I went through the same thing last x-mas choosing a spotting scope for my dad and ended up getting him the Wind River and was very pleased with it but as with all lower end priced scopes the clarity starts to suffer when you get to 25 and above power. For the money I truly believe you can't do any better and I personaly looked through alot of scopes when I was shopping. If your going to use the scope for a once in a lifetime trophy hunt or for some serious glassing at long ranges than spend the exact money and jump up to the 400 to 500 dollar class and get something you won't regret.
Mike