Well, I'm very pleased. The HD's seem to be a well-rounded binocular, with no real vices - if you can work with the eye-relief. For me, they fit very well.
Focus is smooth, very fast and light but with nice damping. If you have used an ultra-fast focus before, no problem as this one is very precise - if not, you may not be able to adapt easily as the tendency is to overshoot and backtrack.
Compared to the FL, the HD's have numerous advantages - the sweet spot is larger, the area of sharpest focus seems almost twice as big, and edge of field quality is higher. CA in the HD is nearly as good - lateral colour only appears at the edge of the sweetspot, and doesn't become obvious until the outer FOV. Sure, there is some fringing in this area, but it's there in the FL as well, although a bit paler perhaps. I'm not sure if the 32's are better than the 42's in this area, as some have mentioned it as weakness. [and I am very sensitive, and expected it to be worse]
The HD's have better contrast than the FL, giving a more lively view, with more 'pop', more transparency to my eye. Sharpness would be equal, as near as I can tell.
The HD, in apparent brightness, always looks slightly less bright than the FL, with a very slightly warmer bias. White rendering is OK, a bit ivory and warmer than the FL. Overall presentation would be very similar to the FL, with sweetspot size / contrast [HD] and whiteness of the image / brightness [FL] perhaps the only things that would stand out.
The HD's handle stray side light well, better than the FL, with any flare occurring as a small crescent, at the very edge of the FOV and not impacting the view much. Veiling glare is well controlled, again better than the FL's, really only present in those blinding situations of low, bright and scattered light.
Compared to the much more expensive HT - the HT is obviously brighter - all the time, white's are much whiter, overall colour more neutral [less warm], sweet spot similar but area of sharpest focus bigger, a hair sharper with better contrast and better [ideal] stray light control. I would think most users would never see the difference without owning both. If I didn't have the HT, I would have probably been very content for the Conquest to be my primary field binoculars.