We just had a big discussion about this subject last night at the range. Everyone had their binoculars and we compared them side-by-side with lots of different eyes, indoors shooting spots as well as outside while it was starting to get dark. Of the ones there, the upper end Leicas and the Swarovski EL' s were tops with the Pentax DCF-WPs next, Minox next after that, and Leupold after the Minox. There were several more after that, but those are the ones that stood out from the rest. For the price range you are listing, I don' t think you' ll be able to beat the Pentax DCF-WP 8x42 binos. You should be able to get them for around $325 if you look around. They had a $100 rebate on them for a few months, but I think that ended 1/31/03. The lens caps on those Pentax binos are pretty awful, though. Most people I know that use them use the factory cover for the ocular lenses and get something like the Butler Creek flip-up scope caps for the objective lenses. The Minox binos are close to as good, though, and shouldn' t cost all that much more. The lens caps might work better on them, too, which might make them worth it.