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I still haven't made up my mind what I want to do yet. My digital camera just bit the dust on Tuesday night, so I'm in the market for one of those too! The little lady at home certainly isn't too happy about the prospect of me spending a ton of money on a camera AND binos, especially after she found out how much I spent on my new bow setup this year. So I think for the time being I'm going to hold off on the binos and focus on the camera. I've been looking at a Nikon Coolpix 5400 for around $450-$500, so there goes by bino budget.
My biggest problem right now is that Todd let me look through a pair of his Swarovskis and now I think I'm hooked on getting a pair. The clarity and low-light quality was absolutley amazing. Unfortunately I'm gonna need to sell some vital organs, or win the lottery, to afford a set right now. I plan on visiting the Cabela's in Prairie Du Chein, WI this weekend to check out more of a selection before I really make up my mind though.
Two comments. One, if you still are looking for some decent binos but don't want to spend the $300 for the Monarchs or similar models then the next step below that are the new Carson XM series binos. They are about the same size as most of the other 10x42/8x42 roof prism models and they are phase corrected just like the Nikons, Bushnell Legends, etc.. The reason I am suggesting them is because they are selling for right at $200 at Cabelas. They just started carrying them which is why I did not mention them earlier.
Which brings me to another point. I went back to Cabelas this week as I had some gift certificates to spend and some time to kill. I ended up back at the binocular counter (as I knew I would) and decided to give their selection the once over again. This time I decided I wanted something in the 30-33 mm objective range and an 8x magnification. I went with this because I was trying to look for a good compromise between a compact model and "full size" binoculars like the previously mentioned Monarchs, Legends, etc.. I ended up looking at a variety of models from Browning, Bushnell, Pentax, Burris, (and I even peeked through the Swaros)
. After alot of deliberation and an opportunity to take them into some "dark places" to compare I ended up with the Pentax DCF-XPs in 8x33.
What really sold me on them was the brightness level. They were brighter than all the others save the Swaros and even then the difference was only noticeable in the darkest of conditions. I will have to provide some pics of them when I get home. They are an excellent compromise for those looking for full size binocular features in a more compact package.