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Message: <blockquote data-quote="yarrellii" data-source="post: 3905826" data-attributes="member: 137633">Oddly enough, I find the Monarch 7 8x30 (with its cheapo soft-n-sticky rubber and plastic body) a joy to carry and use. Really, I mean it. I've seen so many people complaining about its plasticky feeling... It is of inferior optical quality, but I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a medium-quality binocular where weight and shape were of utmost importance. If not for its tendency to gather glare and the obvious improvement in terms of optical performance that the new CL offers, the M7 would be it for me (that is, actually... the MHG!! <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite2" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=";)" /> For some reason, even though I tried to love it, the MHG simply hasn't worked for me the two times I've tried it; a terrible disappointment).Well, everything feels heavy after the 8x30 M7 <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite8" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":D" /> It is probably the feeling of "quality" and that beefy/hefty sense of a piece of machinery well put together. There's something strangely reassuring about holding them. I think it belongs in the same category as the reassuring noise some car doors make when being shut. If you know what I mean.I had the FL 8x32, and I enjoyed using it but... good as it is, it simply didn't blow me away. I found it a bit to chubby/thick, and the performance just didn't gave me the unforgettable wow I got from its 7x42 sibling (the one binocular I regret selling). For me, if it has to be a light binocular, the limit would be more within the 17 oz/490 g range than within 20 oz/565 g. The latter is already on the heavy side for trekking and long walks. I don't mind a +40 oz night binocular behemoth for a short walk (on these last nights of full moon I've been using a 8x56 Steiner Nighthunter with great joy) or for taking with me in the car, but I can tell quite a difference between the 21 oz/610 g of a EL 8x32 and the 17 oz of a CL (let alone the 15,3 oz /435 g of an M7 8x30).Ab-so-lu-te-ly. I like understatement. While most people seem to agree that the new CL is optically "what the CL should have been in the first place", I think the previous CL is what an Swarovski should look like <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite2" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=";)" /> Do try it, I think you will like it a lot, since you already like the original CL. However, I think that can actually be your biggest problem with the new CL, will it represent enough of a change to get the new one? Hmmm, I think that's not an easy one (I mean, provided you already have the old one; if you didn't have it, I'd say the new CL is quite a tempting 8x30 offer).</blockquote>

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