we took some twitchers of on the boat to glass the cliffs ,one had a pr and i commented on her good choice ,and that my rifle scope was olso Swarovski ,one of the others chipped in and remarked ,if he had known Swarovski made rifle scopes he would not have bought his ,and i have regreted not asking what they would have got instead.That was in 2005 so they were about then not just the optics they are nice in the hand and well balanced on there strap.