... the brown color.... the weight...Why do you think the GRs were a market failure?
First, reviewers have complained about the eyecups not staying put and flopping down. Any issues with your GR HDs? Also, are the eyecups comfortable? They look big and are very flat on top rather than beveled.
Second, describe the size, depth and orientation of the thumb indents. Can't see them in the ad photos. Do they work for your medium sized hands? Think they would work for the big handed? (I'm thinking here of a full sized version).
Third, do they taste like chocolate?
The last three questions first.
I have not tasted them
I wear my eyeglasses when i use binoculars. Therefore, cannot really answer some of the eye cup questions.
But i have for this post extended a eye cup to each of its presets (3) and then pressed down on the eye cup. It would not collapse.
The eye cup edge. outer edge is rounded, inner edge has a slight bevel.
They are very nice for me as an eyeglass wearer. Also the eye lense is just short of 1 inch in diameter.
Thumb indents. They are comfortable when used, and facilitate a one - handed hold. They measure 2.25" long and 1.25" wide. They are shaped like a rectangle with rounded corners. The front end of the indent begins (surface starts to round downward) 1 5/8" from the front end of the barrel, and ends about 3/8" of an inch from the inside edge of a fully collapsed eye cup.
I seem to not use them all the time when focusing, since i can access the large focus knob from both above and below (fore fingers and thumbs).
I do not know how the thumb indents would perform for other hand/thumb sizes.
Why do i think they failed in the market? My speculation.
1. Given that their regular market is hunters, I think their introductory price ($1500-$1600?) was perceived as high in that market, given that the company was not a Germanic brand. The rapid discounting both undercut perceived value and exhausted the production run(s) before sufficient praise arose
2. For birders: Intro price is not only too high for Non-Germanic or Nikon brands, but also too low to match the claims of early users or the Allbino ranking. The initial claims and reports would require, in the birding market for roofs, a price only asked by those brands with cojones the size of church bells.:t:
Also, they are both heavy and large for an 8x32 roof. And, of course, the big problem for birders, they are brown :eek!:
3. As they discounted, they fell into the mix of more reliable Chinese sourced binos. And, i mean, they are brown :eek!:
If Leupold takes a second run at the birder market, they may lighten them , use smaller prisms, and source the optical elements from other than Japan or Europe. Also, they may not be brown :t: If they do that, they could charge more than they did this time to cover the cost of the smaller but high quality prisms, and have maybe still have a wider wider margin to play with while attempting to get market share.
I am just glad I got one of this model.