never tried any of these myself....
but you will find more information about the swifts at
www.betterviewdesired.com
best of luck
matt,oh and welcome to birdforum
I have narrowed my binocular search down to these two binoculars, unless I drastically change my mind. I don't mind that one is porro and one is roof. My question is which binocular is sharper with better contrast, edge to edge? I have had the opportunity to look through the Monarchs, but I cannot find the Swifts anywhere convenient in Seattle. Thanks for any comments you might post.
[QUOTE=theskippur]I have narrowed my binocular search down to these two binoculars, unless I drastically change my mind. I don't mind that one is porro and one is roof. My question is which binocular is sharper with better contrast, edge to edge? I have had the opportunity to look through the Monarchs, but I cannot find the Swifts anywhere convenient in Seattle. Thanks for any comments you might post.[/QUOTE]
never tried any of these myself....
but you will find more information about the swifts at
www.betterviewdesired.com
best of luck
matt,oh and welcome to birdforum
As far as image quality, the Swift will be better. You may or may not have the experience to discern this right at first but, you will be able to see it soon enough. With its phase coated prisms the Monarch offers a very good image indeed but, its roof prism design involves design complexities and issues that make it impossible for it to match the image quality of a comparably priced porro prism binocular.
This is not to say the Monarch is an inferior choice. The size, weight, and ergonomics of the Monarch might still dictate that it is a better binocular for your purposes. Even though the image quality might not be as good, it might be plenty good enough for what you want to accomplish. You will however, have to decide this for yourself.