I purchased these binoculars from Amazon in February of 2014. By now, at what is hopefully the end of a brutal winter, I have used them to observe the bald and golden eagles that are returning to the hilltop behind our house to hunt for emerging ground squirrels. The Bushnells are optically very impressive, bright and sharp with good edge clarity. They feel good in the hand, and the moving parts (central hinge, main focus, diopter focus) are smooth and precise. The relatively high power (10x) means you need a steady hand, but I find them easy and comfortable to use. They come with a good assortment of accessories, including lens caps with keeper loops to prevent loss, a comfortable padded carrying strap, a substantial semi-rigid case, and a binocular harness. Reviews on hunting and birding sites praised the optical quality, but a very few mentioned build quality problems such as broken diopter rings or similar issues. The reviews were of two or more years ago, and hopefully Bushnell has addressed these problems by now. In my own purchase, the cardboard Bushnell box was crushed, but the binoculars seem to be unharmed. The Amazon shipping box was pristine, meaning that the binoculars were put into the shipping box despite the Bushnell box having been previously crushed. Give them a try. I think you will be pleased. If you want a lot more detail, continue reading the extensive update that follows below. I have carefully compared these Bushnell Legend Ultra 10x42 binoculars with two pairs of Vanguard Endeavor ED binoculars, in 10x42 and 8x42 models, all of which I purchased from Amazon. Aside from the difference in magnification, the two Vanguards are identical in appearance and function. Subsequent references to "Vanguards" include both magnifications. The Bushnells are similar to the Vanguards in design and features. The differences noted below are slight. In both brands, overall image sharpness, image-edge sharpness, and brightness are excellent. These are the most important features in any binoculars. I studied a frost-laced spider web at 100 feet, and the clarity was amazing in both binoculars. Advantage - Draw. Mechanical operation (main focus, interpupillary distance) -- The interpupillary distance adjustment (width), and the main focus are somewhat stiffer in the Bushnells. The main focus in the Bushnells is also a bit awkward to adjust because it has some slack that must be taken up when changing the direction of rotation of the focus wheel. By contrast, the Vanguards have no slack in the focus wheel, with immediate reaction of the focus when the wheel is turned. One reviewer noticed a faint clicking in the Bushnells when operating the main focus wheel. This is not a mechanical flaw in the adjustment mechanism, but merely a "creaking" of the rubber covering of the wheel against the plastic substrate of the wheel. Advantage - Vanguard. Diopter adjustment (right eye focus) -- The diopter ring on the Vanguards is much easier to operate than that on the Bushnells. The locking mechanism to prevent the diopter setting from being inadvertently changed is easily engaged or disengaged on the Vanguards, but difficult on the Bushnells. Due to some (very few) reviewers complaining of broken diopter rings on the Bushnells, I am very careful when adjusting the diopter. When focusing the Bushnell diopter I use thumb and forefinger; when locking or unlocking the ring, I use two fingers and a thumb. On the Vanguards I can easily do both tasks with thumb and forefinger. The Bushnell diopter ring is sufficiently stiff that once adjusted it is unlikely to be accidentally re-adjusted, so I simply don't lock the ring after setting the diopter. Update: Although the Bushnell diopter adjustment is becoming less stiff with use, it is still stiffer than the Vanguards. The problem with this stiffness, beyond the possibility of breaking the diopter ring, is that you are essentially holding the binoculars with one hand while your right hand is operating the diopter adjustment, and the significant torque required makes it difficult to hold the binoculars still enough to focus the right eye. Advantage - Vanguard. The twist-up eyecups on the Vanguards adjust incrementally with detents, and rise higher than those on the Bushnells. Those on the Bushnells have a more limited range, no detents, and the right eyecup rose noticeably higher than the left, so attention has to be paid to their respective levels. Advantage - Vanguard. Color accuracy -- Looking at a white snow bank in the flat light of a foggy day, the Vanguards had a slightly "warm" look, as compared to the stark white of the Bushnells. I stress that this difference was very slight, and noticeable at all only because I had both pairs of binoculars in hand at the same time. Advantage - Bushnell. Chromatic Aberration (CA) -- the various colors of the visible light spectrum are transmitted differently through a medium such as glass, water or air. In binoculars this can lead to a fringe of color around the edges of an object silhouetted against the background, typically a dark foreground object against a light background. Both the Vanguards and the Bushnells use ED glass, which stands for Extra-low Dispersion. ED glass reduces or eliminates CA by more narrowly focusing the different wave lengths of light onto the same point so that no color fringes appear. Because a small number of Amazon reviewers said they experienced chromatic aberration with one or the other of these binoculars, I tried to force my Vanguards and Bushnells to display CA by viewing dark tree branches and dark standing rocks silhouetted against the blue sky, sunlit white clouds, or snow. I did this with the foregrounds back-lighted, and then front-lighted, and in no case could I get either pair of binoculars to show chromatic aberration. As a check, I got out some of my cheap binoculars, and had no difficulty forcing them to display CA, especially toward the edges of the image. Update: today (29 May 2014) I was able to notice chromatic aberration in both the Vanguards and the Bushnells. Viewing a distant green, grassy hilltop, obliquely backlit and silhouetted against the blue sky, I could see a narrow color fringe on the hilltop only at the extreme upper limb of the field of view. In the Vanguards the color was purple, in the Bushnells it was orange. This is no hindrance to viewing, as it is in a non-critical portion of the field of view, occurs only under rare circumstances, and is barely noticeable even if you look for it. Advantage - Draw. The carrying cases both have zippered closures. The Bushnell case is a very nice semi-rigid clamshell design. Velcro tabs are provided to prevent the clamshell from falling completely open when the binoculars are taken out. The Vanguard case is a padded soft case with ballistic nylon outer cover, and about half as bulky as the Bushnell case. Unless bulkiness is a problem, the Bushnell case is better. Advantage - Bushnell. The Bushnells come with a binocular harness, which stores in the binocular case. Advantage - Bushnell. Both brands have nicely padded carrying straps that can be easily switched between the carry case and the binoculars. Advantage - Draw. Weight -- The Vanguards weigh 25.8 ounces, a little over 3 ounces more than the Bushnells. Advantage - Draw. Handling comfort -- I find the Vanguards to be slightly more comfortable, due to the "open bridge" two-hinge design where my index fingers are on the upper hinge and focus wheel, the middle and ring fingers curve over the binoculars between the hinges, and the little fingers rest on the lower hinge. The Bushnells have a single larger hinge, and the fingers are on the hinge, except for the little fingers, which rest below the hinge. Another reason that the Vanguards are more comfortable to hold is that they feature slightly flattened areas on the backs of each of the cylinders that form the body of the binoculars, located precisely where your t
