix, Arizona. I used them for a moment in the parking lot just to make certain that they were OK to start and nothing had happened during shipping.

I guess nothing happened during shipping, they were great. The field was flat and contrasty with a "crystal clear" effect that I can only discribe, but you really should see for yourself. The binoculars seemed to "get out of the way" and just allow me to look for detail in distant buildings and mountains. There is a tiny amount of pincushion effect, a lamppost appeared bent right at the edge of the field of view. Other than that small problem, I was impressed.

Well, I just came in from an astronomical observing session and I am even more impressed. Splitting the wide pair of the Double-Double in Lyra was easy. I tried for Nu1 and Nu2 in the head of Draco and they were two seperate and sparkling white stars with no hint of overlap.

M 39 in Cygnus was a very well detached cluster and the binoculars resolved 19 stars in the cluster. Moving to the North America nebula showed a somewhat faint, but easily seen, glow in the famous shape. The dark lane that defines the "West Coast" is easily seen as a distinct dark nebula.

Moving to M 7 in Scorpius showed 21 stars resolved and M 6 showed off 18 stars with one of them BM Sco, a nice medium orange variable star on the eastern edge.

As the clouds came and went I looked along the Milky Way from Cepheus to Aquila and there is a treasure of light and dark features that are awe inspiring.

Even on a mediocre night these binoculars are very good indeed. I found them easy to use. I like the twist up eyecups, they keep my eye at exactly the right distant for best viewing. They stayed in focus or near focus so I never needed to fiddle with the focus control often; the same can be said for the diopter and interpupillary hinge. All where firm and stayed in place very well.

I can't wait to get out under truly dark skies with these binoculars.

Clear skies to us all;
Steve Coe