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What would you guys consider the best buy in an 8 or 10x42 with a budget of 4 to 500 dollars

Minox HG's, Elites or Vortex Razors - all are around 500 or so, some just slightly higher. In the next group I'd say Pentax SP's but the ones above are better for the money in my opinion.

Order a few from Cameraland and return the ones you don't like - it's the only way to shop!

Throw in the Burris Signature Selects as well--and the Weaver Grand Slams, Bushnell Legends, Swift Audubons, etc. etc. The truth is, the world is full of very good binoculars under $500 these days.

Hank,
The mid price phase coated roof prisms have really gotten better over the last ten years. It is sort of hard to find a really bad one. Might be easier to come up with the occasional lemon at that price, but stick with DOug or another dealer with a similar return policy and you'll be OK. My personal picks from that price range are the Vortex Viper, Swift Eaglet and Leupold Pinnacle. I've got a Nikon Monarch which I don't feel is quite as good as these or some of the others mentioned. Don't have much experience with Pentax but their SP series should work too. You'll be best served to get as many as you can and see what you prefer.

Ditto connecting with Doug.

I purchased the Minox HGs last summer during the demo sale. It was a good call. I'm pleased with them. One of these days I'll upgrade to Swaro's and confidently pass the Minox on to one of my kids.

Take a look at all of the other bins referenced. I would also through in the Minox BR series, the Pentax SP & Vortex Vipers. I would alos not count out the 30/32 sizes. If you go that route, be sure to check out the same series of bin, but also the Zeiss Conquest 8x30's.

Try to find a store within reasonable driving distance that has as many bins as you can try. See if they will let you take several outside and compare them side by side. Do this multiple times with as many bins as you can get your hands on and let your eyes, your hands and your wallet decide for you.

Good luck in your decision.

Mike.

I see that Cabela's had the Leupold HD binos on for just alittle bit more.

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/t...dex&indexId=cat601547&hasJS=true

I can't comment on how good they are but I am sure someone here can chime in on these.

I recommend that you buy them from Doug and compare them at home. I've never been able to really learn much about a binocular in a store. Doug, and I suspect Cabela's, will let you return them for a full refund if you aren't happy with them.
To give you an example, I tried out a 10X43 Pentax SP a few years ago at a store. It looked and felt good. But, until I got a chance to compare it to my Lecia, my Nikon LX and a Pentax ED, I had no idea they were as good they are. How good is that ? I had to work at it, for sevferal minutes, carefully stacking them against both my 8X42 Leica and an 8X43 Pentax ED to see even a tiny bit of difference. That's much better than I thought they'd be. To the point where I'm seriously thinking that the less expensive, better models are so close to the Big Four as to make the purchase of any of the top names impractical.
Other things, like ergonomics do come into play. Weight, I discovered, is far more important than I ever thought. As far as I'm concerned, I'll take weight every time over a bit better image clarity. E

I'm no expert, but I will tell you that I just purchased a pair of OLYMPUS MAGELLAN EXWP-I 10x42 I am impressed. If you are on a limited budget you may want to consider these. They make some of the best cameras and microscopes in the world, exceptional glass in my humble opinion.....

If you can find any of these for the $500 price point (used/demos from Doug for example) then they would be my suggestions as well. I think all of them offer superb optical performance at that price point and slightly above.

...the key is to finding them at that price point. I have only seen Doug carry these as demos, etc... around the $500 mark.

Having said that then the Pentax SPs would be my next choice considering their regular price falls right in/at $500. I would throw in the Zeiss Conquest 8x30s but you were looking at 40-42 mm objective choices.

All good choices.

One last caveat: whatever you do, don't pick up a set of Ultravids, FLs, or ELs to compare them to, no matter which you pick. Esp. the Ultras......