as you guessed it judging by my hoodie we're doing a Leupold gear review today of the
bx5 santium HD binoculars I'm Todd Helms with Eastman's hunting journals I'm going to walk
you through everything you need to know about the Leupold bx5 santium HD binoculars both the 10 by
42s that I have here and the 15 by 56s that I've got mounted up on the tripod well I'm out here
today it's December it's nice out here I've got a late season cow tag and I'm actually covering
some country with these Leupold binoculars looking for a cow looking for some elk and so when I was
tasked with doing this gear review on the bx5 santium HDs I jumped at it I mean who wouldn't
want to go out and play with a new pair of 10 by 42s and 15 by 56 binoculars so the first thing
that jumps out at me with the Leupold bx5 santium HDs is the brightness the optical brightness that
these binoculars offer both models both the tens and the 15s exceptionally bright exceptionally
bright optic very crisp very clear and I'd expect that from HD glass but it seems like
the Leupold's just have a little extra pop to them when it comes to light gathering and the
brightness involved that's been the case in all of Leopold's optics for me from their scopes to
their spotting scopes and the gold ring line to the right rifle scopes the bx5 santiums HDs
do the same thing they're bright they're crisp and they're clear they offer a very very high contrast
image through the lens and I'm I've been tearing this country apart looking for elk and I haven't found
any elk yet but I've turned up deer I've turned up Pronghorn I even saw some Chuckers over here
let's just dive into the Leupold bx5 santium HDs and look at some of the product features that make
these a super super value for what you're going to spend obviously what jumps out right out of
the gate it's it's going to be noticeable when you pick them up is the light weight of these both the
10 by 42 and the 15 by 56s that I've got mounted up on the tripod which both of these come tripod
mountable ready which is really nice even with 10 powers it's amazing to me how much more stable you
can get and how much more you can pick out of your environment when you're mounted up on a tripod
whether it's tens or 15s you're going to get more that said you don't need a tripod for these either
one because they're super light in the hand that's one thing I picked these up and I was kind of like
whoa that's it that's all there is to these they're really light which is nice especially
when you're packing them around in a chest pack on backcountry hunts to having a you know
ounces equal pounds and pounds equal pain in the backcountry guys and having a lightweight set of
optics that performs at a high level is crucial to your back country success when you start getting
into the four five six seven eight and beyond day mark everything adds up having lightweight high
performance optics makes a difference as always these binoculars the whole lineup everything
Leupold offers has that unconditional lifetime guarantee or warranty and I've never personally
had to put that warranty to use I've known guys who have my father in fact had an older
Leupold rifle scope that he had to send back and they fixed it no questions asked or no problems
it's nice to know that when you spend money on a well-made high quality product if heaven forbid
something does happen that company's got your back and Leupold has your back with that warranty all
right so one of the things that you're going to notice when you pick these up is the professional
grade optical system that Leupold uses that's the glass guys for lack of a better term I said it was
crisp I said it was clear and said it was bright but I would put these up against any binocular
on the market for clarity and for crispness and light transmission these things are incredible you
pull them up in the landscape that your glassing just pops absolutely pops with the HD glass and
that proprietary lens system that Leupold uses Leupold claims that you can use these things
across a ridiculous range of temperatures I've used them so far today well in the last couple
days glassing everything from about 25 degrees to right around two or three below with some of
the wind chills that we've been looking at I've had zero issues no fogging no condensation issues
they're just work they just perform and that's what honestly that's what I would expect from a
from a Leupold product let's get into some of the specific product features that make the bx5
santium HDs just top tier we've got an open bridge roof prism design on these which helps make these
really really lightweight and really ergonomic and easy to use that kind of kicks off our
feature list for these binoculars next we have the guard ion or guardion lens coating so I said that
these were really really bright and really clear high light transmission on these that's thanks to
the diamond coat 2 lens coating that they use it's going to protect your lens but it's also going to
aid in light transmission and when you pick a set of these up do yourself a favor don't just look in
the fluorescent lighting of a store through these take them out in the parking lot ask the sales
associate to hey I want to take these outside because guys binoculars hunting sporting optics
are designed to be used outdoors and you can't get the full measure of how good these are until you
look at them outside going hand in glove with the diamond coat 2 is the fully multi-coated
lens system and that just again it's another proprietary advantage that Leupold has in light
transmission clarity and brightness so along with the thing all the features that I just listed out
and the HD glass is what Leupold calls phase coated or phase coating what that does is it
takes all that light transmission and all that super clear picture and it widens it out edge to
edge these things both the tens and the 15s are very crisp and clear all the way to the edge of
your field of view the way I look at that is if it feels like I'm looking through a toilet paper
roll the outside of my sight picture is kind of fuzzy I can move my eye around a little bit in
while I'm holding these and I can move my eyes around and I can't see like my peripheral vision
is fuzzy that's a mark of an optic that's not quite up to snuff these bx5 santium HDs don't
have that and that's that phase coating one of the things I noticed when I open up the box about
these is the eye cups are really comfortable and it has I have them pulled off here right now but
there are caps that's fit over that you can leave on this as well these are field replaceable eye
cups in other words if something happens in the field I could screw it off screw a new one on
all right so like I said I've been using both the 10 by 42s and the 15 by 56s the 15s come
with this handy dandy binocular harness strap and all it is is a strap and a tray I slip them
in there I tighten it down and it goes right on my tripod using 15s without something to rest them on
something solid like a tripod is really difficult guys they want to want they want to wobble on you
just because 15 powers a lot of magnification to try to hold steady in your hands it's not
like tens or eights where you can lock in with your elbows and you can get really solid but
I think if you look at these two binoculars as a system like I've been using them the last few days
looking for elk where I'm using quick glass and moderate distance with my tens and we'll pull up
to a spot and I'm looking scanning looking quick okay and then when I really need to tear something
apart like the country this distant country over my my right shoulder I whip out the 15s and I
get to work and I can really dissect all those little nooks and crannies in the landscape and
look for those elk look for those deer whatever it is I need to turn up the tens are great for
quick glassing and you're every day in and out of a chest rig they're perfect for that but man
having a set of 15s along in your system it's game changing and if you haven't had the opportunity to
do that Leupold prices this bx5 santium line so that you could do both you could get a set of 10
by 42s and very easily get a set of 15 by 56s and you would be covered for ninety percent of your
hunting situations having three pieces of glass in your glassing arsenal like a 10 by 42 a 15 by 56
and say a gold ring spotter or the bx5 santium HD spotting scope you would have everything you would
need and because Leupold competitively prices these you're not going to break the bank getting
three pieces of optics so in short wrapping all this up if you're in the market for a set of
binoculars or new binoculars or a glassing system guys look hard at the Leupold bx5 santium HDs I
think you're going to be very impressed for the quality versus the price point these are a top
tier glass and they perform really really well I'm going to keep glassing for elk because I got to
put meat in the freezer and I'm gonna put these to use to do it so hey thanks for joining me on this
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