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Message: <blockquote data-quote="wanderer55" data-source="post: 1730996" data-attributes="member: 83479">Thank you allI want to thank all of you for giving me lots of information and for several recommendations about what I should do. I have my new Binoculars!!!You who recommended the Leupold Yosemite were Absolutely Correct and right on the mark!I went back to Academy and took my wife's Leitz (Which is labeled as a Trinivoid). I tried out the Bushnell 8x42mm H2O. I found that it was fairly crisp in the center 50%, but after that it lost clarity rapidly. I tried out the Bushnell #24-1059C, 10x42 Roof Prism. It has no name that I can find out, only that it's a "for academy" Bushnell. First off I will say it was 10x versus the 8X Leitz. It is not a bright optic. That was the first drastic difference. It had a lot of light loss. What I did like is that it had about 85% of the field with good clarity and fell off after that. I would recommend these to anyone wanting an inexpensive roof prism binoc, who does not have low light needs. Outdoors in full sun it would be most acceptable at $39.99 It has a rubber coated cast body and the eye cups are twist lock. Focus was smooth and so was the diopter adjustment ring. For $39.99 it's a good buy for bright light work. I decided it was not for me. I wouldn't want to use it, because 10X power gives too small a field of view for my taste.I then drove to Gander Mountain. I tested The Leitz against several optics. First was the Bushnell Natureview in Porro Prism 8x42mm. I was in the very back of the store and it was a clear shot to the front doors. I found a Plaque on the front door post with small gold writing on it and used it as a "resolution standard". It had some large lettering and some small. With the Leitz I could read the larger writing, but the smaller writing was somewhat fuzzy. With the Natureview Porro, I could not resolve any of the writing at all. The Bushnell Porro was very bright, but I could see something like an ever so slight haze, especially at the edges.Next up was the Bushnell Natureview Roof Prism 8x42mm. I found it to be very good. I could resolve the larger writing on the Plaque, but it was a little fuzzy. There was some light loss from the Roof Natureview, but I found it to be acceptable for birding. I think overall it's a contender for the under $200 range of Roof Prisms.I asked the sales person if he had any Leupold Yosemite in stock, since there were none on display. Lo and behold he just got one yesterday. It was the 8x30mm and it was in a blister pack. He opened it up for me.WOW!!!!Yes you all were correct! It is truly Amazing for the Money! Tiny is the first thing to think about it. How could anything so tiny be any good? Lightweight is the next thing. It's like a feather compared to most Porros!Fit and finnish was very good. The only gripe about fit was in the Diopter ring, which was so stiff I had to hold on to the barrel and twist like hell to get it to move. (all of them were that way, I will explain later on). Finally I put them up and WOW again!!! I am totally amazed and totally sold on the optics! The clarity is almost completely out to the edge of the field and the brightness is truly unbelieveable for a 30mm optic!! Resolution was NOT as good as I figured. I could not resolve anything but the very largest writing on the Plaque. I was surprised at that, since it "seemed so clear" but that's what I found. If you're looking for the best bang for the optical buck, there's better in the price range like the Natureview Roof 8x42mm and the Nikon Action 8x40mm.If you're looking for a lightweight, easy to carry, really bright and really well made binocular for $100, the Yosemite fits the bill!!!I also tried out the Nikon Monarch ATB and was not really impressed for the extra money. Resolution was no better than the Natureview Roof and brightness wasn't much better either.Then I tried a Swarowski 10x42mm Roof Prism $1,300 worth of binoc. OK Now I Know WHY!!!It resolved every line of type on the plaque with total clarity!!  I put it back right away! I couldn't afford to even steal one of those!So, the 8x30mm Leupold Yosemite is it. It's all I need. I'm a diner kind of guy, not a fancy restruant kind of guy. I don't need the best and it would be wasted on me. Meat & Potatoes is my thing and this Leupold is Meat & Potatoes for a good price!So, I called Academy and found out that they had a New in Box of the 8x30mm in their back room. It's the "natural" color (pea green, tan??), but I don't mind that and at the checkout it rang up at $99.00.Now I am the rather proud owner of my Yosemite Binoculars and I have everything to thank to all of you, who led me there!My only gripe is the Diopter adjustment ring. Even the new in box unit has one so stiff I could hardly turn it. The salesperson at BM and the salesperson at Academy both own one of these and they said theirs are also very hard to turn, but Hey, you set it once and that's it, so I can live with that!:t:</blockquote>

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