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Message: <blockquote data-quote="brocknroller" data-source="post: 3162774" data-attributes="member: 665">I'm happy to hear that somebody finds my observations useful! Thank you for mentioning it. I do wonder sometimes. The problem is, and here is an example, if I say that a certain 8x30 looks brighter to me than a certain 8x32, an expert will chime in and assert that the 8x32 has 13.234% more light gathering power than the 8x30, and therefore, all other things being equal, the 8x32 must be brighter according to the Laws of Physics. Well, perhaps it must be, but it doesn't appear that way to me since there's more going on with people's perceptions of bins than cold-blooded physics will allow. The reason this conflict arises is that experts often take human perception out of the "equation." Some people are trying to scientifically study <a href="http://kellmanlab.psych.ucla.edu/projects_visual_perception.php" target="_blank">human perception</a>.Maybe someday they will finally understand what goes on between our ears, but until they do, like you, I will listen to people whose opinions I've come to trust and use them as a guide to tell if I would or would not be interested in a particular bin. I also have years experience looking through binoculars myself, and while I'm occasionally surprised, I pretty much know what I like and what I don't like. There are some automatic disqualifiers such as narrow FsOV, heavy weight (particularly in roofs), too little pincushion, too much pincushion, oversized eyecups, ultra fast focusers, roof prism compacts, steep fall off at the edges, etc., and some features that pique my interest -- pretty much the opposite of the disqualifiers. This is not to say that I don't find expert tests useful since they help to confirm or deny the manufacturer's claims ("sharp to the edge")("good for eyeglass wearers")(5 ft. close focus), etc., but those test numbers are only the starting point for me. Reading others' opinions of the binoculars and factoring in my likes and dislikes tells me more. Only actually using the bin will tell me for sure whether or not I will like it, but I've rarely been surprised after going through this three-step process. I'm always interested in reading people's opinions about bins unless they are merely looking to confirm that their bin is better than someone else's or in denying flaws in their bin because they own it. Unfortunately, there's too much of that going on sometimes on these forums, which makes me turn away and find something more interesting to do. Brock</blockquote>

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