ORIGINAL: beast44k
Here's what I've researched so far, in my pricerange:
Burris FFII 10x42 - $175
Cabela XT 10x42- $275
Nikon Monarch 10x42 - $300
Zeiss Diafun 10x30 - $400 (more than I want to spend, but...)
Any others tothrow in for concideration...???
Like I said I understand. Budget and usage wise you are looking at spending 300 on bins which will give you a good return. Choice is yours but personally I'd be looking at 8x vs 10x. The higher the mag the better the glass & coatings need to be for perfromance(aka you can get away with more optical flaws at lower mags). Lower power will transmit better light then higher-fact! (not just useful at the end of the day but other conditions such as low ceiling, fog, rain, snow, etc). A little lighter/smaller, less hand shake/eye strain&for close range faster acquistion.
I'd also consider in your budget:
Wind River Cascades
Minox BL's
If you can find locallymaybe worthcomparing these as well:
Alpen Shasta Ridge (can find these less then 300 on the internet)
Vortex Fury (these can be had on the internet for 300)
Everybody is different so spend some time comparing and choose which look/feel the best. If you start to feel fatiqued or that they are looking the same, retreat and come back another day.
Best of luck
