Minox BF 8x42 & BL 8x44 HD BINOCULARS, MD60 Z SCOPE

Review by Matt Merritt

This Minox binocular and scope review was originally published in Bird Watching magazine in November 2016

MINOX has long produced high quality optics in the low to medium price brackets,
so we tested three products alongside each other.

Build quality on all three is excellent, with sturdy armouring giving a solid feel. Both binoculars are compact and feel well balanced, with the BFs having a traditional closed bridge design, and the BLs an open bridge that offers a very comfortable grip. The scope is a straight-through design, and is compact and light for something that boasts a 60mm objective lens. It’s also very well balanced on a tripod.

Focus wheels on all three, and the zoom wheel on the scope, felt a little on the tight side, but all the wheels are wide enough. They’re a little over a finger wide on the bins, while the scope’s zoom and focus wheels are two fingers wide. All are well textured for grip.

Eyecups on all also feel solid and are comfortable in extended use, although it takes a while to find the right eye position on the scope, and it can be hard to maintain.

The BFs are outstanding for their price, just £139, while the BLs, too, offer great value for their £459 price tag. The scope also has a lot to recommend it, despite some quirks, but at a correspondingly higher price. Try all three – there may well be something to suit you.

BL 8x44HD Binoculars £459

The image is very impressive indeed – bright, sharp, wide and with no discernible edge softness, or colour-fringing, even against bright sunshine.
I did find a little extraneous light getting in from the sides, so it’s worth taking the time to get your eye position right – the eyecups twist up to four distinct positions, and stay in place well when in use, offering an excellent 19.5mm of eye relief. The focus wheel takes 1.5 anti-clockwise turns from close focus to infinity, and moves smoothly and moderately stiffly. Close focus was between 2m and 2.5m. Comes with fabric case, rainguard, a good neoprene strap, removable tethered objective lens covers, and cleaning cloth.

Factfile

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Field of view 136m@1000m
Eye relief 19.5mm
Close focus 2.5m
Dimensions 150mm x 130mm x 53mm
Weight 740g
RRP £459

BF8x42 Binoculars £139

The image is bright and sharp in all conditions, with only a little softness towards the edge, although field of view felt rather cramped. Colour-fringing was hard to find, even against bright light. Focus is easy to find, although the focus wheel was rather on the stiff side – it took just over one anti-clockwise turn from close focus to infinity. The dioptre adjustment is on the right barrel and is calibrated but not lockable, though stayed in place well. Close focus was
a very impressive 1.2m, perfect for bug-watching. Eyecups twist up to four positions, and stay in place well, offering a very good 18mm of eye relief. Comes with fabric case, rainguard, a good neoprene strap, and cleaning cloth.

Factfile

Field of view 105m@1000m
Eye relief 18mm
Close focus 1.2m
Dimensions 140mm x 127mm x 51mm
Weight 660g
RRP £139

MD60 Z Scope £829

The straight design takes some getting used to, but makes following flying birds much easier. The focus wheel is on the eyecup barrel, along with the zoom, but they’re well separated and easy to distinguish, and move smoothly and effectively, if rather stiffly. Eye relief is an outstanding 30mm, but it can be tricky to find and maintain the right eye position. The image produced is bright, sharp and natural, with very little colour-fringing or edge softness, and field of view is fine for most needs, although inevitably restricted around maximum zoom. It comes with stay-on case and non-removable objective lens cover.