I'm a dealer for Athlon, and had wished for quite awhile that they'd bring out a good pair of 15x56 binos. OTOH, I've had a pair of Leupold Golden Ring 8x42 HD binos for several years, and have been very impressed with them. So when Leupold brought out their BX-5 15x56 binos, I thought seriously about getting a pair. However, I had no way to compare them to the Swaro SLCs, so I just sat on my hands for a couple of years, using either my Kowa 661 or Celestron Regal M2 20-60x80 spotters. Then a couple of years ago, Leupold announced a MSRP drop of I believe $200 on the BX-5s, so together with a bunch of Cabela's Club points, I got into a pair of the Leupolds for around $800. I've been nothing but satisfied with these glasses, though I'd still kind of like to do a side-by-side comparison with a pair of Swaro SLCs, just to find out if my 68yr old eyes can tell the difference. Whatever - when Athlon announced their Cronus 15x56 binos a year or so ago, I was really curious about how they'd compare to my Leupolds, so last winter, in anticipation of displaying at a few winter gun shows, I ordered in a pair to first compare to the BX-5s, and hopefully to sell after I'd satisfied my curiosity. I really didn't expect the Cronus binos to be as good as the BX-5s, but honestly, they're pretty close. For the price, I think most shooters would be pretty satisfied while using them in place of a spotter. Still haven't sold them, but since I took them to a 500/600yd practical rifle match last weekend, they qualify as a demo set, so MAP doesn't really apply. I'm going to keep on taking them to local matches and maybe someone will decide to take them home with them after a match...