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Message: <blockquote data-quote="BruceH" data-source="post: 3623809" data-attributes="member: 106398">Thanks Lee, Patudo, Jack and Jerry for the positive feedback!Jack ....  The festivals are a great way to see various optics.  Some just have tours and workshops but many will have an exhibitor tent and many of those will have one or more optic vendors.  Opticron is by far the most active in attending festivals here in the U.S.  Zeiss, Swaro and Leica and sometimes Celestron are good at attending the major events. Canon will be at some majors but mainly promoting large mm camera lenses.  I can not think at the moment of any birding events currently attended by Nikon.  They do attend a few hunting and firearms events which are also a good place to check out optics.  I suspect Tract and new comer GPO will be more active in birding events in the future.  Most of the vendor exhibits are inside but the vendors are real good about letting you take models outside.  It is a great way to see a lot of optics and get to meet with the factory reps.  Some are contracted and others are true employees.   Most all have a strong outdoor background.  Keep checking the Opticron U.S. show schedule to see if there is a festival attended by optic vendors near you.  If you do go, consider taking your 8.5X42 Swaro with you.  You can learn so much more about a binocular if you have another to compare against, especially if it is one you know well.  Your Swaro is about as good as it gets so it is a great benchmark for comparison.</blockquote>

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