MONARCH HG 8x30

I bought HG 8X30 chiefly for the lighter weight of the smaller lenses than those of my Swarovski EL 8.5X42. The Nikon is very comfortable to use, and can be held steady using only one hand. The Nikon has about 95% of the optical performance of the Swarovski for roughly half the price. Differences in rectilinear distortion and center-to-edge sharpness falloff (both are equally sharp in the center, to my eyes) are subtle, with the Swarovski better but not by much. You can see those differences if you deliberately hunt for them, but in normal use they are not really noticeable. The only place where the Nikon obviously slips is in losing more contrast when aiming into very bright light (i.e. cases such as aiming near the Sun or at a reflective water surface on a bright day). The Nikon wins on width of field of view (a slightly unfair comparison since the Swarovski has a bit higher magnification). The only disappointment was the case it came in: no way to slide it onto a belt, which is how I like to carry binoculars (pulling them out of the case when needed and not hanging them around the neck all the time).