3 best binos I've ever owned were Nikon EII 8x30, Nikon SE 8x32, and Swarovision 8.5x42. The latter clinches it in terms of "ocular-comfort" wide-angle, sharp view (waterproof and tough to boot), the SE in terms of 3D and contrast (albeit restricted FOV), and the EII in terms of widest-angle plus easy-view. Take yer pick, based on your wallet, and your waterproofing requirements. All are superb instruments that will not disappoint. Swarovski in Europe have superb customer service, whereas Nikon don't. As I understand it, Nikon in the U.S. have superior customer service too.
Sancho,
Glad you mentioned the EII, another "old porrosuarus" that still competes well with roof mammals costing thousands of dollars more and offers a wider FOV than any "alpha male".
While I agree about the SE's phantasmagorical view, I am not plagued too badly by blackouts (unless I dig my eyes into the eyecups to grab that last 2 or 3 degrees of FOV), but I still don't find them as "point and shoot" as the EII.
There's something unique about the SE's eyepiece design that has been described as "finicky" or "tricky" or as "anal aberration of the exit pupil," which makes it necessary to have your eyes aligned "just right" to avoid blackouts, at least for some people.
Same goes with having your eyes at the right distance from the top of the EP lens. Some users lean the eyecups against their upper eyelid to to tilt the bins to avoid this effect. For me, I need to shift the eyecups slightly to the right to accommodate the few mm difference in distance of my right eye from the center of my nose. Of course, then my left eye is not perfectly aligned center, but for some reason, this works for me, but it takes effort and a little pain since the wide eyecups already fit quite snug against the bridge of my nose.
With the EII, I can just pick it up and start birding without regard to IPD, tilt, or eyecup spacing.
So while the SE, or at least later (not "latter") models with updated coatings that have more color saturation may still be competitive with the latest Übermensch roofs, they may not be everybody's cup 'o tea.
On the plus side, the rubber armoring and build quality of the SE are superior to the EII. The armor on my gray body EII has become "quite footloose a' man" and need of some heat resistant glue or updated armoring like the black body version. The SE can also take a few lumps and hold collimation better than the EII.
Even if you are one of the Lucky Ones who do not experience image blackouts with the SE, if you dart your eyes quickly to the lateral edges of the SE, the image will probably blackout. That will give you an idea of what others have to deal with while looking straight ahead.
I would probably not "get on" with the SV EL even if I had a big wad of dough stashed under my mattress, because of the "waving mustache effect" (soon to be added to Wikipedia's "Optical Aberrations" Web page).
Now I'm sure there are those who don't experience any of these issues with the SE or SV EL (we will probably hear from them shortly, taking a perverse pride in being feckless
, but they are deal breakers for enough people that they should be mentioned anytime someone is inquiring about buying an SE or SV EL.
Brock