RE: binos
I just recently bought my first good pair of binos not too long ago. After using cheap bushnell optics all these years, I'd had with them. Anyways, I did a lot of reseach and the names that kept coming up as good pics were Zeiss, Swarvoski, Nikon, and leica. Didn't really find much on leupold binos (but I know their scopes are high quality). I ended up buying Nikno Monarch ATB 10x42 porro prisms (nice and compact: about 5" tall and only 21 oz) and I absolutely love them! Hope this helps.