Tell the Difference

I have only used ~$250 to ~$300 binoculars extensively in the field.  I have had mine broken by some helpful children.

I have been comparing binoculars, extensively in the store(~75yards max).  I cannot cleaarly see a $1400 differencee between $250 Nikon 8x36 Monarch ATB's and $1700 8x30-44 high end binoculars(Swarovski EL/SLC, Leica, Zeiss, Brunton, etc.)  I feel like there is no difference at all.  Am I blind, or can you help me tell the difference?  What should I be looking for?  I even had a binocular chart at one place and could tell little difference.  About the only thing I could tell was an ever so slight difference in depth of field, but the Nikons were still pretty darn good.  I have even looked into low light and high light parts of the store.  All of this was done as a direct comparison.  Please show me the difference?  . . .or reccomend a deer hunting opthamalogy specialist.

Well, it is morning here and I have been comparing binoculars again.  I have compared my dad's 10 x 50 Pentax Porros ~$300 10 years ago to his Leupold Wind River reverse porro 8 x 23?? binoculars.  The 10 x 50's are much brighter, but I would guess that is mostly exit pupil related.

Mid day, these 2 bino's represent similar performance.

I guess I could buy the the most reasonabley priced of the high dollar bino's and a pair of $300 8 x 42 Nikon's to compare, but this seems unnecessary, isn't it?  I could also try them outside, maybe. . .but usually these sportings goods stores don't want to mess around unless you are buying today.

One thing which can be tested in the store is light handling.  There is lots of stray light in the store.  That strong stray light killed a pair of Steiner 8x30 Predator's that I was looking through.  There were bloches all over caused by light bouncing around.

I also was looking from a well lit area into a dark inside of a tent.  The Nikon 8x42 Monarch, 8x36 Monarch  and 8x30 Swaro SLC's all performed about equal.

The end of all this has left me confused.

Basically, I'm trying to decide if I get the larger Nikon 8x42 as an all purpose bino, or if I get the Nikon 8x36 as a usable compact until I can get the money together for a "big three" $1500ish bino.  I'm basically limited to <$300 at this point.  

NOt to repeat what Bird Watcher said, but testing in a store under artifical light is not a true relection of what the bino's are capable of.  I will go as far as to say that on nice crystal clear days you will not see a huge difference between a $300 and a $1,000 pair. I know this because I have two hunting buddies that hunt with Zeiss and another hunts with Leica. When I compared them to my $450 pair of Weaver Grand Slams on a nice clear blue bird day I kept thinking to myself "I can't see much difference at all, and sure not another $600 (Plus) in performance. Personally, thought they really wasted their money.

Ok, fast forward we started hunting in horrible weather rain, snow (lots of snow) then a sunny break. When the sun broke the Weavers had a great deal of Chromatic distortion because of the white snow reflection. It was bad. When I looked through their high end stuff the difference now was now very pronounced. I went home and started saving.

Now that is not to say that a $300 pair of binoculars are bad, in fact quite the opposite. I think the difference between the $300 Leupold Cascades, Nikon Monrachs, Bushnell Legends, Carson XM's and Pentax DCF HRII and the $49.99 drug store special is going to be HUGE.  As the price goes up the gap gets smaller for performance. Many hunters are well served with this level of glass. Infact I'll be the first to tell someone who is used to the $49.99 special to go buy a decent entry level quality glass they will never regret it.

When your buying binoculars from the BIG Three (Zeiss, Leica, Swarovski) and I'll through in Leupold Golden Ring, Bushnell Elites, Nikon Premier Series, Kahles, Minox HG basically high end stuff your paying for piece of mind and for those times when on a hunt or out bird watching when things get really bad and nasty (low light horrible weather conditions) you have the best optics available, which is really important especially if your behind them for hours on end.   Like I said I used to think it was a waste of money till I saw first hand what you pay for.  Also, its like I told family members that thought I was crazy, "if you think a $1400 is expensive for binoculars try paying for a guided hunt in Alaska or Africa and go with cheap glass, now you spent all that money to get there and you may not see a thing". OR perhaps even worse your out hunting in your favorite area and MR. Trophy (Elk , Deer, ect...) goes by just as the sun is setting or rising and you can't make out the animal because of bad glass. 

Plus, the BIG 3 are known (as well as Leupold) for taking very good care of their customers. I can't remember what one of the BIG 3 it was, but I heard a story of a guy who was on a hunt in Alaska and going from bigger plane to smaller plane his binoculars got broke. Now here he is on a guided hunt already in Alaska and now no binoculars.  He calls the company (again not sure which one of the three) they tell him where the nearest store is that carries the same bino's and that they will call ahead and the store will be expecting the hunter,  go in hand them the broken pair and they will hand you a new pair and enjoy your hunt.   That to me is WELL worth the money.

On that note in your price range, I've handled the Leupold mentioned (I think or it may have been the Olympic) either way I was very impressed with the binoculars so I'll second the above post. Also, I had a pair (sold them to buy the Weavers) Carson Xm series they were fantasic glass and well above their price range in performance. Just a consideration. Below is a great link to a review of the Carsons.

http://www.naturephotographers.net/articles0404/je0404-1.htm l

Those are the same pair I had, I have been told that Carson now has the XM series HD (High definition) which is supposed to be even better. I took a chance buying these from a pretty much unknown company but they were very friendly the glass is top notch in its price range and they come with about the best warranty out there.

Happy Holidays

AC