When I was shopping for a bino upgrade i looked through as many binoculars as I could in the mid to higher (but not alpha glass) price range. I looked through Vortex, Leupold, Nikon several models, Swaro SLC and Leica Trinovids, Zeiss Conquest HD. I narrowed it down to either the Monarch HG and the Conquests. To my eyes, the Nikon glass was the best fit I just liked how it looked for me a tiny bit better than the Conquests so I ended up picking up the Monarch HG 10x42s on a bit of a sale. I have had mine for a bit over a year now and I really like them they are really great to use. On the bird watching forums the Nikon Monarch HG got great marks for being a great value to performance ratio and I certainly have to agree.
