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Message: <blockquote data-quote="brocknroller" data-source="post: 1624485" data-attributes="member: 665">Charles,Thanks for those observations. The SE's ergonomics are wonderful and accommodate a wide variety of hand sizes including my big mitts. However, how steady a user can hold 10x or 12x, even with the SE's excellent ergonomics, depends on the steadiness of his hands, and that, as I've found, can change with age. Yesterday, when I was young, the images in 10x bins was steady, as rain upon my tongue....I could hold a 10x42 SE almost as steady as the 8x32 SE and a 12x50 SE almost as steady as the 10x, but "now I find, I've changed my mind, my hands shake the tens and twelves more and more," which is to say that in standing hand held resolution tests, the 8xs beat the 10x and 12x, because of my shakes, although I can see how the 10x still might be more useful for spotting big game at a distance, as long as I'm not counting "points". Alas, the 12x is no longer hand holdable for me. "Mount or bounce" is my mantra. I can, however, still use the 10x and 12x fairly steady if I'm very well braced in a chair (i.e., my back and head supported). Dittohead for the 10xs. But for out and about, "the eights are better," to quote Jim Carmichael. As far as winter, I'm less concerned about fogging them (I put them down the cellar before I got out to let them cool down slowly and reverse the process after taking them inside) than I am about trying to turn the focus wheel.I experience "frozen focuser syndrome," or FFS, when temps drop below freezing when I'm using the SEs. In low double digits and in single digits, the focusers won't budge. However, I have had my 8x32 LX out in cold weather, from 32*F down to 0*F, and the focuser is still buttery smooth. I still need "cool down time" to keep the heat coming off the bins from blurring the images.I don't feel I lose that much in terms of optical quality in switching to the LX, in fact, I actually gain a bit in contract and color depth, however, the small, narrow LX is does not fit my large hands as well as the wider, curvaceous SE.Put the LX optics in the SE body, give it an internal focuser and WP/FP, and I'd be as happy as a oyster with a pearl.</blockquote>

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