The pair that you want will depend on what you want to use them for.

Let me give you a few basics first.

The higher the power of the binoculars, the more they are subject to magnifying the natural shake of your hands as you hold them.

For that reason, unless you are going to place them on a tripod, the maximum magnification that most people are comfortable using hand held is 10x. And many prefer 8x because the image is more stable yet. I have both 8x and 10x binoculars. I once tried a pair of 12x and I could not hold them steady enough. The image jiggled all over the place.

For looking at wild life, especially birds, a wide field of view is prefered. If the field of view is narrow, it can be difficult to find what you are looking for through the binoculars. Sometimes totally impossible.

8x binoculars normally have a wider field of view than 10x. That makes them preferable for bird watching.

The next number normally advertised is the diameter of the objective lense. The larger this lense, the more light the binoculars are capable of gathering and the brighter the image that you will see. But the larger the objective lense, the heavier the binoculars.

So you might see advertised 8x40 binoculars. That means they have 8x magnification and the objective lense is 40 mm in diameter. That is a very popular size. But they can be rather heavy, especially if you are lugging them around all day.

The next thing to consider is the environment in which you plan to use them. If you plan on taking them to the cloud forests of Costa Rica, you will want a pair that is waterproof and nitrogen purged to prevent moisture from condensing on the inside of the binoculars.

The next important thing to consider is how close you will want the binoculars to focus. If you might wish to use them to look at butterflies and dragonflies, you will want a pair that fill focus close, 6 to 10 feet. Not beyond 10 feet.

The final thing to consider is whether you wear eye glasses. If you do you will require a pair of binoculars that will allow you to use them while wearing your glasses. This is called eye relief and you will want 19 mm preferably but no less than 17 mm eye relief.

Zoom binoculars are a compromise. The image will not be of as good quality as non-zoom binoculars.

The price range of a pair of binoculars runs for about $39.00 to well over $1000.00. A good pair will cost in the neighborhood of $200+-.

The two very best binoculars on the market are Nikon Premier LXL 8x42 and the Swarovski 8.5x42. The Swarovski will cost about $1700 and the Nikon about $1300. You will not find a serious birder that does not have a pair of Swarovski binoculars.

But I believe they are more of a statement than anything else. They tell others, "Hey, I am serious about this."

Both pair are waterproof and nitrogen purged. The Nikons have a field of view of 367 ft at 1000 yds. an eye relief of 20 mm and close focus of 9.8 ft.

The Swarovskis have a field of view of 390 ft at 1000 yds. an eye relief of 18 mm and close focus of 8 ft.

Both pair have a locking diopter adjustment. What that means is that your two eyes are not exactly the same, so one of the lenses must have an adjustment so that the two eyes are in agreement on the focus. If the adjustment locks, then it will not change when in use. Most binoculars do not have a locking adjustment and it tends to get out of adjustment.

The Swarovskis weigh 29 oz. The Nikons 28 oz. Both pair are roof prism binoculars.

There are two types of binocular roof prism and porro prism. Roof prism are a straight through barrel. Porro prism have an offset barrel. The current rage is roof prism. Porro are less expensive and in the past have been considered to give a superior image, but technology has improved greatly recently and that is no longer the case.

A pair of binoculars that is good but not so expensive is Pentax PCF WPII 8x40 binoculars at about $150. Or Celestron Regal LX 8x42 at about $400.

Here is a link to a vendor of binoculars with information that will help you select a pair.