First of all if you want to save space and weight in a pack you do not want porro prism binos.........they are much wider and bulkier.

(I wouldn't put em a pack either, you won't use em.........get em on a Bino buddy harness system where they sit tight against your chest and out of the way and within reach. If they are in front of you, you will use them alot, like they are meant to be used!)

$150 IS honestly a pretty low amount to expect any real quality in optics. almost to the level where you could make a case to just save your money, but your budget is your budget so we'll see what we can find.

For whitetails you want 8X42, roof prism, preferably nitrogen purged ,waterproof with phase corrected prisms.........gonna be a tough find for $150.
The 8X42 will gather more light for a larger field of view and brighter vision in low light viewing (where you will use them the most)
8X32's in all but the high end optics are a waste of money........they don't gather enough light. (The bigger the objective the more light transmission)

Variable power binos generally always SUCK, especially when you dial up the power they get very dark and tight field of view.


If you can stretch the budget a little bit check out the Nikon Monarchs, or the Vortex line of binos.

I could go into a big spiel about quality optics and you get what you pay for but I'll simply say that a good pair of binos was the BEST money I have ever spent in outdoor equipment after many years of fighting the urge to spend the money.