Bushnell Elite 20-60X80 Model Changes (1 Viewer)

I've been searching the net for information on the Bushnell Elite 20-60X80 Spotting Scopes and it appears they made a model change in 2010. I am trying to find out what changed from the old version to the new.

I called Bushnell and discussed the straight eye piece version. The only thing she could find on her computer is the prior version came out in 2004 and the current version shows a release date of 2010. Everything else showed the same.

I am assuming the current version has more updated coatings but I was wondering if anything else has changed. From the specs and pictures I could find, they appear the same. Both are still available for sale on the net. I did notice on the B & H site listing for the discountinued model that they listed a rotating collar, retractable lens hood and it accepts 82mm filters. These features were not shown in the listing for the current model, but that does not mean they are not there.

Straight Version:

- Current model is 780008
- Prior model is 780080

Angled Version:

- Current model is 784580
- Prior model is (?) 788045 (From the Bushnell Euro site)

Does anyone know how this line evolved? Knowing this information may make the reviews more meaningful, depending on when they were written.

Thanks.

Edit --- Followup Information

I browsed a few Bushnell catalogs and found some additonal information.

The 2010 catalog made no mention of the new model numbers. The 2011 catalog used the new model numbers to head up a couple sentence description of the Elite 80mm scopes, but the actual photos appear to be the now discontinued models that were labeled with the old model numbers, and the spec chart listed the old model numbers. Looks like the new version actually came out during 2011. The 2012 catalog only referenced the new model numbers.

I noticed the following comparing between the 2011 and the 2012 catalogs:
- The armor now appears to be a more gray color and rougher texture.
- The white lettering has been removed from the ring behind the objective and is now black.
- The exterior of the eye Piece has changed:
-- The finger grip now has ridges rather than a checker pattern.
-- There is now a twist-up eyecup.
- The object lens is a different color, but that may well be photoshopped for artistic reasons.

Here are a couple images. The new model is on the left .......

Did they have a straight version before?..Or not until they released it,as You noted,in 2010?..At least, I dont remember having , ever ,seen the straight version of the elite over the years..When I think about this model is always the angled version that I seem to remember, but then again,never really payed much attention to the scope ...Do they even have a fixed power,wide angle eyepiece available for this scope?....

Mayoayo .... I edited my original post to add some more information since you posted.

From what I have found, Bushnell offered both a straight and an angled version of the 80mm Elite for the prior model line and the now current models. However, I only see the angle version on the Europe web site, so maybe the straight version is only available in the United States

The 2011 catalog lists a 22x WA/LER eye piece (model 782200, FOV 133ft/44.3mm, eye relief 40mm(?)), but I did not see it in the 2012 catalog. I think there may have been a couple of other powers in years past. I assume WA means wide angle, and LER means long eye relief(?). 40m ER seems like a large number.