Minox 10x42 X-Range Binoculars

I have always found Minox to be a modest company that produces optics quite superior to their price point, plus they don’t market too hard. As a consequence, they creep up on you and when you do finally get to use them, they are a bit of a surprise.

In the box

The binoculars are delivered in a simple, white cardboard box with a protective liner, and they are snugly held within a Cordura carry case that has a flip-over lid with buckle closure. Rubberised lens protectors are supplied, which loop over the objective lens body and fold up to clasp the polymer outers covering the magnesium housing. There is a neck strap that threads through lateral eyelets, plus the ocular lens cover slots onto this strap as well. A cleaning cloth is supplied along with a clear printed instruction manual that is simple to follow.

Set-up and modes

Once you have set the chosen twist-up eyecup extension position, the binoculars need both ocular lenses focusing for your personal eyesight, which requires the serrated dioptre collars adjacent. Focus the internal OLED screen first, then use the regular central focusing knob to focus the image on a mid-range object. Finally, bring the other eye into focus using its own dioptre focussing collar and you should be good to go. This is the way that works for me!
There is a button on top of each side of the roof prism housings and these control both menu structures and initial switch-on/laser activation. You can set the X-Range’s controls in the menu to swap left or right. Plus, all the controls use a combination of short or longer button presses, which are clearly shown in the excellent instruction manual.
Scrolling through the X-Range’s menus allows you to choose from a readout in metres or yards. There are cross or circle reticle options and five intensity settings for the OLED display, which is red, crisp, and doesn’t overly confuse the viewed image. There are three ranging modes: Last, Best, and Standard. Last always shows the furthest measured object you have pinged the laser from. Best would be the closest ranged item, so the deer stood in front of the treeline rather than Last, which would have shown the treeline’s range. The Standard setting is the most intuitive and shows the distance to the object closest to the reticle’s centre. As usual, it can often take a couple of attempts to get an exact figure, and a deer is always going to be easier to gauge precisely than a rabbit, for obvious reasons.
The inclination angle to the target is also measured and you can choose for it to be incorporated into the readout and generate an equivalent horizontal range (EHR). Alternatively, you can leave it just displaying a direct line of sight range. You can switch it off, but I have always found EHR takes any guesswork out of a shot that may require more correction than you think.
The functions of the buttons can be swapped from left to right, which I think is a valuable capability that’s made possible within the firmware of modern electronics, and it seems lazy not to offer this for the sake of a few lines of code.
There is a battery indicator screen which will automatically flash at 2.4 volts before the battery finally dies out at 2.3 volts. The estimated lifetime is approximately 4000 readings. A CR2 battery is used, and spares are easily carried. It fits under a screwcap in the centre of the focusing dial.

Scan mode is great for moving quarry, giving four range readouts every second. It is activated by multiple presses of the laser button, which is rather helpful because it effectively notices you urgently clicking away.
Finally, the two-year standard warranty can be extended to ten by registering your purchase directly on the Minox website. The so-called “comfort service” certainly gives additional peace of mind.
In use
I found the X-Range intuitive and pleasant to use. The twist-up eyecups remain firmly in your chosen position when pressed to your skull, yet if you do need to change them, they are fast to adjust. The features and functions all worked well. With a maximum range of 2800m on large objects, you know the laser is powerful enough for sporting requirements. Minox states 1600m for humans and large animals, which is entirely believable, as I had no problem with rabbits beyond 500m. The ‘Last’ and ‘Best’ features did work when tested deliberately on Fallow in front of a treeline, showing that there was 150m between the two over 600m away!
I found the rubber segments of the focussing dial were fingertip light with no backlash, and offered good tactile control over the focal length and immediate control where depth of field came into play, specifically when trying to pick out ears and antlers amongst foliage. Far treelines out to 1450m in full daylight were no problem and I did accurately measure 500mm steel gongs out to a known distance of 1500m. Accuracy out to 1000m is +/- 1m, and all readouts correlated accurately with my known experience and ballistic data when shooting.

Conclusion

I didn’t have them for long, but Minox’s accurate lens grinding, ED glass, and comprehensive coatings gave excellent image quality in a compact set of range-finding binoculars that I think are well worth looking at. The light transmission and colouration differences between the two tubes, with and without internal OLED functionality, were almost unnoticeable, and as far as the perception of colour imbalance, it was less than that of my own two eyes. I was fortunate to use these binoculars whilst working on some long-range scope projects from Minox, and they made my job easier. They are reliable tools that cooperate perfectly.