Binoculars -Leupold Katmai Compact Binoculars
When a company like Leupold has a 100 years of experience with manufacturing a wide range of optics like binoculars, range scopes, spotting scopes and more, you can expect them to have a solid lifetime warranty on all of their products. Leupold engineers have refined optical components and purged the interior with nitrogen to ensure the highest quality lenses available.
Because my hands are small, I like compact binoculars. I also like binoculars to be lightweight and durable like the Olympic Compact Dual Hinge Series binoculars from Leupold. They fold especially small for packing. They are only 4.3 inches long and weigh less than 15 ounces.
By comparison, the Katmai Compact binoculars offer full-size features and weigh only 18.9 ounces plus they are only 4.1 inches long. Both have fully coated lenses to provide the best clarity, light transmission and good contrast. Both have rugged and waterproof casings. I learned that all Leupold binoculars are fog-proof and waterproof and all of them have had their internal parts purged with nitrogen to ensure the best visibility and highest quality optical preparation.
The Olympic Compact Dual Hinge Series comes in black or with mossy oak tree camo colored casing. The Katmai is available in black. The Olympic series comes as either 8X25 or 10X25. Both of these sizes fit the compact criteria I apply. I prefer 8X25 because it is easier for me to scan the field at that magnification than it is at 10×25. That is a personal preference.
Leupold makes so much information easy to find at their website and in their printed materials that you can compare binoculars very easily. I found specs and potential applications very quickly at their online site.
I especially like the Katmai because it uses full-size components and has a wider range of recommended uses. Nonetheless these are still compact binoculars. The distance between the pupils of my eyes are well suited to the interpupillary distance of both of these binoculars, from 60-70 mm. They both offer good eye relief and the exit pupil of the Katmai is larger by less than 1 mm.
The Olympic Dual Hinge Series has a close focus range that is nearly twice that of the Katmai Compacts. That means at 4 feet away you can still use the Katmai binoculars for closeup magnification. The Olympics stop providing clear focus at the close range of about 8 feet. In the field, it is less likely to be a concern because the birds I am watching are rarely closer than 8 feet anyhow.
The Katmai Compact Binoculars are available in 6×32, 8×32 or 10×32 magnification. I like 8×32 because they are comfortable and sturdy enough to be my primary binoculars. I wear glasses and the Katmai compact has full size eye cups which is a great feature. I do not know how anyone could make a wrong choice buying Leupold binoculars. They are all such precision optical instruments.
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