Let's keep this on Kite? The 8x30 is firmly on my want list for coming summer, for dragonflies mainly but also for birding travel abroad. Still a bit in doubt over the larger, more expensive Conquest, see if I can compare them by that time somewhere. Kite's combo of size, weight, fov and focus speed (even a bit faster than conquest) are plusses, as are the reports of transmission and contrast. I'll report when I obtain them.
You are right about staying on Kite-Lynx-topic.
Sorry!
Kite's Lynx HD 8x30 is for me indeed the ideal combo of size, weight and optic size for comfortable use during daytime nature walks (I mean comfortably useable near 4mm exit pupil, 30mm objective). I even consider it a better balance of weight-holding/viewing comfort than my UV's 8x32 (except for glare, if you consider that 'viewing comfort', but I put that under the other category: 'optical quality'...). That is mainly due to their lower weight and good ergonomics while 30mm vs 32mm is an insignificant difference for me during daytime.
It's FOV is also very good, though I sometimes wonder if it is not a bit overestimated in the specs: I don't really experience a significant difference of FOV compared to my UV's when using them in the field, while the former is reported by Kite as 151m/1000m and the latter as 131m/1000m by Leica. But I haven't done any measurement of FOV with any of them and 131/1000 is not bad already.
I rate them high enough also regarding transmission. (Nothing to envy the UV's regarding brightness, to my opinion. It might even be that they seem a very little bit brighter, but that is all subjective, also impacted by differences in contrast and blackening between these binoculars -see below-.) But of course I haven't measured anything.
Regarding contrast, it is a bit more nuanced. Comparing e.g. to the UV's: I find the UV's have a bit better contrast in general, but the difference of course really becomes bigger in challenging light which can cause glare etc. in the Lynx, impacting contrast, while the UV's are impressively good at managing challenging light while keeping high contrast. (I think this results mainly from tighter baffling in the UV's, without false pupils which are very visible in the Lynx, and probably also some better blackening and coatings. I have even wondered if that might be the reason why the UV's might seem to be a very little bit less bright sometimes: the actual view is surrounded by perfect black, like a perfect frame isolating the picture!
)
This, and the good Kite service, is why I really think their only real flaw is the latter sub-par baffling or whatever the cause is. If you can live with that, they are a really good offer considering ergonomics, optical quality and price.
But these are all very personal, subjective impressions
. I am therefore very curious about your feedback if you get the chance to compare them to the Conquest!
The above is all about the HD, not the HD+ which I don't have, but reports and Kite themselves say that the only optical difference would be a transmission increase of approximately 3%. I cannot report on changed ergonomics from the new housing of the HD+. I love the ergonomics of the HD, with the only exception being the lack of clicks/locks of the eyepieces, but that should have been solved in the HD+.