Learn from my mistake: never look through binoculars you can't afford or are unwilling to pay for.

I was invited on a "sunset cruise" in Key West a few years back, which invariably lead to low light conditions where poor optics really start to show their flaws. Over appetizers on the boat I noticed a woman (obvious birder) who had a pair of Leica binoculars. I struck up a conversation and asked if I could look through the binoculars. The boat was pitching a bit in the swells coming through Calda Cut and so it wasn't a perfect scenario for judging optics but it was still blatantly obvious that they were, by far, the best binoculars I'd ever looked through (my own binoculars are Kalhes which I paid $900 for). A week later I mentioned the experience to a friend who was the store manager at a resort in Key Largo and he said he had those in stock and could get them for half off retail for me....bringing them down to a paltry $1,800! I stopped by the marina the next day, took them out on the deck and looked at boats moored anywhere from 100-1,000 yards away. The glass is just astounding...but still too spendy for how often I use binoculars. My Kahles will have to suffice.

Lesson: best not to even look through glass you aren't willing to buy, -because then you realize how much better things can be. I should have learned my own lesson when I briefly switched to Leica glass for photo reasons but I stupidly looked through those Leica binoculars....they were really far better than any binoculars I've looked through, I thought they were noticeably better than Swaro's.