The latest isssue of Living Bird from the Cornell has a very comprehensive reivew of birding bins cheap through expensive. Of course its not as detailed as some of the discussion here on BF, but still somewhat interesting.
The best of Swaro, Zeiss and Leica get highest and and equivalent rankings for optical quality. The Zeiss FL 8x42 gets the top overall score.
In general I agree with their rankings, with 2-3 big exceptions. One is that the Nikon LXLs (32s and 42s) gets somewhat lower scores for handling and optical quality. I'd put them over the Ultravids and ELs most days of the week.
I'm disappointed that the test didn't include the Nikon SE.
[QUOTE=Bill Atwood]The latest isssue of Living Bird from the Cornell has a very comprehensive reivew of birding bins cheap through expensive. Of course its not as detailed as some of the discussion here on BF, but still somewhat interesting.
The best of Swaro, Zeiss and Leica get highest and and equivalent rankings for optical quality. The Zeiss FL 8x42 gets the top overall score.
In general I agree with their rankings, with 2-3 big exceptions. One is that the Nikon LXLs (32s and 42s) gets somewhat lower scores for handling and optical quality. I'd put them over the Ultravids and ELs most days of the week.[/QUOTE]
OK, I'm going to go check this out. Thanks.