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Cons: Actually I'm a porro prism fetishist (fewer glass surfaces, no need for phase correction coatings and mirrors) and a nice stereoscopic effect but Roof prisms are easier to handle. The peripheral 5-10% is of noticeably lower quality but they are pin sharp until that point. If the light is behind and to the side you will get reflections in the 'nasal' part of your vision unless you shield the lenses to the side of your eyes with a hand. My only ergonomic criticism is the flexible bridged rainguard - I like a flat rainguard that you can flip off and on with one finger.

Pros: Minox are a well reputed brand of binoculars manufactured, if memory serves, in the same german factories are Carl Zeiss binoculars. Seeing this pair on offer I looked up reviews online http://www.bestbinocularsreviews.com/Minox8x44BLHD-135.htm and noted that it was very favourable. Although I like the older Porro prism designs because of the wide stereoscopic effect they afford and because they have fewer glass surfaces and reliance on total internal reflection (efficient) I find roof prisms easier to hold for any length of time. I had been tempted by Swift Audubon's 8.5x44 ED porro prism design which also has a massive field of view (about 8 deg) but these are hard to get in the UK. Anyway, these were on offer and I'm not dissapointed. They are ergonomically good with a comfortable (moderate) weight and with an open bridge giving plenty of space for finger support, with a comfortable knarled focusing wheel that covers the full range in 1.5 rotations (a good compromise between speed and accuracy) and with easily-set but easily-kept dioptre adjustment. They feel and look well constructed and are supposedly waterproof to 5 metres depth. Most importantly they are bright and sharp over 90-95 % of their uncommonly 7.8 deg field of view. As a rule of thumb subtract half the magnification from 11 to get a target for a good field of view, for 8 this is 7, this is almost a degree over which makes it one of the market leaders. Wide fields are out of fashion because any peripheral softening is frowned upon even though any optical space of any sort is more useful than darkness and roof prism makers offer only 6.5 degrees these days), There is very little colour fringing as you would expect from binocular which uses some low-dispersion elements in its design. The eye cups are adjustable so it's easy to get the correct distance so as to prevent 'kidney beaning' (the dark areas you get when your eyes are not properly aligned) and they work well with or without my glasses. Internal reflections are generally well managed but if the light is behind and to the side you will get reflections in the 'nasal' part of your vision unless you shield the lenses to the side of your eyes with a hand. Colour is well balanced, whites look quite 'faithful' so far as I can tell. They focus quite close (I read 1.9 metres in a review). I didn't have a modern top brand pair of binoculars to compare them with (my ancient slightly scratched 10x40 Zeiss Dialyt are, optically inferior to these) but I don't expect any great improvement paying another 400 or more pounds and actually the field of view is wider than any alpha make I can think of and would rather spend the change on a foreign bird watching holiday!

Summary: Bright and sharp binoculars with impressive field of view, good ergonomics and build quality. Very happy with these.