MHG vs EDG
I was going to comment on this in the Birdfair thread, but here will do just fine. I had a really good look at the 10x42 HG this time round as I thought I hadn't given it a proper trial the last time. There's a lot to like about it and it ticks some really desirable boxes - excellent field of view, edge sharpness (thanks to field flatteners), easy handling and so on. I thought the 10x42 especially a really effective birding tool and if you arrived at a birding spot anywhere in the world without binoculars and were handed one of these, you'd have a great birding day, or week, or month with them, no question about it. In having said that, though...
... Nikon had EDGs on the stand not far away (another binocular I had not really tried properly on my last visit) and with not many folks in the Nikon area I had a really good opportunity for almost half an hour to look through one, then the other, and go back and forth between them and really analyze them. In short the view through the EDG was indisputably better - for me at least but I'd be willing to bet the majority of experienced binocular users would come down on the side of the EDG as well. Obviously the price difference between the two means that comparing the two is not exactly apples vs apples, but the difference was there, and quite noticeable when switching from one to the other at that, although I did find my eyes would rapidly adjust to the Monarch HG. I found the EDG image is a touch brighter, but more importantly cleaner, and colour rendition more pleasing, with richer colours. Edge performance was better and I could (or at least it felt as though I could) perceive more detail even though when tested for sharpness against leaves and branches in distant trees there seemed to be very little difference. The edge sharpness of the EDG seemed to compensate adequately for the smaller actual field of view compared to the MHG (I've noticed the same when using other flat field binoculars such as the 8.5x42 SV). I like the Monarch HG a lot, but in summation... good though it is, it isn't an alpha, while the EDG is. But at something like twice the price it damn well should be. It certainly isn't twice as good! The Monarch HG is easily "good enough" for me - make that more than good enough - and a good many more folks can justify spending what one costs compared to the EG. But if a fairy godmother were to give me the choice of one, with part of the deal being that if I attempted to sell it it'd vanish - it'd be the EDG every time, without question.
PS. The Monarch HG, Conquest HD, Meostar HD and Canon 10x42 IS (without stabillization) made for a really interesting group of binoculars to compare. I'd planned to do that in the Birdfair thread but work keeps getting in the way. There is some real talent in that sub-alpha corner of the market.