Bought my 8.5x EL in 2001, having tried someone else's on Shetland on a typically dark, damp northern day in October 1999. At the time I had an eight year old Swaro 8x30 SLC. I was totally blown away with the sharpness and brightness of these new bins.
Seventeen long months later, having been in a queue for months, I managed to get them. What an anti-climax! Though still bright and sharp I found the focus to be horrendously and impractically slow. There followed a long electronic argument with Swarovski that, needless to say, they won. A bad big'un will always beat a good little'un.
Three years down the line I have grown accustomed to the snail's pace focus.
I use a porro with a wide FOV and fast focus when bush bashing, and save the EL's for wide open spaces.
If they have speeded up the focus, then the good little'un has been proven right. Up yours, Swarovski!
Clive