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Message: <blockquote data-quote="james holdsworth" data-source="post: 3268304" data-attributes="member: 79864">I have stayed out of this thread because I felt it unfair to rain on a new user / owners parade but [with several other user opinions now posted] I will add my own experience.I own the 10x56 Design Selection and have tried two samples of the 8x56, so I think I have a very good handle on the optics of the model.In a nutshell, when compared to my HT or FL, the 10X56 suffer quite badly. Very small sweetspot with troubling edge astigmatism, some of the worst CA I have seen in modern binoculars, relatively low / weak contrast and muted colours. Resolution on all three samples was OK but clearly less than modern glass like the HT's or FL's. I bought them as a collector piece and they sit pretty much unused and unloved due to their deficiencies - with no mention of their god-awful ergonomics.I have read, and continue to read, the platitudes afforded this binocular series on-line and can only conclude the reviewers do not have access to something better to compare or that most of it is wistful nostalgia, not based on any actual comparisons or data.If you collect Zeiss binoculars, as I do, then a set of NO's is desirable. If you want to go birding, try a Conquest HD - cheaper and better in every category. All IMO.....I should add, I have never tried the Victory version of this binocular, that employed the thinner [non-lead] lenses I think, so there could have been optical improvements.</blockquote>

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