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.

Leupold Compact binoculars are favorites of mine. Because I use binoculars for field explorations and work I want something lightweight, durable and compact and easy to pack. The Olympic Compact Dual Hinge Series is one I consider worth looking at. It folds really small for packing. These compact binoculars 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.

If you choose the Olympic Compact Dual Hinge Series binoculars you have a choice in the color of the casing too. It is either black or mossy oak tree camo, nice feature. Katmai is only black. The magnification for the Olympic series is either 8×25 or 10×25. Both are acceptable for me but I much prefer the field of vision with the 8×25.

The specs and application information available at the Leupold site are exceptionally detailed and helpful. It makes comparing binoculars incredibly easy and practical.

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.

I like the full-size eye cups that the Katmai binoculars have. That is especially helpful if you wear glasses. I do. The Katmai Compact Binoculars are available in 6×32, 8×32 or 10×32 magnification. My choice is 8×32. The magnification is familiar to me and the binoculars are comfortable and sturdy in my hands. I expect them to become my first choice for all of my upcoming trips. Leupold makes such precision binoculars that I cannot wait for my new ones to finally arrive. They are worth the wait and cost.