I joined this forum back in 2008 when my Leitz 7x35 Trinovids finally bit the dust and I decided to buy a nice replacement. Most of my buddies at that time had Swarovski ELs or SLCs, so I was leaning that direction. After taking ELs and an Ultravid home for the weekend, I ended up liking the EL more.
But by then I was hooked on this forum, and accepting every tiny critique as a huge problem. No binocular seemed immune to trouble, CA, rolling ball, depth of field, perceived lack of sharpness, color tint, 3D or lack there of, glare, oh my was my head spinning. I bought three more bins over the next year. All that and I found myself looking for faults in my binoculars and obsessing over them rather than just enjoying the view. I finally said enough and dropped out of the forum for ten years and just used my binoculars. My enjoyment went way up. Iโve come back, but with a different attitude. I feel like the state of the art has finally surpassed my early 2000 Ultravids enough to justify an upgrade. Iโm 73 now, so these will be my last big optical purchase. Iโll take my time deciding with a good understanding that all our eyes, faces and taste are different, so my decision will be based on actual in hand use. That said I still value other opinions and experiences, thatโs why Iโm here.