I'm looking for opinions on a couple different pairs of Pentax binoculars and wondering who may have experience using them. Here they are:

DCF HR II, 10x42 (new model)

DCF SP, 10x 43 (new model)

DCF WP, 10x 42

The WP is being discontinued, but has received rave reviews. The other two are new models. Clearly the SP is superior, but costs about 2x what the others cost. I'm mostly trying to determine whether and extra $250 is money well spent and/or whether I'll be happy with the lesser expensive models.

Thanks for any input.

In binoculars more than anything you get what you pay for. I haven't used Pentax Binoculars but have heard they are okay. All things being equal, poro prism binoculars can be made of equal quality for cheaper price. What you sacrifice is compactability. I use Swarovski's and Leica's but I assume that's out of your price range. Nikon sells a couple lines of poro prism binoculars that are supposed to be of high quality.

If you are set on the Pentax I'd definitely take the more expensive version as I've never looked through binoculars where the price difference wasn't immidiately reckognizeable. Nothing beats looking through them either, if you can find a place that has immidiate long distance viewing or know somebody that has them I'd want to try them prior to purchasing.

Go to this website and you will find the pair you want for a lot cheaper than you were looking at before. They have swarovski slc 8x30 for $574.99. You can't touch that price. Swarovski 30mm compares to other 50mm in brightness.

http://www.aaacamera.com/binoculars_page.html

Hey guys - thanks for the input.

Glowball,
AAA does have great prices. Have you purchased through them previously?

Yes I have and they were very good to deal with. I bought from them last year and the shipping was very quick. I wouldn't think anything has changed.