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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Kevin Purcell" data-source="post: 1513065" data-attributes="member: 68323">I think the 10X30 were the start of the second wave of Canon IS bins. They Porro 2 wave which all seem to share the same "back half": same 3mm exit pupil size with the same EPs, prisms, and stabilization wedge.The first wave were roof prism based: 15x45 and the (original) 12x36I think part of it is looks. They do look weird. That's the problem with Porro 2 bins with the EPs on stalks.Then the strap attachment to the EP. Heck that's going to break. Clearly.Until you use them. Then they make sense. They also hold funny with the eye's above the objectives I find they knock of my sense of targeting for other bins (or my other bins targeting muscle memory doesn't transfer directly). This would be bad in a store: "Heck, I can't point them. Must be broken".BTW, the miltary or thumbs up grip I find works very well for pointing these in the same way as my non-IS bins.I've seen two Canon IS 10x42 L in the field in Seattle but no other 10x30. Perhaps there's a more geeky population here. I saw my first SE (well, other than mine) around the neck of a birder yesterday.My 10x30 IS are now my preferred bin (even over my Zen Ray and other more expensive bins) despire the small exit pupil. Well it's (mostly) dry now. I keep having to resist getting the 10x42 ... but I suspect that will last until it start raining because I will "need" them to be waterproof.Do they work in real life? Heck yes. I was out hunting rare (for this location) birds yesterday and for canopy birds especially flitty ones the 10x and IS works great. Great view of a distant Indigo Bunting on the top of a tree singing and a very very flitty Least Flycatcher (I know it was because I could see it singing ... and I could hear the song) in a canopy. And even a very flitty pair of American Redstarts (which don't really come to the PNW!). So for any sort of "semi-distant" views they really do help because the bird stops moving around and you can easily see the little details. Another example, Red Crossbills ... yes, they're really crossbills I can see the tip of the bill (on a distant bird).One can also see the FOV versus magnification trade off pretty clearly. Magnification isn't all especially in a lot of environments I'm in. So make the decision carefully.The one other bin I can see needing along side the 10x IS bin is a very good 7x for times when the 10x FOV is just too narrow. Close in forest work. Or close in flitty birds that need to be tracked.</blockquote>

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