An excellent pair of binoculars. - Kahles 8x42 Binoculars

About 12 years ago I was looking to purchase a pair of roof prism binoculars for birding. There was a very fine birding oriented shop in the city where I lived that carried a number of the well-known, high-end brands; Ziess, Lietz, and Swarovski, plus a brand I'd never heard of - Kahles. I spent a considerable amount of time trying and comparing all of them for brightness, clarity, color rendition, size & weight and ease of handling. In the end I chose the Kahles 8 X 42, having found it to be equal to all of the other brands mentioned. And the price, while it was significantly more than any other binoculars I'd bought previously, was excellent value given their performance. I still have them and their performance is still thrilling.