I have just gone through the binoculars conundrum myself. I had a pair of Steiner Preditor 10x42 for about 3 years and have been really happy with them. These are a mid range bino that retail just over $500 when I bought them. However, when I was on a hunting trip in August, I gave them away. I would like to move up to ED glass, but cant really afford this right now and I have a moose and whitetail hunt coming up in November. I do have a pair of 10x50s for the truck and some low price 8x40s that I use for duck hunting, but I prefer 10x42 for big game.
Optics Planet has some great prices, and it looks like some non name brands have moved into the ED glass space at much better prices than the name brands. In the end I have opted to buy some entry level 10x42 binos for this season and possibly next that can hopefully be backup units or for guests who sometimes join me. The I can save up for some good ones.
I saw that Cabelas has a sale on Bushnell "General Purpose Binoculars " for $59, regularly $119. Yesterday afternoon, I stopped by the Calgary store to see them. The sales guy understandably wanted to talk me up to some better stuff that was also on sale. In the end, I did up buy slightly and got the Nikon Prostaff 3, 10x42s on sale for $170 which is only $18 off list price. But I also bought the Bushnells to compare them.
I wanted to bring both of them and see the difference in optics between them when walking the dog this morning, but it is misty and foggy in Calgary today, so that test will have to wait. I can say the the Bushnells have better lens caps than the Nikons and are slightly lighter. I will test them both in November, and possibly get out for some whitetail day hunts in October. I am still on the fence over weather higher end binos give me any advantage over cheapies for most of the hunting I do. Then again, it is a pleasure to spot the racks of deer poking up on the trees edge of a field.....
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