Over the last few weeks I have had the opportunity to try some of the binoculars listed in this thread in the field. and here is a brief description of what I have found. I was able to use most of these on multiple days from sunrise to dusk and from 1800' desert to 9000' alpine areas. It seemes that the toughest test for them was when glassing hills to the west shortly after sunrise.
Cabelas Euro 10X42: I picked these up on sale for $699, as soon as I opened the box all of the paperwork said Meopta everywhere on them, just wraped in a cabelas jacket. The fit and finish is nice but a little old school which is fine too. The focus is nice and easy to use, however the diopter adjustment is good but seems to require adjustments for different distances, more so than some others. They are a little heavy but have a good fit and the weight is quickly forgiven as soon as soon as you put them to use. The optics on these are exceptional, and they have proven to be a great value and maybe the best thing out there for less than 4 figures. The Swaros are better however it will take a trained eye to notice much difference in them. I have used these alot since the original post and I like them more and more each time I pick them up, the glare is as minimal as it gets until you are ready to spend $2,000.
Vortex Razor 12X50: I did not get to spend a lot of time with these but was ale to use them at the right time of the morning when the sun was at its worse point. The fit and feel is great, the comfort is there as well. The optics are sharp and crisp in good light, however they drop off drasticaly when batteling the sun in your face. The focus adjustments are hard to dial in.
Vortex Viper 10X42: Nice fit and finish very light weight and easy to hold and cary. Comfort during use is pretty good for my eyes. The focus adjustments are hard to dial in. Optics are better than any $300 competitor but not up to par with the more expensive units, they work well and I think you would be happy with them for around or less than $500.
Minox HG 10X43: Nice fit and finish very light weight and easy to hold and cary. Eyecups are a similar design to the Nikon Monarchs and the comfort is marginal at best. The optics are not worth the cleaning wipes that I used on the lenses these have about the same optical quality as $40 set of Walmart binoculars, no more details are needed as they were simply horible, they pick up a very strong glare rendering them unuseable at the best hunting times. I cannot stress enough how dissapointed I was with these.
To sum it up binoculars seem to come in 4 ranges of quality but at many different prices. I wanted the quality of a $2000 set but only had the budget of half that, however with the Cabelas Euro/Meopta I found great optics that go beyond anything I saw with a $1000 price tag at a fraction of the cost. After a few Meopta scopes I have used it is no surprise that this quality of a glass would come from them.
