I have a pair of Nikon Monarchs 8X42's that I am very happy with. I'll be honest with you, I didn't compare them against any other binos before I bought them. My buddy has an older pair of Swaro's which are the best. I didn't see enough difference in them to spend an extra $500 - $800 more on them. I would try to find a store with a big selection to compare several brands. Without handling them you can't really get a feel for them or compare size and weight. Here's a link to a site with pretty good optic prices:

http://theopticzone.com/binoculars.aspx

I'll PM you another link. Let us know what you get and how you like them.

Mike