Leica ULTRAVID 10x42 Binoculars

Written By - Phil W - 05/13/2007

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Until July 2004 most of my hunting had been done from tower blinds or tree stands. The only binoculars I ever had were so poor in quality that they stayed in a desk drawer or closet. So I relied on my rifle's scope to "glass" things of interest certainly not the safest thing to do.

But I was about to embark on a hunt of a life time. One that I had been waiting for 43 years to take. So when Leica asked me to field test their new ULTRAVID line of binoculars I said sure, as long as I could take them with me to Africa to put through a serious field test. They happily obliged.

I chose the Leica ULTRAVID 10x42 BR (Rubber Coated) model in the color green. It is their highest power, compact and lightweight binocular in this product line. The box it came in was the first indication that this was a "top of the line" product.

I attached a binocular harness I had purchased from Cabela's and of course glassed some whitetail deer wandering around outside my office. A binocular harness is in fact the only thing that Leica can add to improve their product — but I'm getting ahead of myself. I adjusted the diopter to set the focus for both my eyes and to my surprise it had a lock, which meant it would maintain the adjustment no matter how much banging around I did, a great feature to be sure.

I then unscrewed the eyepiece cups for viewing without glasses and was very pleased to find they had definite detents at selected positions, which kept them from creeping back in when held against the face as so many other binoculars do. Pleased, I packed them away and it was off to Africa.

As I donned my gear for the first hunt with South African Professional Hunter Paul Schoeman of Gem Safaris I noticed he too was wearing Leica Binoculars. A ringing endorsement if ever there was one as a Professional Hunter's success is determined by his ability to find game and estimate its trophy quality.

My first hunt with Paul was to be for a Vaal Rhebok, one of the rarer African antelopes hunted, and generally one of the more difficult as they live in very steep, mountainous country of the Eastern Cape. And to make things a bit more interesting I was suffering from a torn deltoid muscle in my left arm, due to a fall the day before, which for the remainder of my time in Africa left me without the use of my left arm as you can see in the photo below.

The trackers and skinners accompanying us began a driven hunt to push any Vaal Rhebok our way. The lightweight, high powered Leica's combined with the harness allowed me to one-arm the binoculars yet have enough magnification and stability to glass the mountains for the elusive Vaal Rhebok as the guys came closer to us over mountain after mountain.

And here they came. A herd of a half dozen or so with a nice male in the back. The exceptional clarity of the Leica optics helped me pick out and follow the well camouflaged Vaal Rhebok. As they approached us the females continued on while the male turned directly toward us. At about 50 yards I took him and my first animal with Gem Safaris was "in the bag".

For the next 14 days from snow to rain to dust to desert heat in both South Africa and Namibia, the Leica's continued to spend a great deal of time around my neck, ultimately helping me take 20 animals 13 trophies and seven culls. At the very high end of hunting optics they come with a high price tag, but if you're on the hunt of a lifetime the best you can afford is what you should be using — for all your hunting equipment.

Leica's new ULTRAVID binoculars are certainly second to none and should be the one you compare others to. If you are in the market for high-end binoculars be sure and check them out. I know you'll be as pleased and impressed as I am.

Visit their Web Site for more information.