I made a trip to Bass Pro the other night, and I actually made a bit of headway before I started getting confused.

1) The Nikon Monarchs are WORLDS better than my current glass. Though they were only $289, I actually liked them better thansome $500+ Steiner Predators.

2) The Zeiss & Leica's are pretty freakin' sweet! I purposefully showed-up near dusk, so I could make the guy walk out of the gun department & go over with me to the big picture window so I could check out stuff in the twilight. These 2 high-end binocs showed things in a completely different color than the Nikons did. Very nice, indeed.

3) I tried some Swarovski's, & didn't like 'em at all. I couldn't find out how to make the eyepieces focus individually, nor could the sales dude. Then again, he couldn't see any problem with 'em. Naturally, I also realize that a green Bass Pro shirt on a part-time employee does not an optics expert make.

What itdid make clear, though, is that I have to decide what I like best: all the opinions in the world are fine, but it's up to me to be happy with what I get.

I also started the internal battle about, "are these Zeiss glasses really 5 times better than the Nikons?", verses, "would I be content with these Nikons out in the field, when I've looked through those really nice Zeiss lenses?". I'm not finding it to be a very cut-and-dried debate.

So, the upshot is that I didn't buy anything. Then again, I didn't expect to. With this many choices, I need to take my time, & be sure of what I like. Plus, I think I can can only do it in short sessions, because after a while everything starts to look the same.

So, the only thing I know now is that I'll be going back! Several times!