At $253 shipped New what's not to like ? I can not name one thing, except the cheezy soft case which I would take anytime for a binocular that performs like the 7x42 Hawthorne. I don't have any other 7x42's at this time & my pre-order 7x36 ED2 has not arrived yet but I will say I like this Leupold a lot better than the Zen Ray ED 7x43 I owned. I don't know what glass Leupold's uses but the handling & view of the Leupold's impressed me more then the 7x43 ED Zen Ray. I still remember how much I liked the 7x36ED2. I would assume the revised Zen Ray 7x36 ED2 would be slightly better optically but after handling & looking thru the Leupold I am not so sure now ED glass or not http://www.birdforum.net/images/icons/icon5.gif ....... gwen