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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Kevin Purcell" data-source="post: 1264701" data-attributes="member: 68323">Day part 1Day 1The box arrives by UPS Ground 7 days after placing the order. Opening it I find the  each of the individual product boxes buried in peanuts. I'm surprised to find it not double boxed to prevent the peanuts from migrating to the edge of the box and taking a hit during rough handling.Retail BoxI pull the product boxes out and line them up to look at them. I don't shop for this kind of geeky hardware much in stores much these days so the product packaging fascinates me. Companies like Apple, as anyone who has opened an iPod knows, make unboxing a product and experience. The product box is a work of art. And the procedure for unboxing the product slowly reveals the product in all it's object d'art glory. It seems this level of presentation hasn't reached binoculars yet.The Celestron product box is most striking: black, white and ... orange. How retro! Oh, wait they're not being ironic. The orange Celestron logo and a orange starburst announcing the "NO FAULT lifetime warrenty". With six fonts and three color photos (a Saw-Whet Owl (cute!), Venice and a skier moguling) on the front of the box it appears to be designed by a graphic artist from the Ransom Note school of art. The back and sides don't improve the view though they seem functional. I guess shouting is one way to get yourself off the shelves at a retail store.The two Vortex boxes are much more subdued. A gentle gray shale backdrop with vortex logo in pine green on a tan stripe. They gentle announced their VIP Warranty and even provide their address and 800 phone number. Much more relaxing. The model notation is a little confusing though with "Coyote" in larger type than the product name. Odd, as that's the color. Still it's a good attempt at style.The Leupold box (the only one that's shrink-wrapped) is an elegant dark-maroon with sparse gold overlaid type announcing the company, the product name and it's three main features (Center Focus, Porro Prism and 100% Waterproof). A green line wraps around the bottom (these are Green Ring bins). A second glance shows the dark-maroon to be a black on maroon woodcut of a mountain scene. The back of the box shows the product and calls out some bullet features of the product. THe top of the box has the full binocular spec (in English only). Very tasteful.I guess Leupold wins this round!Ranking:1. Leupold.2. Vortex.3. Vortex4. Celestron.CasesI look at the cases more closely. Most people ignore the cases but they're an interesting area where a company can make something interesting for not very much money. Or not.The Leupold Yosemite comes with a functional shoulder case (no belt loop) with a velcro closure (to scare the birds when you whip out the case). The bins are a loose fit. The untethered objective covers don't always fall off when removing the bin from the case. The case is sewn from PVC and looks a little cheesy but not too much.The Celestron Ultima comes in a oversized (was this case made for an 8x40 bin?) sewn PVC case with a shoulder strap (and no belt loop, perhaps a good idea for a 30oz bin) that looks even more cheesy than the Leupold one. But the loose fit does mean the untethered objective covers never fall off when removng the bin from the case.The Vortex Hurricane comes with a small nylon (Cordura?) top "flap" opening case with a Fastex closure. The case seems designed for belt mounting with a loop but also has two small loops for the provided shoulder strap. The case is divided in two. The bins fit very snugly in their side of the case. A little too snugly as I couldn't get them out of the case without removing a tethered cap from an objective. Perhaps the "quick-draw" is a feature? The other side of case is too small for any field guide but could hold a small notebook.The Vortex Diamondback comes with the most interesting case. Vortex actually put some design effort into this one. It's a black rounded square 6 inches on side and about 4 inches thick with a zip closure over the sides and the top. The bottom acts as a hinge. The case opens like an alligators jaws revealing the bins on one side, a central divider with a zip closure and a space (for a field guide) on the other side. The case even has a small dimple molded into it on it's back side (the bins side) to prevent the bins from rattling around in an oversized case. Very nice design. There is no belt loop (perhaps not surprisingly for 24oz bins).Ranking:1. Vortex Diamondback - interesting design for semi-hard case2. Vortex Hurricane - functional and quiet belt case (though a bit snug)3. Leupold Yosemite - average PVC soft case4. Celestron Ultima DX - somewhat cheesy and oversizedObjective and Ocular CoversBoth Vortex bins (the roofs) came with tethered objective caps. Both porros came with tethered objective caps. Perhaps binocular makers think porro users are more conscientious and less likely to loose their caps? Or perhaps roof users need them attached like their mittens? I'd prefer it if they were all attached (especially when the bin is out in a dusty or wet environment).All the bins come with flexible rubbery plastic rainguards for the oculars. These fit with varying degrees of security from quite snug on the Vortex Hurricane to barely attached on the Vortex Diamondback.Ranking:1. Vortex Hurricane - nice snug fit rainguard and tethered caps2. Vortex Diamondback - rather loose fit rainguard and tethered caps3. Leupold Yosemite - nice fit rainguard and untethered caps4. Celestron Ultima DX - rather loose fit rainguard and untethered capsSmoke TestingI work through the boxes pulling out each binocular and running it through my "quick in-store test" (partially stolen from edz at Cloudy Nights).First is to shake it (anything loose?). Second, look at the objectives, oculars and the prisms for scratches and internal junk.Third is look through the bins for anything obviously bad (tilted optics, mis-matched focus or misaligned prism). Fourth, check collimation. Set the bins to your IPD, center the bins on some small distant object then move the bins away from your eyes (as if you were going to examine the exit pupil) to but keeping them pointed at the object. Your eyes should keep the object you were looking at fused together in the center of the circle. If the two barrels are out of collimation you won't be able to keep the object centered in both at the same time. If that happens reject the pair.Finally, look at the exit pupils for obstructions as you have the bins away from your eyes. If a bin passes these tests then you can start looking at it more seriously.All the bins passed these simple tests. So that's a good start.More on Day 1 in part 2</blockquote>

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