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Leupold Gold Ring HD's

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TexasPhotog View Drop Down
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Joined: July/22/2009
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    Posted: June/09/2010 at 15:01
I received a pair of Leupold Gold Ring 10x42 HD's yesterday.  This is my less-than-scientific assessment:

Their resolution is excellent and the colors seem true with excellent saturation.  I could easily see individual fibers on a spider's web hanging from a tree last night in my back yard.  The web was about 25 yards away and in low light.  The Gold Rings are a bit heavy but that should help steady them a bit, especially hunting on windy plains where I plan to use them. They seem rugged and well built.  Time will tell.  I haven't been able to test them side by side with other 10x42's yet, but a friend has some Vortex Razor 10x42's (which I've looked through in the past and liked) that I'll be comparing them to as soon as possible. I'll report back on how they stack up when compared side by side.

I did test them against what I had on hand - Zeiss 10x25 Victory's and, as you would expect, the 10x42's were much easier to hand hold and much brighter.  The colors on the Zeiss were also noticeably less saturated. The objective lenses on the Zeiss were a bit dusty and that may have affected the saturation.  I'm going to clean the Zeiss lenses and compare them again.  I also compared them against a pair of Leupold Yosemite 6x30's just for kicks.  The Gold Rings beat the Yosemite's, as they should, but the Yosemite's represent great value for $79 and will be great woods binoculars in November.  For what it's worth, Leupold's running a $100 rebate on the Gold Ring's now.

The Gold Rings came with a nice padded cordura case, a neoprene shoulder/neck strap and a chest harness.  I've used neoprene straps to carry heavy SLR camera's before and disliked them as they're often elastic enough to cause the gear to bounce too much when you walk quickly.  I liked the chest harness rig's comfort and probably will stick with that for now although I may try the neoprene strap at some point.  

At end of the day, I was impressed with the Gold Ring 10x42's.  My guess is that if I miss seeing a deer with these it'll be my fault, not the Gold Rings'.  What I'd really like to do is go look at some big deer with them but that'll have to wait. Maybe I can go to the pool and look at some other racks...
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SVT_Tactical View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote SVT_Tactical Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: June/09/2010 at 15:03

nice.  Look foward to your comparison with the vortex's

"Most folks are about as happy as they make their minds up to be" - Abraham Lincoln
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stephen b View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote stephen b Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: June/09/2010 at 15:24
Leupold make a wide variety of quality binoculars and the GR's are at the top of the heap. Interesting that a company can put out a < $100 pair of binoculars like the highly thought of well received Yosemite and also put out a upper mid priced bino like the gold ring that compare very well with the alpha range.

Not too many companies can claim the same thing.  It is very impressive. And on top of that their customer service is top notch.
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