After leaning strongly towards Swarovski's 7x42 SLC and considering other 7x42s from the likes of Zeiss and Leica, guess what I bought...
Nikon LXL 8x32! Why? After trying many binoculars I came to the conclusion that the most important optical factor to me is the eveness of focus across the field. The SLCs were very good in this regard, but someone suggested the Nikons for this trait and boy was I pleased! The 8x32 was more than bright enough and I chose it over the 8x42 for that reason and for the wide field.
These days it seems everyone is talking about color, thanks to Zeiss using FL glass. That may be of prime importance to many, but the levels present in the other makes and my new Nikon are very low. False color comes and goes with the situation, but the edge softness in the other top glasses is always there and it always bothered me.
Advice to other buyers, discover what traits are most important to you through trial of as many models as possible, then choose the binoculars that best address those traits. I ended up with the bright sharp image I wanted in the tidy watertight package I was looking for and I could't be happier.
I was prepared to spend up to $2000 US to get the right binocular, and I did for $900. If the Nikon were priced up wth the Leicas and Swarovskis I would still have bought it, the edge sharpness is that important to me, your results may vary.
A happy buyer in Winnipeg! We need more happy posts.
I have gone with Nikons as they have been the easiest to see around here. I have heard all kinds of opinions so far on Nikon, and not much anything concrete on the negative ones. They were all able to return the poor individual binoculars. Best of luck with your bins and hope you get good service if you ever need it.
Congratulations on the new bins. I wish you many happy years of birding with them. In my opinion you made an excellent choice....but then, considering your other options I do not really think you could have made a truly "bad" one.