I had a chance to review a sample of the Olympus 8x42 Pro today, including a brief step outside into a rainy landscape.
As has been mentioned, the Pro looks a bit „pedestrian“ - everything about it looks a bit boring, you could also say Olympus has been going for understatement with their new top model (if you review the specs, the Pro features about everything that you can expect for this price category).
The Pro is made in China, and it does at first glance appear as a clone of any of those many Chinese binos hitting the markets today.
The extendable eyecups have one intermediate click-stop. The finish is good, the mechanics - hinge, dpt adjustment, eyecups - all work well.
Picking the Pro up, it rests very comfortably in my hand. Everything feels right - weight, dimensions, balance. The „ease of view“ („Einblickverhalten“) is good, I observe without glasses, and using the intermediate stop on the eyecups, I can easily see the entire field of view.
Observing with the Pro lets me forget the dull exterior and boring design. The field is much wider than in the EXWP (I compared these two side by side). Central sharpness is about the same, but the wider image of the Pro is sharp almost to the edge - a very pleasant surprise, much better than in the EXWP, and better than most similarly priced 8x42s I know. The image is completely flat, rectilinear distortion is low; no significant rolling ball effect. CA correction is perhaps not perfect, but quite good.
Overall, I am positively impressed with the new Olympus. Many more things need to be reviewed (stray-light suppression, sharpness / contrast compared side by side with leading upper middle class models), but so far, the Pro seems a very nice addition to the market. And I had already almost given up on Olympus ...
fwiw
Canip