Those of you who read my review of the WindRiver roof prism offerings from Leupold and Stevens may remember that I suggested they target a different segment of the birding market. Good, exceptional, inexpensive roof prisms are simply too hard to make. Actually, they must have had these porro glasses in the works before I ever wrote those words, but these are very close to the glasses I would have advised them to make. The WindRiver 8X42s are, I am almost certain, another incarnation of the Swift Ultralite and Celestron Ultima (WildBirds Unlimited) 8X42 glasses, two of my all time favorite birding binoculars. What Leupold has done is to spec an already exceptional design with slightly closer focus and '"'o'"' ring seals for at least some weatherproofing. As you might imagine, the result is a very nice binoculars indeed. The body covering is the same slightly cushiony black leatherette as the Ultima series, but the metal parts are done in a matt black instead of the glossy black of the Ultimas. Very attractive. Optically, the WindRivers I had for testing just edged out the Swift Ultralites in my standard resolution test. The difference was very small--small enough to easily be accounted for by unit to unit variation. They share the Ultralites exceptional contrast, color fidelity, and clarity, and the Ultralites acceptably wide field at 340 feet at 1000 yards. Close focus is in the 12 foot range. Optically, these binoculars could hold their head up in any crowd. Very fine indeed. It is, however, the addition of weathersealing that is the WindRiver's real selling point, as far as I am concerned. Having moved to a somewhat less stable climate, I am coming to appreciate the need for weatherproofing more with each passing day. We have had a dry summer in Maine, but there were still a lot of days when I wouldn't have wanted to be caught out with unsealed binoculars. The WindRiver 8X42 porros are exceptional binoculars. If weather is a concern, or if you are uneasy about the close focusing ability of the Ultralites, the WindRivers are worth every penny you might pay extra to get them. Leupold has a winner here. Birding binoculars, at anything like this price, simply don't get any better than this!