Thanks for your help, guys! (and maybe gals haha)
@ Paddy: I certainly test them all outside and try them on long and short distance, trying every aspect of the bins in all ways I can come up with
Especially a metal object against the sky at some distance proved to be of big help for testing sharpness.
As for ratios; I choose 10x42 because of the style of birding I most often find myself doing: on quite longer distances on large areas (like our Waddenzee). So I need (and like) a good FoV but an 8x (which I'm using now) proved to be júst not enough magnification (compared it with a friend's 10x in the field a number of times). I'm no person to drive (don't have a car, nor license) to a point and sit there all day waiting, not more than an hour of two. I bird quite actively, have a foldable bicycle I take with me on train, cycle and walk long stretches through nature to get to the quieter places where birds fly freely
therefor compactness and weight is a factor: but I already discovered that weight can be quite an advantage to keep a 10x steady comfortably. The Talons got that but they are uncomfortably large for my compact way of getting around... Where they smaller, I'd probably already bought them; nice optical and build quality, liked the looks as well. That's not important for optical quality of course, but when I start out with bins I think ugly (like the Legend Ultra HD) they'll never grow on me and it'll become a factor of irritation. I know myself that much haha.
Sometimes/often when viewing on greater distances, I miss a scope, but I'm not there yet..I mean; I can't be so sure right now I keep birding for years to make the high cost pay off (and often don't have the funds for it) but now need the motivation of a good set of bins to grow to that point. Transportation is another factor in that: to cycle 20km on my tiny bike needs something compact (I saw a nice compact Vortex 20-60x80 last Saturday, think it was a Diamondback scope?).
That said: I like birding in the woods as well, them darned tiny hyperactive birds give me quite a frustrating challenge, positively speaking
@ squamish: doesn't sound good! Thanks for the warning and yes: often you get what you pay for (although the thousands often seem overpriced to me)
@ David: I already decided to go for the best in my budget (max €400). So I won't go the store with those three, although I could compare the BushnelL and Talon again there...my fondness of the Talon keeps peeping through, notice? Gets me doubting if I shouldn't learn to live with its size. Right now I'm a bit avoiding them because my mind says to not go there because the size will get in the way. But they were such a relieve (in view and build) after the other ones...darned.
I'll go check out the Opticron Discovery and new Explorer, to give them a chance.
I'll go to a store where they have loooooads of bins (no Talon haha) incl Vanguard and Opticron, and good service to see what happens. Maybe they have the Discovery and Explorer, to make my schedule easier.
And still there's somehow that fascination with the B&S series 5...maybe because there's no reviews on it, the specs on paper are good and I like the looks. I think I will go check them out (have to make an appointment for it), next to the Frontiers MK1 and MK2. I read the MK1 is a tiny bit lower in quality than the new one, but price is good at €340. Frontier's a bit too large, as the Talon, so not really serious competitors. B&S might be too light to hold steady...
I'm not sure yet how to make the schedule. Three stores on one day is max (travelling from the north tip of Holland throughout the country by train) and especially when making an appointment timing is a factor.
Edit: hmm, don't know if I'll go there. I doubt the B&S can offer competitive quality with the others. I mean: in that store with high prices €315 for a ED/phase coated set of bins (€250 online)...sounds too good to be true, and I have the suspision it can't/won't offer the quality I can get with my budget. The store/person needing me to make an appointment is nice personal service for sure, but gives me less freedom on the day itself.
I'll keep posting updates here. Nice soap opera huh, such a public shared quest haha. Maybe readers get something out of it. Quite a few mini-reviews from an amateur here already