Theo from United States, LA Public Profile

I purchased the Ruger MkIV Hunter (#40160) with the very nice OEM Target grips, but had issues in the summer heat (sweating) maintaining a solid hold with those grips.

My upgrade to the beautiful Volquartsen "36-layered" laminated blue-gray right-handed thumb grips now fit my shooting hand like a Glove! The VQ shelf thumb rest feels very natural and assist in the handling, balance and muzzle control of my 6 7\8" fluted barrel Hunter. Single-handed shooting just became much easier and maintaining a bulls eye sight placement and hold for accurate POI just went way up!!

I love the looks of the laminated grips, the solid control of the finger grooves and thumb rest and the overall ergonomic fit and finish! Although not cheap, the perfection of build quality along with the enhanced control performance and stunning great looks compliment my MkIV Top-of-the-Line .22 purchase!!

These new calcium-fluoride HD Pro Guide 8X32's (MIJ) offer some great optical performances, with possibly a few caveats.

Pros: Sharpness, clarity and resolution appear very close to my Austrian Alpha glass binoculars. They are very solidly built, with a nice ergonomic layout and armor that is comfortable and secure to hold. Hinge IPD tension is tight and the 3-step eye cups have a very comfortable fit to my eye sockets. Focus speed is the fastest I've ever used, going from close focus (2 yds) to 100 yds in just 1\2 a turn, great for birding and quick in-close nature observations. These also offer another 3\4 turn to get you way out beyond infinity, very useful if you do not want to wear glasses while making observations. Focus tension is smooth and even, with enough resistance to easily maintain settings without any stray wandering. Diopter adjustment, located in the focus knob, has quite a bit of accommodation range (not specked out), is very easy to set and relocks securely in place. Color presentation has very natural fidelity and realism. DOF has a nice stereopsis effect with a deep in-focus range of view. At dusk low light conditions, I was able to still make out dark shadowy objects at infinity.

Cons: I felt their 396ft rated FOV was somewhat restrictive (use to 8X32's being 420ft). I'd rate their in-focus "Sweet Spot" at about 50%, with a gradual roll off to the edges that had more pincushion distortion than I'd like. These effects reduced my overall comfort of view

These new calcium-fluoride HD Pro Guide 8X32's (MIJ) offer some great optical performances, with possibly a few caveats.

Pros: Sharpness, clarity and resolution appear very close to my Austrian Alpha glass binoculars. They are very solidly built, with a nice ergonomic layout and armor that is comfortable and secure to hold. Hinge IPD tension is tight and the 3-step eye cups have a very comfortable fit to my eye sockets. Focus speed is the fastest I've ever used, going from close focus (2 yds) to 100 yds in just 1\2 a turn, great for birding and quick in-close nature observations. These also offer another 3\4 turn to get you way out beyond infinity, very useful if you do not want to wear glasses while making observations. Focus tension is smooth and even, with enough resistance to easily maintain settings without any stray wandering. Diopter adjustment, located in the focus knob, has quite a bit of accommodation range (not specked out), is very easy to set and relocks securely in place. Color presentation has very natural fidelity and realism. DOF has a nice stereopsis effect with a deep in-focus range of view. At dusk low light conditions, I was able to still make out dark shadowy objects at infinity.

Cons: I felt their 396ft rated FOV was somewhat restrictive (use to 8X32's being 420ft). I'd rate their in-focus "Sweet Spot" at about 50%, with a gradual roll off to the edges that had more pincushion distortion than I'd like. These effects reduced my overall comfort of view

These are great little pocket binos that for their size, present a very nice and clear FOV. Images are sharp and colors natural. Best of all, they are fogproof and waterproof, perfect for unexpected outdoor excursion opportunities. Hinges, focus and eye cups function well and they come with a snugged fitting nylon cordora case. Overall, they make perfect glove compartment optics, ready to go!

Although I read glowing reports for these pocket Zeiss Terra ED 8x25 light (<11oz) carry binoculars, my previous 4 month ownership of the Swaro CL 8X25 pockets had tempered my expectations. However, I found these small glassing gems to perform optically and ergonomically within 95% of the venerable and well built CL's (at 1\3 the price)! They, just as the CL, have handling and comfort limitations compared to compact or full size binoculars. But for quick trip non-intrusive viewing, ease of portability and very accurate powered views, these little pockets are hard to beat.

