It happens quite often that folks come here, BirdForum or other optics sites looking for definitive “Best” binoculars in different price ranges. This generates discussion from a bunch of folks, many of whom just cite their personal favorites.
Up front - there is no perfect binocular in each price class or one that is superior in every way. Every optics choice is a confluence of features and everyone’s eyes draw from an image slightly differently.
That being said, it is best to first go to the nearest optics store (even if it involves some travel). It is vitally important to determine personal likes, dislikes and preferences and only the individual can do that. Without at least some experience in actually handling and looking through some name-brand binoculars to establish some baseline / frame-of-reference of basic view and handling characteristics, it will be difficult to fully understand the differences between models or why folks are recommending one model over another. It can be very costly to buy a personal device on someone else’s recommendation just to find out much later that you really don’t like it or have a strong preference for the features of another model.
Most folks live within at most a few hour drive to some retailer that has a fair selection of optics. Cabelas, Sportsman’s Warehouse, Optics Specialty Stores, Birding Stores, etc. It shouldn’t be much of a challenge to find things like a Swarovski EL, Zeiss Conquest HD, Vortex Viper or Razor, and a host of others. Once general individual preferences are determined, then it is time to do a deeper dive into individual model comparison.
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