Hi all! I finally had a moment to post and figured I would share my latest experiences. As had been mentioned a few weeks back, I decided to order two more pairs of binoculars for my 'unprofessional' comparison to the Bushnell Legend M's and the Viper HD's. More specifically, I had ordered the Vortex Razor HD 8x42's, as well as the Vortex Talon HD 8x42's.
My shopping experiences were... shall we say... a tad odd... in that it seems that the first Razor I received had poor/defective optics! For several days I went back and forth between the Razors and the Vipers, looking at high-detail objects such as tree trunks and various birds as they waited their turn to fly over to my feeder. I kept scratching my head and thinking "Jeez, things look more detailed through the Vipers than through the Razors..." and for several days after getting home from work I used the final few minutes of daylight to continuously compare them back-to-back, thinking maybe I was just "seeing" things.
However, after a few days of such back and forth (throwing in the Legend M's for good measure) I decided that perhaps I needed to order and try another copy of the Razors to compare, so I did. Actually, I ordered two more copies... because despite getting a good price on the 2nd pair, after coupon, they were on back-order and I was much too impatient to wait for delivery.
The second pair of Razors I received confirmed my suspicions, in that I found them resolving greater detail under the same lighting conditions, using the same static resolution chart/target, as the the first pair I had received. I found the optics of the 2nd pair of Razors to be very, very sharp... but I did detect some slight chromatic aberration while using them to look at tree branches contrasting against a bright, overcast sky. I also saw a similar amount of CA from the Vipers under the same conditions, at the same time, looking at the same branch. I was not really expecting to see CA in a pair of binoculars as expensive as the Razors and am not really sure what to make of that.
CA aside, I honestly prefer the look and feel of the Vipers in my hands more-so than I do the Razors. I attribute this to the fact that the Razors barrels can only be comfortably held in the hands if the barrels are separated from each other, thus leaving a gap between them (as in the case of someone with a large IPD using them).
I found the the focus wheel on the Razors even lighter and smoother than was the case with the Vipers (which surprised me) and the rubber coating of the Razors focus wheel gripped my fingers well. Focusing wheels on both the Viper and the Razor are excellent, to say the least, and while I prefer the extra lightness in movement of the Razor's wheel I must say that I prefer the texture of the Viper's micro-pyramid-machined wheel.
As far as my experience with the Talons... well.... apparently they sold out of the Talons at approximately the same moment as I had submitted my order... and so the merchant ended up sending me a 2nd pair of Viper HD 8x42's in its place, for the same price as the Talons! If not for the previously-mentioned issues surrounding my particularly narrow face and the IPD range of the Vipers I would have thought it was Christmas morning!
I really did want to try the Talons out for comparison, but I guess the binocular gods just weren't siding with me on that particular day and I know have far too many binoculars relative to my bank account balance, so some must be either returned or re-sold.
In the end, I still contend that the Bushnell Legend M's offer fantastic image quality for the price... but that darned super-stiff focus wheel is simply a "no-go" for me. And, as before, I still contend that the Vipers are AMAZING, but they don't fit my IPD, so they just won't work for me no matter how badly I want them to. (Apparently kicking and screaming on the floor does not magically change the IPD range of a binocular. Who would have thought?). That leaves the Razors, which will be the model I think I will end up keeping. Although, I do find the Mavic line of binoculars (B.1 and B.2) to be intriguing... and I kinda' would like to hold a pair of those in my hands, as well.