Pitter
Well-known member
Well I've had my new 12x50 for several weeks now. To my great relief the focusing is smooth and not sticky like that of the Leica 12x50 that I've had for years and will put up for sale. The image of course is exquisite as expected. I do have a couple of niggles. The thumb indents on the barrels, while thoughtful additions aren't quite right for my hands especially on the right where I'm using my index finger to focus the knob. The indent there is too far down the barrel for comfort. I wish they had just left the barrels smooth as it's annoying to try to fit my grip to their indents when I'm in a hurry to focus. Another are the big knobs where the neck strap connects to the barrel. On the left ok but on the right where my focusing finger is the knob sort of rubs against the skin between thumb and forefinger while holding and focusing the binocular. All of that is completely out of the way on the Leica. Also connecting those knobs to install the neck strap was a real pain in the neck, a completely unnecessarily complicated and fussy design. So if I were to rate this binocular on a scale of one to ten the optics would rate a ten and the ergonomics about a three. The positioning of knobs and thumb indents surely work for some but they don't work for me so why add fussy details to an optic that are not universal...all of that said I must now try to accustome myself to those awkward details.