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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Upland" data-source="post: 3615835" data-attributes="member: 136306">The GPO 8x32s arrived today and I've spent a good part of the afternoon checking them out. I would say i agree with BruceH's excellent review of the 8x42s and the only differences I observed from his review was that I found no slack in the focus wheel when I changed dierection. It was actually close to perfect for me with just the right amount of tension for my taste. Indeed the entire build quality of the Passion ED is exceptional especially when considering the price. Now the hard part: even though these are very impressive in both build and optical qualities the eyecups are too short when extended to come up to my face all the way. When I pulled them down my nose to get the proper view they let stray light in and this causes reflections within the barrels. I tried putting on eyeshields and while that solved the reflection problem it didn't change the fit to my face. I'm going to keep playing around with them but I think this is going to be a deal killer for me☹️ I had a pair of Conquest's that had the same problem and it drove me nuts. While I heard that Zeiss offered longer eyecups I never pursued that as the focus was too quick and finicky for me. Maybe after the first production run of the Passions GPO will address this. As long as I'm posting I'll give you a quick run down of all the mid sizes I've tried and a nutshell review/impression of them. of them. Some of these I tried over a year ago so I'm going memory which isn't quite as reliable as it used to be!Zeiss Conquest: these were optically excellent but the lack of ED glass made the images somewhat flat as compared to others with it. As noted before the eyecups and focus issues bothered me. The only reason I was able to afford these was that I found a pair of demos for about 2/3rds the price of new ones. They also were the heaviest pair I've tried. Vortex Talon: I actually like these quite a bit. The focusing isn't the smoothest but they have the most pop of any f the pairs I tried. I think it may be because they have a slight yellow cast that may act like high contrast sunglasses. I also like theirs looks and they feel good in the hands. My wife loves these and they now belong to her. They also don't have the widest sweet spot but the image within is very nice. Leupold Mojave: I picked these up on clearance from REI and they are very nice for the price. They aren't very good with CA though. I'm not very sensitive to CA but I definitely noticed it with these. Vanguard Endeavor ED: I wasn't impressed with build quality or optics of these. I knew after a couple of minutes they weren't for me so didn't spend much time with them. Vortex Viper: good but not great build quality. The focus knob was a little rough and the hinge a little loose. The optics were good but they didn't fit my face and there were lots of internal barrel reflections. Meopta Meopro: I had high hopes for these because the build quality was nice and astheticly I loved them. Unfortunately I had the same or slightly worse focus issue with them as the Conquests and they also had considerable CA especially considering they use ED glass. Kowa BD XD: very nice overall but the eyepieces were short. Arghh!Eagle Optics Ranger: these are nearly identical to the Vortex Viper with the same issues for me.  Nikon Monarch 7: these had so much flare in one of the barrels I thought they were defective. REI ED Series 8x32: I didn't really expect much out of these but on clearance at $43 I just had to get a pair. They aren't the greatest optically but much better than I thought they would be They only weigh 13 ounces and now reading in my car. Minox Bl HD These were the best of the bunch for me. The build quality was excellent as to be expected since they are assembled in Germany. The optics were quite good as well. They fit my face nicely and I'm feeling like I should have kept them especially since I bought them on closeout for about half price. That's about it for now. I guess the search will continue unless I decide to keep the GPOs but I'm thinking the eyepieces are going to be a deal breaker. Too bad because they really are nice. Perhaps I'll try the Opticrons. Thanks for the suggestion. I considered a pair of theirs last year but they didn't have ED glass then. Maybe it's time to check them out. Cheers and sorry for any typos as I need to go and don't have time to check for them.</blockquote>

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