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Raffi's summary and further opinions on
a review of the Fujinon 10X50 by Holger Merlitz

Holger Merlitz's report is about 6 pages and very technical, you can read it at  http://www.holgermerlitz.de/fujinon10x50.html
the plain text below is a summary of his article , the italic text is additional information plus, unashamedly, my own opinion 

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Fascinating Facts

In the Fujinon range the F stands for Flat Field, MT means Marine Tested (waterproof by U.S. military specification); SX is the patented electron-beam coating technique which gives light  transmission of 95%.   More generally accepted letters are GA for rubber armouring (Gummi Armierung) and B for [suitable for] Spectacle Wearer (Brillentraeger). 

The Comparisons

HM compares the Fujinon 10X50 with two other 10X50s, the Docter Optik Nobilem and the Zeiss Jena Jenoptem.

The Nobilem was first made in about 1985 by Zeiss Jena (the old 'East' German Zeiss), it was based on their earlier Octarem and Dodecarem models.  Docter Optik took over the binocular part of Zeiss Jena in 1991, in 1993 they added rubber armouring and the letters GA, hence the Nobilem 10X50 B/GA.  

The Jenoptem, also made by Zeiss Jena, was originally called Dekarem.  In 1978 multi-layer coatings were added, then after Docter Optik took over it was renamed the Docter Classic.

The Nobilem is a good binocular to compare, being the best of all the old Zeiss models;  the Jenoptem is a very nice binocular, a fraction of the price of the other two, not at all bad quality, but in no way comparable with the Fujinon and Nobilem.

Optical Performance

Field of View. This is the area you can see (left-to-right and top-to-bottom) without moving the binocular.  The real field of view is related to the magnification NOT the size of the objective lens, so every 10X binocular will have MORE OR LESS the same field of view.  However, clever tricks using big eyepieces can make your eyes move around a lot, which gives the brain the illusion that the field of view is large ("apparent field of view!") - this gives the binocular a very 'nice' feel.  All three are wide-angle binoculars, the Fujinon and Nobilem are almost the same (the Nobilem is slightly better), the Jenoptem is significantly better.  

The Eye Relief (how close you can get your eye to the eye lens) is by far the best on the Fujinon (which gives absolutely perfect vision for spectacle-wearers), on the Jenoptem it is poor (I need to keep my spectacles on whilst using binoculars and I find the Jenoptem completely useless, it's like looking down a narrow tube)

Sharpness of image: with the Fujinon the image (daytime viewing) was sharp right to the very edge of the field of view (viewing area), stars at night appear as sharp points over 90% of the field of view and at even at the very edges the distortion is low.  The Nobilem gives a sharp image over 75% of the field of view; the Jenoptem 60% with stars almost disappearing when viewed close the to the edge.

Stray light: unwanted light bouncing off the inside of the binocular can appear as a faint 'ring.'  None of the binoculars affected in daylight, in twilight the Fujinon and Jenoptem show stray light on a low-to-moderate level, the Nobilem showed no stray light at all.

Ghost images (caused by reflections of very bright objects such as the moon or a street light), this is also a measure of how well you can see very bright and very dark images (contrast) at the same time.  The Fujinon is by far the best.

Low light performance: the Fujinon and Nobilem are better than the Jenoptem but it really is difficult to tell the difference.

Mechanical Construction

The Fujinon and Nobilem each weigh about 1.5Kg, quite heavy to carry around, the Jenoptem weighs just over 1Kg. The focus mechanism of the Jenoptem is very smooth, the Fujinon is 'a bit tight but still smooth', precise focussing is easiest with the Nobilem.  The Nobilem and Jenoptem have a centre focus, the Fujinon has individual eyepiece focus.  The Fujinon is waterproof and everything about it feels rugged (made to U.S. military specification), the Nobilem is splash-proof (should be OK in the rain), the Jenoptem must be kept dry.  The fold-down caps in the Fujinon make it comfortable for a spectacle-wearer to use, the Nobilem is difficult, the Jenoptem is impossible.  HM has noticed that the Nobilem's eye lenses can mist up during prolonged use and that the Fujinon just touches his nose because he has very-close-together eyes [he doesn't comment of the size of his nose].

Conclusion

HM's tests clearly show that the Fujinon is a [significant] new player in the game of high-end porro-prism binoculars (as opposed the similar-specification more compact and more expensive roof prism design), coming out with top points in five out of his seven tests.  "The moon through the Fujinon was the best I have seen so far in any hand-held instrument.  Also, the almost edge-to-edge sharpness comes handy especially on the night sky, where small distortions of star images are immediately visible.  Of the Jenoptem he concludes"[at] 1Kg. the Jenoptem looks inviting, [it is] not as perfect as the Fujinons or Nobilems, but for one third of the price".

I agree that the appeal of the Jenoptem is that it's relatively cheap but, personally, I don't like it, the quality really isn't as good as the other two, it's not rugged, it's a no-no for spectacle-wearers and there are many up-market modern binoculars which are as good.  As a trader I very much like buying and selling the Jenoptem because they are quite common, not expensive, good quality, and providing the price is sensible I can always sell them...but I wouldn't use one myself. 

I do agree that the Fujinon is comparable with the Nobilem and have often compared the two, unable to decide which is the best optical quality, though the Fujinon is definitely the best for build-quality, I am happy to take a Fujinon into the mountains, I would be worried about bumping a Nobilem or getting it wet. .  

One final point about buying old Zeiss binoculars, as HM points out, both the mechanical design and coatings of Zeiss binoculars has been continuously improved and earlier models are nowhere near as good in quality as later models. I once had a 1990s Zeiss roof prism 7X42 on my list, perfect condition, £350.00 and I had a customer who wanted the very same model but new for £580.00.  So I got him a new one from Zeiss.  I was then able to compare the two.  There was only 5 or 6 years between them but the new model far-outperformed the old.