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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Newbflat" data-source="post: 3187096" data-attributes="member: 75345">So.... to add to the saga. I went to REI to order a pair of Nikon 8x30 M7's and low and behold, sitting right there were a pair of Leupold Mojave 8x32's. To make a long story short, i walked out the door with 20% off and an applied credit for $125 total.  I also order a pair of Nikon M7's arriving in a week with the understanding that i would take the winner and return the other.. they said fine. Home now with the Mojaves and my first impression is that they are bigger and heaver than the Nikon's. I suppose that's because they are (brilliant!), but i can't help but remember my feeling when i first grabbed the 8x30 M7's.. Wow, these are really small and light! I don't have that feeling with the Mojave's. I can see the full field of view with my glasses in the Mojave's, just, but i didn't get that immersive feeling i did with the Nikon's. This however could well just be wishful thinking or bad memory on my part. I only had a few minutes with the M7's and was comparing them to some binos with a narrower FOV. Focusing has zero backlash (nice!) but is a touch sticky (not rough), but i suspect this might change with a bit of time. The only thing i have to compare them to at the moment is my girlfriends pair of Zen-Ray 7x36 ED2's..  While not apples and apples, its an interesting comparison nun the less.  As you might expect, the ZR's are brighter by a good bit. They definitely bring out the the details in the shadows better and give a bit brighter view to everything. The ZR's are a bit warmer in hue and noticeably sharper center field. The sweet spot seems to be a bit smaller in the ZR's bit its hard to tell as i can't see the full field. The Mojave have a bit more CA than the RZ's center field but not to a distracting degree.  The Mojave's have a nice flat field but no rolling ball and I'm a bit sensitive too it.. unlike my long gone ZR Primes. Compared to the ZR's they seem damn near flat field. That said, the ZR's have a better 3-D view and i think part of that is field curvature. Everything in the Mojave's looks flat, stacked and 2-D. In the ZR's there is more separation/depth and movement when you move around a little. Maybe too much if you move around a lot. So on points so far the ZR 7x36 ED2's win and i must say did so without splitting hairs but not by huge amount. I consider the flat vs. curved field a personal preference thing so i will leave it.  But! and a huge But!... the ZR's fall flat on there face when i look in the direction of a low angled sun. There is just no comparison. The Mojave's are MUCH better at dealing with glare, its not even close. To the west of my back porch there is an apartment complex about 150 feet away. It has a deeply recessed stairwell with two lights in it shining on the stairs. Its very dark and you can only see a little detail with the naked eye. For the following example conditions are bad.. the sun is about 10 degrees to the side and the same above. So I'm looking very close to the sun into a dark recces. With the Mojaves i can see deep into the recess and its near black for the most part. I can make out wood details/grain and see the siding seams. The lights  in the stairwell have detail and i can see the element in the bulb and spider webs on the lamp.  If there was a bird in there i could see color detail and patterns. With the ZR's its a total gray out, just one big grey veil. I can hardly see the lights let alone spider webs.. I just can't stress just how different it is, the view is useless with near zero contrast or detail.   There was some glare in the Mojaves but I'm not sure what to call it. Its more like reflections or bright crescents all around the edge but it was extremely eye placement dependent and did not include any veil of gray. It was annoying but didn't really effect the over all contrast of the image... well, maybe a little. But nothing, nothing like the near completely useless view in the ZR's. Yes this was an extreme test, but the ZR's started to show glare/veil at something like 45 or more degrees from the sun. Nothing in the Mojaves at the same angle. So.. if i was birding in the shade or in cloudy understory conditions only,  the ZR might be my choice as its brighter, sharper and has a deeper field of view. I didn't mention it above but its also significantly more relaxed view for my eyes as well. But!.. and a big one...the glare when heading close to the sun just gets atrocious in comparison. If i had to choose between the two i think i would go with the Mojave's. The ZR's are better at most things but only by a little. Definitely there but NOTHING like the difference when viewing close to the sun..... its a fair trade. This all makes me a bit worried about the Nikon M7's and there veiled glare reputation. We shall see how they do with the glare torture test... I really want them to pass as the size, weight and field of view are very appealing for traveling.Anyways.. I have drunk too much wine.Bill</blockquote>

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