Leupold BX-4 Range HD TBR/W Gen 2: Amazing Rangefinding Binoculars

The Oxford English Dictionary defines versatility as “the ability to adapt or be adapted to many different functions or activities.” There’s no better descriptive word for the new BX-4 Range HD TBR/W Gen 2 Rangefinding Binoculars that Leupold has recently launched.

I was privy enough to get my hands on a pair of 12x50 Leupold prototypes (they also offer a 10x42) to field test in the unforgiving mountains of West Texas on an Aoudad hunt—a great place to test the mettle of equipment—and was pleasantly surprised by their impressive prowess.

Aoudad live in rugged terrain, and it takes tough, dynamic gear and a can-do attitude to even sniff success, let alone achieve it.

Thankfully, the engineers at Leupold take a pragmatic and progressive approach any time they are considering improving upon new products, and guess who benefits? We do.

Ranging Capabilities

Dust, heat waves, mirage distortion, and constantly shifting shade patches are commonplace in the Chinatis and did nothing to deter the laser’s feedback and accuracy, which was consistently quick with the visible readouts.

New technical ranging improvements of the Gen 2 include 4,000-yard readings on reflective targets, 2,000+ yards on trees and 1,400 yards on deer-sized game. The OLED display was sharp and non-distracting, and the brightness can easily be adjusted to your preference—I chose the medium setting out of the 3.

Class-Defining Clarity

As a diehard hunter and rifleman, I put high demands on light transmission and resolution because it sometimes is the difference between being able to ethically engage a target. Many animals surely have survived the fleeting moments of dawn and dusk due to a lack of edge-to-edge optical clarity. You can’t kill them if you can’t find and identify them.

Leupold’s Elite Optical System surpasses these expectations by reducing glare (which was needed on this hunt and many hunts I encounter annually) and producing crystal-clear images that are easily perceived by the eye.

The focus wheel is smooth and allows for precision adjustments to really wrangle in your frame’s muse. I found this extremely handy as aging and classifying mature rams at medium-to-long distance is notoriously difficult and sharpening focus is crucial.

Is that just a hairy-kneed adolescent with an impressive beard or an old, crusty patriarch obscuring his horns in a cactus shadow?

Versatility Worth Highlighting

The BX-4 Range HD TBR/W Gen 2’s have the ability to let you consolidate cumbersome gear without sacrificing in-the-field performance. No longer are the days of looking like a Ghostbuster with your bino chest harness burgeoning with gadgetry. Instead, your kit can remain streamlined, and so can your shooting process.

TBR/W technology stands for “True Ballistic Range/Wind” and provides ballistically calculated ranges for uphill/downhill rifle shooting, thus erasing the need to guesstimate angle pitch, which decreases your odds of missing an animal over the back or under the belly and provides 25 selectable ballistic group profiles to pinpoint the range compensation accuracy and shoot-to distance of your target. You can program the system to give you holdovers in MIL or MOA if desired, but the easy button would be to use a Leupold riflescope in conjunction with these binos and have a custom CDS-dial turret cut for it—expedited efficiency at its best.

Also, there are more options to tailor-make the binoculars fit your tactile needs through the ability to program the power buttons to the right or left side and three sets of interchangeable form-fit eyecups are included. Easy grip button standoffs make them a cinch to operate with heavy gloves.

Newly incorporated is the Archer’s Advantage software, which uses your arrow weight, arrow velocity, and peep height to calculate extremely accurate archery ballistic solutions, making these binos effective all season long, whether you’re chasing bugling bulls in September, above-alpine velvet bucks in Colorado, late-season snowy tilts in Montana, or Aoudad in the desert in February—they have you covered.

Tested Tough

When we located a small group of Aoudad in the armpit of the mountain, these binoculars were what tipped me off to their whereabouts. I would never suggest handholding binos at 1,000 yards as common practice, but in this case, they worked.

Once we decided to pursue the band of bedded rams and cut about 600 yards of distance, I tucked the binoculars away in my Leupold harness and proceeded to make our approaching stalk. Slowly bobbing and weaving through a sea of branch thorns and carefully crossing a dry creek bed rife with ankle-rolling river rock, we were an Uncle Rico football throw away from the shooting knoll—which would ultimately expose us and jeopardize the moment.

I took the binos out, and as soon as I barely crested and could peek over, I received a quick and accurate range that factored in the 17-degree uphill shooting angle. Sliding my pack off and getting it into position as a rear support, I steadied on the ram—confident in the ballistic calculation the Leupold BX-4 Range HD Gen 2 offered—I dialed my CDS turret and hammered the mature Aoudad with a devastating blow to the vitals.

As hunters, when we pursue animals, there are a few things that need to happen that are crucial to the successful outcome of the hunt on a very literal and basic level. Firstly, we need to find the animal we are after, and secondly, we need to be efficient in our lethality once we decide to press the trigger or release an arrow—these binoculars are complementary to both necessary feats!

BX-4 Range HD TBR/W Gen 2 Rangefinding Binocular Specs

• Mag. x Obj.: 12x50 (tested), 10x42
• Maximum Range: 4,000 yards reflective, 2,000 yards trees, 1,400 yards deer-sized
• Weight: 37 oz.
• Length: 6.3 in.
• Eye Relief: 14.3 mm
• Linear FOV @ 1,000 Yards: 279 ft.
• True-On-Shelf-Price: 12x50 = $1,799.99, 10x42 = $1,599.99
• Manufacturer: Leupold Optics, leupold.com

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