This post should have come out yesterday, but I ran out of time.  It was a pretty busy day, starting with a press conference by Bushnell, and wrapped up with a couple of after-show events put on by Outside Hub, and later with the Sportsman Channel. 

Bushnell provided a breakfast meeting in order to introduce some of their new products for the year.  Among the standouts were the newest addition to their rangefinding binocular line, the Fusion 1600 ARC.  This year they’re adding a 12×50 unit to the 10×42 they introduced in 2010.  At a MSRP of under $900, they offer a relatively high-quality, but economical alternative to the Leica and Zeiss offerings that sell for more than twice as much. 

In the confines of the convention center, they seemed pretty nice, but I haven’t had the opportunity to try them in the field so I can’t offer a more thorough opinion.  Field-testing units were a little hard to come by last year.  I doubt that’ll change much this year.

Another pretty cool little item from Bushnell is their latest iteration of the BackTrack GPS.  The BackTrack is designed around the concept of keeping it as simple as possible.  What they did was to reduce a GPS to it’s most basic, which is essentially a tiny unit (smaller than a mini-camera) that just leaves a “breadcrumb trail” back to your starting point.  There are no waypoints to program, or topo maps to interpret… just a pointer arrow and some key data, like how far you need to go. 

This year they’re introducing the DTour, which offers a few more features without making the unit more complex.  In addition to showing you the way back to your truck or trailhead, the DTour basically tracks data about your trip (hike, canoe or kayak, hunt, etc.) and compiles it behind the scenes.  When you get home, you can plug the unit into your PC and it automatically uploads the data to a site that returns a report.  It can include the distance you travelled, average speed, altitude, etc.  It also places your route on a topo map which can be downloaded for your own records, hunting logs, or to share with other people.  There are even hooks built in to allow you to upload directly to Facebook or some other social media sites.

At the breakfast, Bushnell also introduced a new program, the Bill McRae Lifetime Achievement Award.  McRae is one of the leading sporting optics authorities, having spent most of his career testing, reviewing, and writing about the subject.  This, along with his reputation as a mentor to new writers, has earned him the respect of the industry and the dedication of the award.  He is the first recipient.

Along with the award, Bushnell has created a scholarship in his name at the University of California at Davis.  The scholarship will award $7500 each year at the University’s School of Optics.  The scholarship will go to undergraduates who want to pursue careers in the optics field. 

The other cool philanthropic effort Bushnell introduced was a partnership with the Folds of Honor Foundation.   This foundation was formed to provide “post-secondary educational scholarships to the spouses and children of service members disabled or killed as a result of their military service to our great nation. Our unique scholarships can be applied to schooling now or held by Folds of Honor on behalf of young children until needed at the time of enrollment.”

Bushnell will be donating a portion of proceeds from select products to support the Folds of Honor Foundation.  In addition, the company will provide an opportunity for customers to donate as well.  With the purchase of the Patriot rangefinder, customers will receive a $30 rebate.  On the rebate form, the customer can choose to receive the money, or to donate it directly to the Folds of Honor Foundation.

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