I bought two pairs of binocs, a Leupold Cascade and Nikon Monarch, both 8x42. I also borrowed my hunting buddy's 10x42 monarch's. The short version is, I like the feel of the Leupold more than the Nikon's and had a personal preference for the Leupold brand but in low light conditions, the Nikon's were clearly brighter in low light conditions. I'm not sure I could tell any difference between the two under normal lighting conditions as they both looked great but the low light performance was better on the Nikons. As far as the 10x42's, I didn't care for them as much, they were definately less bright under low light conditions than either of the 8x42s. They aren't bad and could work but I like low light performance and find the 8x is enough for me. If the brightness was the same, i would have considered the 10s but there is enough difference to matter.

With all that said, I ordered a pair of Leupold Pinnacles. They are a different price range so no exactly apples/apples vs. the Nikon and Cascade, but Leupold told me they had the next best prisms and coating to the Gold Ring series. I found a pair on sale due to discontinued model and for an extra $100, I'm hoping they will provide slightly superior brightness to the Nikon but time will tell (they haven't arrived yet). When i get them, I will do side by side testing, and hope I won't be disappointed but will report the factual results regardless. The pinnacles were out of stock locally so had to order.