I have the Bushnell Fusion ARC in 10x40. The first version. They made some cosmetic changes to the outer casing in the second version, if there were any changes to the insides they didn't emphasise those. The current offerings are called Fusion X, have straight tubes instead of the slightly offset ones on mine, so are slimmer, and seem to have a different illumination method for the readout. In the US the retail price is $699.
Mine, rather old now, do not have the best glass for low light. There is a noticeable blueish tint to the colour, which I presume is due to the beam splitters for the laser, and the display, which I think must reduce the light transmission too. You do have to manually turn the illumination up and down, which is no trouble. I think the new version might do that automatically. Otherwise the glass is OK. Probably about what you'd expect from some £250 binos. The laser is on the left, display on right, which is a slight nuisance since I am left eyed, but they have a separate focus adjuster for the display, as well as the usual parallax thingy, so its easy enough to get everything crisp at the same time.
Nevertheless they are very good rangefinders, the ARC and built in ballistic curves are useful, the battery life is excellent (they take a big CR123 cell). And they comprehensively bested the Swarovski ones of that era, in all but optical performance. At less than a third of the price, when I bought mine. More responsive, faster and more reliable to come up with a plausible reading, tighter spot, precisely aligned, etc. There was nothing else on the market then, that I could afford.
They have rain repellent coatings, which really work.
They reliably ping out to one mile off buildings, actually I think that is an artificial cutoff, at 1760 yards. I have pinged buildings at 1755 yards, then taken a few steps backwards and they refused to register. I can also reliably ping e.g. flying birds at 500 yards, against the sky. They have been heavily used on target ranges, mucking about, and some stalking, where the ranging has been solid to all useful ranges, with brown animals, even through foliage mostly masking them (brush mode). White things like sheep etc. range easily to 750 yards. They also have scan mode, which is surprisingly useful, where they give a continuous readout as you scan around, which I think must put a heavy drain on the battery, and be hard work for the laser. Useful when e.g. sitting in a high seat and getting a feel for and memorising the distances, before a deer walks by.
This is even in strong sunlight, which is a test for any rangefinder, where the laser power has to overcome the strong IR coming back from the target, in sunlight.
Interestingly, if you have a night vision device which sees IR, you can observe where the laser actually lands, how well aligned it might be with the display of the device, how well focussed, it is etc.
Speaking of which, the laser shows no signs of weakening, unlike reports of some Leica and Swaro devices that can seemingly degrade with use, and the new ones carry a "Lifetime Ironclad transferable warranty, no receipt required" whatever that means. My old ones just had a 2 year warranty.
The new Fusion X also make some claim to having perfect colour rendition. I don't know if anyone in the UK has them yet, nor what the price over here might be. But if they are anywhere close to the US $700 RRP (plus VAT, import duty etc.), they might be a contender.
I am obviously biased, because they are what I have, what I could afford at the time. However the low light performance, colour cast and middling optical performance might be a let down. But I daresay there are better things around nowadays. Possibly the Fusion X ?
A secondhand set at a good price might still be worth considering, as a rangefinder I still think they are very good. Optically very usable in good light, and not too bad in low light.
Finally I think that making LRF binos in e.g. 10x42 is sub-optimal for most situations. E.g. 8x42, with better low light performance, and wider field of view, would surely be a benefit to many of us. Bushnell used to make the Fusion ARC in 8x32 but that was not ideal either, and the basic structure was the same, only with shorter and slimmer objective lenses, and some weight saving.
unbelievable quality glass, and ten year warranty on all parts! Wouldn’t swap Myn!!
