Here's a review of the GR HD that was disappointing to read, not that the reviewer seemed to think badly of them, though he apparently liked the Vortex Viper better.
http://libertyoptics.blogspot.com/2008/08/vortex-viper-8x42-vs-leupold-gold-ring.html
He also got some of the technical terms wrong (such as "spherical aberration" for "field curvature," but it was his comments about "astigmatism" in the GR HD and how this affected resolution that I found disturbing.
Reading that part of the review was like "deja vu all over again," because it reminded me of what I saw through my 8x32 LX, which also has astigmatism, most noticeably at the top of the FOV.
The sweet spot on the 8x32 LX is lopsided, with the horizontal edges being significantly better than the vertical. I noticed this on two samples, and like the reviewer I had trouble getting both the horizontal bars and vertical bars on the resolution chart to focus at the same time on the smallest elements I could see.
Consequently, while the overall "picture" looked sharp (the excellent contrast helped), sometimes when I zeroed in on small details (bird feather crosshatching, beaks, scales on birds' feet), I'd have a hard time seeing those details without moving the features off axis to find the sharpest spot, which was below the center field or to either side of the center.
The shallow depth of focus didn't help the situation when the bird was moving around on a limb or a feeder.
The astigmatism wasn't limited to just the top, though it was most noticeable there because I couldn't refocus the top, but it was also throughout the field of view.
I didn't notice this on the full sized LXs and would have rather kept the full sized 10x42 model because of the better evenness of sharpness across the field of view. But of course, there was the "rolling ball" to contend with.
Despite this, for looking at details, the 10x42 LX was one of the sharpest bins I've used whereas the 8x32 LX gave a sharp overall picture, which worked very well for sporting events and for general use, but when it came to looking at small details on birds, I found it tedious to hunt for the off axis sweet spots and when necessary hunt for the best focus, particularly at medium distance.
Having said that, the color depth and contrast in the LX series are the best I've seen in binoculars, but between those tedious issues and trying to keep the small bin steady w/out thumb indents, it was at times frustrating to use the 8x32 LX.
I wouldn't want that type astigmatism in a bin again (or shallow depth of focus), and though I had been considering the 8x42 Gold Ring as a replacement for the 8x32 LX, because of it's "bang for the buck," larger size, and FL glass, this review turned me off.
