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Message: <blockquote data-quote="typo" data-source="post: 3481282" data-attributes="member: 83808">George, You raise some points in your last post that juggle various aspects of technicaly performance and user perception which I would agree with mostly, but other elements would vary according to the user. I haven't tried that many, but so far I would rule out 15x for hand held use. The issue for me has not necessarily been the magnification or the weight. It's more the inabilty to hold them in a position where I can both focus and hold them in a balanced position without additional strain on the hands which aggrevates the shake. I'd agree a view with a tripod can be really rewarding. So far I haven't found a satisfactory adaptor which would allow me to use an x15 with a monopod (unlike x50 scopes). With stronger hands and wider IPDs others may have more success.I think we would all agree shake impairs the view, but how much will vary with the individual's physical makeup, the weight and balance of the binocular, and actually the user's acuity. For me it's normally in the 30 to 50% range for loss of limiting detail, but if I use reduced acuity it can be as low as zero. However, perception is quite different. You suggest the difference between an 8x and 12x may not be very obvious.  From my experience, given the right binoculars, I'd have to disagree. Technically a 12x can deliver at most a 50% improvement in detail over an 8x, but that Meostar 12x50 I reviewed gave the impression that it had double the magnification. I've also tried 10x binoculars that appeared to have lower magnification than an 8x. I'm not at all sure what the brain is doing with the signals from our eye, but binocular characteristics that appear to be important seem to include AFOV, edge sharpness, contrast profile and stereopsis amongst other things. I've tried a monster 15x110 with a 90° AFOV which was awsome. My first guess was 30x. It may not be 'real' but what we think we see may have little to do with physics much of the time.Of course it's possible to boost the magnification of one barrel of a binocular and effectively use it as a scope, which I've found can be useful on occasions, but can be limited either the optical quality of the binocular or the reduced acuity of the eye at small exit pupils. You may noy see any more detail with a 15x50 than a 12x50 when boosted 2x.David</blockquote>

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