Never been a fan of the "made in China" optics, but with all the new Ed made binos out and the prices seeming very reasonable I'm considering a pair of 8x42s.
Of all the brands out there the Bresser Everest seems like the best buy to me
Lets here the good, the bad and the ugly from your chinese made ED binoculars
OK the good is that by an large there really are no bad binoculars in today's mid range ED/HD binoculars, that includes the Chinese connection optics. Not a lot of real need to spend over $5-600 these days. I'm with Mule Deer. I have ceased to be amazed at a terrific new binocular, even with some not even costing $200
The bad is of course the Chinese connection. In spite of my doing some favorable reviews of Chinese optics, I wish they could be made elsewhere. My recommendations have always been optical, never political. I leave it to the purchaser to figure out where to spend their $$.
The ugly is the political and regulatory stupidity that forces businesses to do their business outside our borders. Better tax policies and some sensible regulations (maybe that's an oxymoron) might keep some of that business here.
The way I see it you are going to have a hell of a time overcoming your very obvious bias. We are all victims of our preconceived notions, and optical instruments and what our preconceived notions tell us we are going to see before we even look, are a powerful determiner of what we ultimately see. We create our own self fulfilling prophecies .So you are going to have to unlearn a lot of what you think you know. I think you might be best served with the Bresser straight off, as you seem to have some preconceptions of its quality. But to get anywhere you are going to have to abandon any and all brand loyalties and let the binocular talk to you and just sit back look at the image and listen to what it has to say. Forget the badge on the outside and see how the construction stands up to your requirements.
I have come to the point where I tend to think all of the Brand A vs. Brand B baloney is just that, a lot of baloney. Every face, eyes and set of hands, while having similarities necessary due to the fact we are all of the same species, are in the end different. I have come to see there is no way to tell how one particular set of biological DNA is going to react to a certain optical DNA. The thing is, you will get a lot of recommendations, including some from me before I sign off. Point is none are all wrong and maybe most are not right.
The final arbiter of user satisfaction is how the binocular fits your face and eyes. The most important single factor in user satisfaction is if the binocular has the proper eye relief, next is how well the eye cups fit your face. If the eye relief is right and the eye cups are comfortable, you will be able to hold them to your face in what is natural to you. That goes a long way to whether or not you like it. If the thing balances well in the bargain, so much the better.
Next, just what is "made in China" to you? Believe me there are countless ways for a modern optical instrument to have Chinese connections of some sort. For instance I want to know what you think of a company who is headquartered in the USA, has a factory in the USA to boot. The glass is designed in their factory by their engineers. The prototypes are built largely in their in house CNC shop. Now they go to China. This outfit happens to own a glass making facility, mix, pour, cut, grind, polish, and coat. They tell their wholly owned factory what they need in the glass for the design. Their own factory produces all the various lens to the required specifications. They then go to their own company owned assembly plant, where their company engineers supervise the final assembly. The are shipped to their factory here, and sent to sales outlets. The whole kit and caboodle is under their control from design to the final packaging. What sort of parts like rubber armor, screws, eye cup covers, etc are outsourced I have no idea, but some for sure are. So is this "Made in China"? It says so on the label because they are a US company and it has to say that to comply with US law. Or do you believe "Made in Germany" on the label, even though European Union laws require only 10% of the final product to be actually German. Some brands actually do call up a Chinese source and say something like I'll take ten cases of item #17, just put them in green armor with my name on it. So it is important to look at the company, its reputation and what sort of warranty and service they have.
My first example is not theoretical. I'm talking about Kruger Optical based in Sisters, Oregon. Their Caldera is a hell of a glass for a really decent price. Mule Deer has related positives about their Backcountry series and it is not in the same league as the Caldera.
Zen Ray has a facility in China. I have long been a fan of their products, and their stuff at any price level is as good as it is going to get at that price level. Leupold has more Chinese connections than you shake a stick at. I'd not be surprised to find them with capabilities like Kruger at some point in the future.
So what I'd do is take whatever steps you can take based on the difficulty you have in finding stuff to look at based on your location. Order some from outlets with decent return policies. Look at a few. Visit what dealers you can, you will find a few more. You'll probably find one you like.
