Meopta Meopro Air 8x42 or GPO Passion HD 8x42? (1 Viewer)

[Ouroboros]

Hello, I'm hoping some of you would be kind enough to offer your thoughts on two binoculars - Meopta Meopro Air and GPO Passion HD both in 8x42. I've done a fair bit of research into both but I have no opportunity to try either in person and the return policies vary from "not at all" to "there will be a restocking fee of our choosing" to "no problem but the shipping cost half way around the world is on you". So right off the bat, just ordering and returning if it doesn't suit is a challenge.

Some background:

• I'm planning to use there for general nature observation, mostly when hiking. This will include forest animals, birds, as well as whales off the coast so the 8x42 is best suited.
• I have to wear glasses so high eye relief is key for me which is one of the reasons I've whittled the options down to these two.
• I currently have a pair of Nikon Prostaff P7 8x42 that work fine for me (20.2 mm eye relief, actual around 14.7 mm).
• I'm in Canada and the price for either of these is around $1200 for the Meopta and $1400 for the GPO. This is the upper limit of my budget.

From research and speaking with staff at Meopta, I know the eye relief on the Meopro is 22 mm with usable eye relief of 17.5 mm which should be more than enough based on my Nikons. The GPO has a listed eye relief of 19.5 mm and from what I can find the usable eye relief is 17 mm (owing to a very shallow eye cup lip) so that should also work fine BUT I have seen some list the useable eye relief as 15 mm which should work but I wouldn't have much leeway.

The Meopro has a FOV of 415 ft/1000 yards and the GPO has a FOV of 375 ft/1000 yards which is about the same FOV as my Nikons so I wouldn't be stepping back, but more FOV is always better.

Given this information, I'd love to hear any thoughts on the two or comparisons if you've had both. Specifically I'm wondering:

• Can anyone confirm the GPO usable eye relief? Or at least the distance from the ocular lens to the edge of the eye cup rim? Have you any issues using it with glasses?
• Is the extra FOV on the Meopro that big an improvement in practical terms? I've heard the GPO "seems wider than listing" but that could be user specific.
• Price and specs apart, how would you rate the quality of either? Is one better than the other? My understanding is the optics are very similar.
• If there is another 8x42 binocular with usable eye relief 15 mm or greater and a FOV of at least 375 ft/1000 yards under $1400 Canadian, I'm open to suggestions.

Thanks in advance for reading this, and hopefully you can spare the time to reply.