Leupold Wind River Pinnacles

couesbitten · Feb 13, 2004

Thinking about purchasing a pair of Leupold's Wind River Pinnacles 10x42. They seem to have very good clarity, and I was real impressed with the fit and feel of the glasses. They're practically giving them away at $375. Anybody have an opinion/experience with these, or know who makes them for Leupold?

RLH · Feb 13, 2004

when leupold first started making binoculars, i bought a pair sight unseen. 9x35's. it was before they started calling them wind rivers and they have gold rings on em. or did. they gold rings are quite faded now. no rubber coating or anything. poro prism, with individual focus for each eye. they only made 7x30's and 9x35's then. they're the toughest binoculars i've ever seen. been through hell. they're aren't swaro's or zeiss, but as long as they work i'll keep using em. i really like the individual focus. the new wind rivers are ok. for the money they are probably among the best. some of the cabela brand are really good too. my old ones are made in japan, but they are called leupold.

Foreman4x4 · Feb 14, 2004

The Pinnacles have received some great reviews, and are supposed to be pretty dang good glass for the money, but I don't have any personal experience with them in particular. I believe there's a review at www.betterviewdesired.com, which makes for some great reading. In that same price range, you might also want to consider the Pentax DFC SP's. They are an updated version of the WP's, and feature aspherical glass, phase coating, and a super hard coating on the lenses which is supposed to help reduce the risk of scratches from cleaning, etc.. The SP's have one of the best lens cover systems I've ever seen. They come from the factory with objective lens covers that are tethered right to the bino so you don't have to worry about loosing them the first time out.

I bought a pair of 10x43 SP's for my daughter last fall and I've been highly impressed with them. They're not Leica, Zeiss, or Swarovski, but they're less then half as much money, and probably 97% as good. Anyway, just a suggestion.

If you're at all interested in the SP's, take a look at www.hotbuyselectronics.com. They have the 8x43 SP's for $389.99 and the 10x43's for $409.99. Some guys have had reported problems buying from them, but I've personally made two purchases from them and each went extremely smooth.

Good luck.

warbird · Feb 14, 2004

For the money the Wind River aren't that bad of a piece of glass,but for a little bit more I believe around 500.00 the new pentex are doing great,I woul really check into them and compare for yourself.
Don't get me wrong their now where even close to swarovski or brands close,but in low light the pentex are pretty good

bldgr10 · Feb 14, 2004

I bought a pair of Wind River Olympics last year and love them. For the price, they are a great pair of glasses.

Mark

klunk · Feb 14, 2004

I bought the 10X42 pinnacles last year. I've been very happy with them. I had the cahnce to compare them against a pair of leicas in the field. Although I could see slightly better definition with the leica's, the color was identical to me. I'd recommend them

BACK40JOE · Feb 16, 2004

couesbitten

I have a pair of pinacles in 8 X 42-I like the light weight and I really the eyecups-they keep out stray light-the rubberized coating is starting to come off already and the rain coating they supposedly have doesn't work very well-but all in all
I am very happy with them-the only thing I would suggest is to look at the other wind river models-if I had to do over I might buy Olympics as I am not sure if Pinnacles are worth extra money.

BACK40