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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Bryant" data-source="post: 387155" data-attributes="member: 25614">Amen to that John !  Unfortunately, I think many bino users or potential users/buyers very often overlook some of these "best kept secrets" of the industry, and they eventually go the way of the dinosaurs for reasons of economics more than anything else.  Why Nikon doesn't simply wage an aggressive advertising campaign, explaining that good Porros CAN outperform even the best Roofs, and maybe waterproof the SE series to deal with those concerns, is really beyond me.  But then, we are back to the "money" issue......selling $900+ binos as compared to $300 binos.  The Roofs seem to have overtaken the Porros from the standpoint of "quality perception" in recent years, I would suspect due to the great influx of Chinese porro (or "poor-oh") trash on the market, making it even more difficult to pick out the gems from amongst the junk.  Sure, there are some importers of decent Chinese optics out there (Oberwerk for example), but that is more the exception than the rule when we start looking at total numbers of binos on the market these days.  I suppose too, that is one benefit of forums such as this, to help find (or show others) where the real performers are hiding.  I know I would not likely have even tried a $300 pair of 8x30 EII Nikons had it not been for the high regard given them by some very knowledgable folks here and on other forums.  The same might have applied to the Nikon 8x32 SE, which now is my most prized small bino and used more than all of the others combined for daytime viewing.  Glad to say that Nikon and Fujinon are still my preferred favorites in the field of porro glasses, even if they seem to be going the route of letting lesser quality/performance out-sourcing infiltrate their lines.  Unfortunately, even with the best of brand-name optics these days, one has to be careful.  Marketing trumping quality seems to be the name of the game, just as you say.Bryant</blockquote>

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