Hello I am new to this fourm and to birding. I am looking to buy a new pair of binoculars i have been looking at leupold olympic and nikon monarch's. I have been leaning toward the leupold. BUT just recently i went to a benifit and won a coupon for 60% off msrp on a pair of alpen teton 8.5 x 50's . I have never heard of this brand . the msrp is $900 and i found them on the web for around $600. I would still have to pay $350 for these and this is about the same price as the leupold's . I would like your opinion on the teton's are they as good or better than the leupold's . There isn't a store around here to compare these and i don't have a lot of money so this is a very large investment for me and i would like to make the best choice. Thank you for your advice.