Drop them, use them, dunk them, use them. At 22 ounces they won't break your neck or keep you from packing them along on business trips or on that birding trip of your dreams. That's what Nikon did. We think it goes further than that. Comes with case, strap and rainguard.
Performance has a price.
But when it comes to measuring performance in a 10x binocular, you cannot do much better than measuring it against the Leica 10 x 42. This glass is the epitome of German optics. Closer focusing than the venerable old Zeiss 10 x 40, if you want a glass to vault extreme distances and demand a binocular that is rugged and tough, you have just defined the Leica 10 x 42. I told them not to do it. I said a 50mm objective is too big and too heavy for today's birding.