A short review, per your request
I bought a different pair of bins from Kauffman Knives some time back. I even asked Shane to take the bins out and check to see if they are good before shipping and he obliged. How do you like the SV 8x32 compared to other bins you have used? A short(or long) review will be nice to read.
I am a professor of environmental studies, and use binoculars extensively in my field work, which centers around natural history investigations. I often will be using my optics all day, every day for weeks at a time, and need reliable equipment that stands up to abuse and has a low fatigue factor. Depending on the project, I will select from three scopes and four binoculars, including the new EL 8x32 SV bins.
Years ago it would not have occurred to me to use 8x32s, and my primary working bins were Zeiss Design Select 8x56 Nighthawks, which I still use in crepuscular situations. But I've gotten old and they've gotten heavy, so about ten years ago I switched to Zeiss Victory FL 7x42s, which are super bright and have an amazing FOV and weigh about a third what the Nighthawks weigh. But they fogged on my once in Baja when I spent the month of August in the desert, and now they need to be sent back for the second time due to interior dust. They have not been treated kindly. So I bought the 8x32s to tide me over until the 7x42s are returned.
Other than for the odor, I'm enjoying the Swaros, They are less immersive than the Zeiss, are slightly less bright and have a smaller FOV, but I'm falling in love with them anyway. Zwarovski seems to have solved the "rolling ball" problem with these field glasses, which is important to someone like me who spends a great deal of time panning. Most of the time I'm using my bins to find a critter, and then switching to the scope to investigate more closely. The rolling ball was not an option when you're doing that six to eight hours at a time.
The big question is why I didn't purchase the Zeiss Victory 8x32 FLs rather than the Swaros. Answer: I'm old, I now wear glasses full time, and the Swaros have 20mm of eye relief. Even though the Zeiss 8x32s were lighter, that kind of eye relief is to die for. End of debate.
I've spent the past few days monitoring hawk migrations with a crew of highly trained birders, and I'm delighting in the fact that although I'm wearing the smallest pair of bins in the group I'm still finding some of the "best" birds. While I will continue to use the Zeiss 7x42s in many situations once they're returned, especially when teaching and when working in arboreal environments, I'll definitely keep the Swaros, and will probably use them whenever I'm hiking, especially if I'm lugging a scope or a camera.
I purchased the sand-color bins, which I greatly prefer to the green of my wife's Swaros or the black of my Zeiss bins. When you work in a desert ecology, light colors are good. Nothing worse than hot bins! I've ofte wondered whether my Zeiss bins would have not fogged had they not been black. From now on, if I head to the desert during the summer months, I'll take the Swaros.
B 
