Went to the local Cabela's last week and briefly looked thru some binos... 16x Monarch 5, 15x EuroHD/Meopta, and 15x Swaros. The young lady at the optics counter offered to take the binos outside but I was limited on time and wasn't ready to buy. Indoors is not a good test of optics but they had a goat display in the far end of the store, in a dark corner.
The Swaros were by far the brightest, with good contrast. The Euros were next best, with the Monarch 5 not far behind. The Euros and Nikons are much more comparable to each other and the Swaros clearly in another class as one would expect
The Monarch 5 was much better than I expected. I'd like to try them all again outside in low light, along with the Minox.
