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Message: <blockquote data-quote="WJC" data-source="post: 3536024" data-attributes="member: 25191">Hi Ali,Welcome to the group! Your question has been echoing around binocular forums since there were ... binocular forums. At any one time you will find dozens, if not hundreds, of brands and models out there. But in the price range sought by most beginners, you will find almost all of those will come from a handful of Asian manufactures that, for the most part differ only in cosmetics, coatings, price, and importer services.I’m a fan of “the big 3” European brands. I’m also a fan of wise spending. Some of the established Asian firms offer binoculars with 95% of the European performance for 20% of the price. And frankly, the birds don’t bloody care!So, after you make your selection, take yourself out to lunch with some of the money you didn’t have to spend.Leif Robinson, late editor of Sky & Telescope magazine used to say: “There are good optics, and there are cheap optics, but there are no good cheap optics.” That was true for decades. However, today, with competition being what it is, there are plenty of “much more than adequate optics” available at reasonable prices.Suggesting a “decent brand”? Well, that would narrow things down to ... a few dozen. As for as size? My primary birding glass is a Nikon 8x32 SE. But, I think the consensus for must birders put the 8x40 a little higher on the desirability list. Let us know how it goes. :cat:Cheers,Bill</blockquote>

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