Leica8x42 Trinovid HD Binocular

This replaced 2 Leitz binoculars, a 10X50 and a 10X22. The 10X50 was very heavy and hard to hold still enough. The 10x22 had to be held against the face in a somewhat awkward manner and although very light, had an awfully narrow field of view. This new (to me) 8X40 pair is both light and easy to pack about, it offers a wide angle view and the difference between 8 power and 10 just isn’t a significant issue.

No doubt a fine pair of binoculars, but..., they cost more than twice to very similar quality binocs. My wife ordered the same day the Zeiss Terra 8x42 (supposedly in a lower range) at a price of $428.65. My pair of Leicas were $1066.21, and we went birding immeadiately. Of course we interchanged to compare them and I regretted doing it. The much cheaper Zeiss Terra were as sharp as the Leicas, seem to be as good gathering light, and with a much better focusing knob, very precise and faster to focus, and the build quality feels the same.For years I wanted a pair of Leicas and paid for them as I expected an extraordinary and much better experience. But there are better options at less than the half price. Happily I am returning them. If their price were around $500 I would keep them, but at over $1000 no way they give you twice a better experience.

In the past I owned quite a few Leica binoculars. The latest 8x42 Trinovid HD retain all the Leica high qualities. I particularly like the smooth focussing. However, there is a disadvantage that Leica might consider addressing. The focussing knob requires quite excessive turning from the near subject to the far subject. If you are sighting afar and then want to observe something near, you have to turn the focussing wheel a lot to get the image in focus. Leica could have at least save a 1/4 turn by redesigning the internal gearing. For example I was looking at the sky at night and focussing at the moon which is in essence observing an object in infinity, and yet even when the moon was in focus the focussing wheel still have about 1/4 turn going beyond infinity which is not needed at all. Leica might want to redesign the internal focus gearing to eliminate that excessive turns needed. Other than that Leica did everything right with the new Trivinod HD series.