I am looking to upgrade my cheap binoculars. I have around 300 dollars to spend. I was looking at either the Nikon Monarchs 10X42 or the Bushnell Legend 10X42 with rainguard. Anyone use any of these? The Nikon's are lighter and more compact, but the Bushnell's rainguard is supposed to elimnate external fogging which is one thing I don't like about my current binocs. Any suggestions on these two or any other brands within the same dollar range? Thanks for your time.

I have a pair of the monarchs. I have used them in some pretty rough conditions, and they have yet to fog on me.

I have some expensive binos, but I truly feel the nikons are very close to the top end glass.

My buddy just bought a top end pair of Leicas, and he was pretty impressed with the monarchs I have, even compared to his.

As far as the legends....I have only looked through one pair, but they looked pretty good to me. I don`t know about fogging though.

Hope this helps.

Cool, thanks for the info!!

The Legends and Monarchs are quality glass.....phase coated/corrected prisms and fully water and fog proof.
I've looked thru both and they are really nice binos. You would be happy with either.

You can find them online at different sites for much less than say Cabelas.

I use Pentax DCF-SP "Superior Performance" 8X43's and while much more expensive in Cabelas there is some website that has them for like $350 or so, probably a bit more for the 10X?
"Buck Magnet" has the link to it.......these are $600+ in Cabelas and comparable to the $1000 high end Euro stuff.

I couldn't be happier with my Pentax, but I wouldn't feel handicapped using either of the models you mentioned.

Like Matt said, the Pentax DCF-SP are as good as it gets. He told me about these binos, but, at the price they had them for in Cabelas, I said to heck with that. After two hours of searching around on the internet, I found them here........ http://hotbuyselectronics.com/pentax_dcfsp_10x43.html for $409.98 BUT when you think about how much Cabelas sells them for (which is still cheap compared to alot of other places on the internet) it isn't bad. Cabelas has these for $649.99 that is an absolute steal. That is $240.01 less!!!!!!!!!!!

Now, I went to Cabelas and looked at these bino's against a bunch of other top end binos, like Swarovski, Leica, Leupold, Kahles, Steiner, Zeiss, (most are double the price that I found the Pentax's for), and, these Pentax were EVERY BIT as good, if not better. How good is that you may ask. Well, after looking through them, when I looked around with my naked eye, I was jealous. These things are so SUPER clear and crisp, and they gather so much light, that it just blows your mind. I will be getting a pair of the 8X43's this spring, and I will be handing my Bushnell Legend 10X43's down to my girlfriend.

I have had an old pair of Bushnells I have used for years and decided it was time to upgrade.I got the Nikon Monarchs in 8x42 and they are so clear and bright,I cant believe the difference.The only thing I dont like about them is that sometimes one or both of the twist up eye cups twist down on me and I dont know it till I grab them to look through.I use the Bino flex system and they stay tight to my body but while walking and bending it must twist them down.I wish they would lock up better.Anyone have any suggestions?

I just upgraded this year myself. I bought a pair of 10x42 Wind River Cascades by Leupold. I was amazed with the difference from cheap binos. I paid $275 for them. You may want to look at these as well.

here ya go, i took a bino poll last week, here are some replies.

http://forum.hunting.net/asppg/tm.as...&anchor#446271

The Lengends with Rain-guard will still fog-up with condensation on the outside, like the others. There isn't a binoc on the market that will-not fog up on the outside. All the good glasses have protective coatings, but Bushnell advertises theres a lot more. I sell binoculars full-time, and looked through and sold thousands. The Nikon Monarchs and Leupold Olympics are the best deals for the $300 range.

The Pentax SP's are great binocs also, but the Zeiss classics for the same money still win hands down, as far as optically quality.

i have a pair of bushnell somethings, they are 10x50 and were only 50 bux.