Which Binoculars are best?

If you can stand the price, Zeiss is the way to go. Take a look through a Zeiss & the next brand you look through will seem horrible by comparison, IMHO.
 
Cabela's has the Ziess Diafun series at a decent price. $299 for the 8x30, $350 for the 10x30. I have the 10x30 set and am very happy.
 
Zeiss and Swarovski are definitely top notch. However, the price tag can often scare most folks. You may want to elaborate on what your proposed use would be as there are two basic designs used in modern glass - porro prism and roof prism. Porro prisms are much cheaper than roof prisms of an equal quality image, but are often less rugged and weather resistant. You can buy a really nice set of porro prisms for $200-$250, but will likely spend about 3-4x that amount for a pair of roof prisms that look equally as good. Of course, the roof prisms will likely outlast the porro prisms, especially if you aer going to carry them in the field. So... if you only plan on a trip to the range every once in a while or watching some birds, you may want to stick with the porros. If there is some sort of military/leo application where your life could depend on them, then drop the $$$ and go with the roof. For hunting, I'd say it is a toss up - no lives will likely be at stake, but a bust pair of binos could potentially ruin your day and/or trip.

Check out http://www.betterviewdesired.com , which is actually a birder site. Of course, their needs in regards to reliability/ruggedness may be different than your average TFL'er, and so they may tend to favor the porro's a bit more (especially if your not willing to drop $750+), but they are very discriminating about image quality.

http://www.adorama.com is a good site to purchase all types of glass, except for rifle scopes (unfortunately).

Rocko
 
Personally, I'd take the Steiner's, but I already have a pair of old one's that I refuse to replace unless necessary. 7x50. Great optics, excellent light-gathering. (Not that any of the others already mentioned are bad. I don't know, as I haven't used any of them. I like my Steiners. JMHO.
 
The top of the line Nikon and Bausch & Lomb are a cut above the rest and pretty close to Zeiss I think, but the best in my book is Swarovski. I've never tried Leica so I can't say, but if price is any indication, they should be better than Swarovski.
 
I have a cousin who sells the Steiner Predator line. They seem like good glasses but I have never taken them in the field. One good feature is that you can adjust each eyepiece sepaerately for your eye
 
Leica, Zeiss and Swarovski are the top of the heap, and charge accordingly.

Nikon makes highly functional gear at a much more reasonable cost IMHO.
 
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