Overall, they possess very nice ergonomics, have natural color presentation, crystalline resolution that is real sharp and bright, with very good contrast views. Their FOV (field of view), whose sweet spot extends to within 10% of their wide 357ft limit, has a comfortable and stereoptic DOF (depth of field) . Hinge tensions are perfect, and the focuser is fast, going from close focus (mine's about 5ft) CW to infinity in just 1.25 turns. Eye cup adjustments lock fully in (for eye glass wearers) and fully out (non-eye glass wearers). My vision is 20\15 and with the very comfortable eye cups fully extended and resting on my brow, I can align the small EP (exit pupil=3.1) with my pupils, gaining a full unobstructed sigh picture! With its ED glass, CA (chromatic aberrations) is well controlled and I find day light\low light viewing to be bright, natural and enjoyable! Diopter is set on the front dial (for the ri

I've used the Leupold BX-3 Mojaves these past 2 hunting seasons and was well pleased with their optical performance and ergonomics. They poses sharp resolution, excellent color and detailed low light vision, with edge to edge wide FOV 3-D DOF clarity and great build quality. Their greater eye relief leads to less eye fatigue and sustained long term viewing comfort. Eye cups are well designed, easily adjusting for non-glass wearers and allowing me to get into the image quickly.

These Leupold BX-3's use to be the valued sweet spot in their binocular line up...No More. The new 2015 "BX-3 Mojave Enhanced Pro Guide HD" binocular introduction (now Leupold's top-of-the line) have added Calcium-Fluoride Extra low Dispersion lenses. In direct comparison, I find colors are rendered more accurately (pop) and flare, edge and chromatic aberrations are non existent with the updated HD BX-3' and Resolution and sharpness are a step up from my original Mojaves (which are great) while maintaining a solid 3-D DOF and a flat FOV image presentation.

I was able to compare my new BX-3 HD's to other Alpha glass 10x42 binoculars (2 to 4x price) both in store and outside during daylight and after dusk. For the price, I was very well pleased in their optical performance as they were 98% equal to the top V, S and Z offerings! The Leupold light weight ergonomic compact size, along with a cool looking and very functional Kryptek Typhon finish and smooth focus affirms for me the extra investment over th

For the $$, the compact Nikon 8263 Aculon A30 10x25's are Excellent in Features, Performance and Build Quality. The A30 is very close to my $500 BX-3's (a top-tier optical performer), only lacking to the BX-3 in weather proofing and super 3-D Depth-of-field. The A30's sharp, crystal clear and detailed images even bested some nice Steiner compacts ($175) and totally blew away Bushnell Powerviews!

The A30's FOV is not as wide as I'd like, but I just kept coming back to their amazing image sharpness, optical clarity, fine precision focus adjustment and accurate color renditions...All being a definite WOW factor! The views at the recent Sanger Theater live "Dirty Dancing" performance (from nose bleed section) were stunning...Spouse Really Loves her Compact A30 anniversary gift! I ended up purchasing 3 more Aculon A30's as Christmas gifts for the boys (of course, one for myself)!!

The Compact 10x25mm 8218 Nikon trailblazers are water and fog proof, have a wide 342ft FOV, are less than 11oz , are very compact (open or closed with height of only 4"), has a close focusing distance under 12ft and has far superior glass and view than the Bushnell Powerview 10x25. The 8218 clarity and sharpness were only bettered by my own impressive $500 mid-range BX-3's. Only negative is that their focus adjustment (no slop) is quick, making it a challenge to sneak up on a tack sharp image, but it does get there! They will make great backup optics for my hunting trips, all with the support of Nikon's Full lifetime warranty!

The Leupold McKinley BX-4 #119282 have become available this 4th quarter of 2014. It is an updated version of the original BX-4 McKinley #117790 that were revamped earlier this year. Leupold states the optics are the same, but changes incorporated are a more ergonomic armor coating, slimming down of the eyepieces and integrating a locked diopter adjustment in front of the focus wheel. These could be nice ergonomic advances, but did they achieve these improved results? Well, my new BX-4 10x42mm's are a mixed bag of Yes's and No's.

Pros:
*Eyepieces are nicely slimmed down.
*Armor Coating is not as thick as original BX-4's (#117790), yielding better ergonomic handling.
*Diopter adjustment dial is set in front of the focus dial, with a lock tab to maintain the setting...works well.
*Large focus dial is smooth and precise.
*Immersive 3D FOV depth.
*Accurate color renditions.
*Large interpupillary adjustment settings.
*Overall, they feel a little lighter and more compact than the bulkier original BX-4's.

Cons:
*Eyepieces have soft setting detents...need awareness for equal L\R adjustments. Found max adjustments not enough for my eyes to get an easy-on-the-eye FOV...needed to be deeper.
*Optical issues (to my eyes)! Overall, again (as in 117790's) I was unable to achieve a "Tack Sharp" focus compared to my beloved Leupold BX-3 Mohaves. Bright day light, afternoon shadows or dusk low light visibility (30 mins after sunset), the 119282's were better than I remember the 117