Bushnell Legend Binocular 198105 L-Series 10x42mm

The design is pleasing and professional. The optics are excellent, I took them to the store for a comparison with Vortex diamondbacks 10x42. They are slightly clearer and sharper than the Vortex brand. I took plenty of time to establish that, no question. But, the bushnell $50 cheaper price comes with secondary design flaws. The occular side rubber cup sleeves that your eyes rest on that are supposed to be a permanent part of the binocular are sliding off the hard barrels and one of mine has come off. It's easily put back on but there is a high risk of loosing it. This is likely to happen when you affix and remove the separate one part protective rubber duo caps. At the other end of the binoculars there is a similar problem with the objective lense rubber protective caps. They cleverly attach to the barrels hard chassis via their ring rubber extension. That too slides off and falls very easily for example if you take the binocular out of their soft carrying bag. These two things do not affect the optical performance at all. The vortex use hard plastic at the occular instead of rubber (which could be less comfortable) so does not have that issue. The objective rings is just an annoyance but if you loose the occular side rubber it exposes the eye relief guides grooves in the chassis which is more of a concern. After a coupe of days using them i realized the focusing wheel has slack in it. I went to a local store that has the E model with same mechanism and the focusing wheel was firm without play. This slow down the ability to focus every time you change the focus direction. I felt this a more serious defect that impaired usage direclty and decided to return them.EDIT: I got the replacement binocular. All the issues are gone, even the rubber rings seemed to be made of a more elastic rubber don't fall off. The focusing wheel is normal. Though when they arrive something looked wrong with the diopter locking ring which looked pushed down slanted but as i pushed it down i clicked fully and went back straight. After that I had no problem with it. For the price though these are awesome binoculars, again the optics are excellent better than Vortex diamondback and I used to own Talon Vortex as well at $380, though pin sharp in the center they were not as shap in the periphery of the field of view like the legend. My conclusion is that these are $400-$500 optics binoculars with mechanics no better than a $100 binocular. The result is an extremely appealing value. From the issues I had on the 1st pair only the loose focusing wheel was a performance issue. With the 2nd pair I am very satisfied. These are excelent binoculars for bird and criters watching. But I would not take them in the dirt. These are not military grade ruggedness in construction, it's all about the glass.

After reading many reviews about binoculars, I finally broke down and ordered these 10x42 Bushnell L Series. I compared numerous brands and models, most of which under the $200 price point (my threshold for what would seem reasonable) and went with these. I liked the price, 10x power, magnesium chassis (perhaps the deciding factor among my last three or four options), and well-known brand name. All I can say I that I was very skeptical, and even fearful, after reading the reviews, which seemed to be generally good for binocs in this price class, but there were many complaints, too. I will clear the air by saying that I have found no such issues with these binoculars. They are not AT ALL heavy (how could they be at under two pounds?), they are not hard to keep steady (again, under two pounds), the caps do not fall off, the case and strap are not junky (not made of armor, but not junky), and they are as clear and easy to focus as I could ever need them to be. I was also fearful about them being “heavy” and “long” (under six inches), as they are 10-power (oh no!) and would present focusing or clarity issues, but all of that talk is just nonsense. I really do not know what these people are talking about and frankly anyone who would complain about these binoculars is nuts. The only thing I could possibly say in criticism is that I wish manufacturers would not put those dopey stickers on their products. These were easy to remove (some are not), but one left behind a mark on one of the barrels. Tried to clean it off (even with that smelly Goo Gone stuff), but the mark is still there, though it is not blatantly obvious.So, my conclusion is...there is NOTHING wrong with the 10x category (might even go with 12x if I buy another pair), the 22-25 ounces of weight (which all quality binocs in this price range are) is NOT heavy, and the parts quality and construction of these “cheap” binoculars does not look at all cheap to me. Sorry, but $178 plus tax for binocs is not cheap or “low-cost”...at least not to me...especially when there are ones available for $25 and $50.My advice to prospective buyers is...just buy these. There is absolutely nothing wrong with them. I am sure there are better ones (there always are), but these are very nice indeed. Easily a five-star product. Glad I went with my gut and did not listen to those suggesting that only 7x or 8x are safe and steady...glad I said no to those featherweight options, too.Nice product, Bushnell...just leave off the stickers...