re my post of 15 May 2010, all's well that ends well ~ sort of. Once the binoculars were in the hands of Fedex, things went like clockwork. The binoculars were not well packed but fortunately came in a padded case which is the best reason for having a padded case come with binoculars ordered on the net.
Given that eight or so years ago, I received a pair of 8.5 × 44 ED Audobon binoculars that had suffered in transit and that sending them back from the far side of the world was not really an option, I am happy with the outcome. I spent a lot of money with my technician locally in Australia on the Audobons and eventually gave up as they "decomposed" in my hands. They make an excellent doorstop. Back then, in 2002, I went straight out and bought some Leica binoculars immediately. It's been eight great years. I paid full price and have no regrets.
The new bins are 6X × 32mm Vortex Viper binoculars and I was surprised to find they were bigger than my 8X × 32mm Leica Trinovid BNs. The Vipers are not the top of their range, so I guess noting that I won't be getting rid of the Leica 8X bins any time soon is a given but it's nice to have binocs where in a rocking boat I can still see a few things that are going on through the Vipers. It would be gratuitous not to say that they have enormous utility. Magnificent optics are one thing but they need to be suited to the use at hand and there is no doubt that the utility of these low magnification binoculars is very high. One surprise was that the Vipers seem to be fun to use for a little astronomical viewing.
If Leica ever start making 6X binoculars with a decent FOV, they've got one buyer! Opticswarehouse is no doubt a legitimate business but I'll try somewhere else.
From 15 April to 17 May, cheers to the Watchers, Woof