Had a chance today to stop by a Wild Birds Unlimited and compare my Sightron Blue Sky 8x32 vs a few Eagle Optics and Vortex binos.
Head to head vs the $320 Eagle Optics New Ranger ED 8x32, I am happy to say that I'm very glad I popped for the Sightron, for if I had gone with the EO, I'd be crying. The EO had some advantages, ever so slightly brighter, better close focus and a little wider FOV (which surprised me, as it is spec'ed as having less FOV, methinks Sightron might have inflated their FOV spec). But overall, to my eyes, the Sightron produced a better image, sharper, better depth of field, easier to focus on the fly, wider sweet spot. Unless I strongly needed the better close focus of the EO, I would choose the Sightron by a wide margin.
Next up was the Vortex Diamondback 8x32 at $190. This was a no contest. I didn't spend much time on the comparison, as it was immediately obvious that the Sightron was brighter, better DoF, easier to use. I felt more eyestrain when using the Vortex. Not saying that the Vortex is a bad binocular or not worth the $190. I actually rather like it. But would choose the Sightron 10 times out of 10.
They were out of stock on the Vortex Viper HD 8x32 at $560. So I went for the unfair comparison of the Viper HD 8x42 $580. Wonderful view. Bright, great color, good depth of field, felt great in my hands. But narrower FOV and it has too much eye relief (spec'ed at 20mm). Great with my glasses, but w/o glasses, I had to hold it away from me. Even just brushing my eyebrows, I fought blackouts. Definitely brighter.
If I were to go out and spend a day in the field with my choice of the Sightron vs the Viper HD, I think I would go with the Sightron. Primarily due to the slightly wider FOV and given that I would not have to fight that overly long eye relief all day. If I were wearing eyeglasses, I would go with the Viper HD.
In terms of overall image quality, I would give that to the Viper HD. In thinking of the image quality of the Ranger ED vs the Viper HD, I would rate the Sightron as being about 2/3rds of the way above the Ranger towards the Viper.
The salesman, who has been selling optical gear at that store for several years, asked if he could try out the Sightron. I had not made any comparison comments. He looked through them and said, "Oh, these are nice, and I love the light weight. How much do they cost?" I told him that I had paid about $160. To that he said, "Wow! I would have guessed far above that."