Binocular advice again

["Ron" <miles2go at konnections dot com>]

Well I'm finally going to buy better binoculars for observing the birds
around our home and on the trails. I suppose the Falcon nest was the last
straw. I'll be using them to pull in stands of trees that are between 3 and
600 yards away in most cases. I don't want anything huge though as I'd like
to be able to hike with them too. I remember talking to some folks on the
list not long ago and it seems that the larger the exit pupil the better.
I'm wondering if there is a typical minimum exit pupil size that is
recommended and if there is a clear favorite for binoculars at or under
$300. Actually I'll likely be buying from B&H at
http://www01.bhphotovideo.com/ in the hopes of getting the best I can for
what I want to spend.
I suppose that 8x42 or 10x50 is the standard choice. I've also seen some odd
variants such as the Swift 8.5x44 BWCF Audubon Waterproof binocs that B&H is
selling for $274. Actually the wide choice at B&H is bewildering even just
among the Swift line. I will certainly welcome some advice. While I intend
to do a little bit of research as well, I always greatly value unbiased
consumer/user level "word of mouth" over what could possibly be dollar
driven influence.

Thanks again,

Ron


========================================================================
 Send submissions to . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  birdnet@utahbirds.org
 Send replies to . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  birdnet@utahbirds.org
   or to the original poster indicated in the From: line of the post
 Send (un)subscribe requests to  . . . .  birdnet-request@utahbirds.org
   In message body: type "subscribe" (without quotes) to subscribe
   In message body: type "unsubscribe" (without quotes) to unsubscribe
 Send problem reports to . . . . . . . . .  owner-birdnet@utahbirds.org
 Visit the Utah Birds web site at  . . . . .   http://www.utahbirds.org

------------------------------