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Lannis, was that Cory Suddarth that went through your B&L binoculars. He has cleaned and collimated several for me over the years! There isn't but a couple or three in the US that work on binoculars anymore. So many are disposable now.
Hello Chris,Wondering if you have made a choice yet? I wasn't even in the market but now find myself thinking this is a good idea :)I like John U's suggestion. I surveyed for many years and the best optics ( remember when surveyors actually had to look through the instrument) were always Leica, hands down the best but pricey... Carl Ziess was a distant second.
I collect Docter binoculars so you can be assured I already knew they have been sold. I still stick by my first recommendation and don't recommend them. See how that works, I am not recommending my favorite binoculars because I feel that what he wants would be best served with something else. A Nikon E or SE in 8x30 or 8x32 in excellent condition is my number one pick for what the OP claims his wife will most likely use them for. If you are lucky you can still find a new one from Japan ccoli! Go to Ebay and search ccoli. To get the optical performance of those two binoculars in a roof prism binocular that so many are recommending you would have to spend a pretty penny! Many people are recommending large binoculars, roof prism hunting binoculars, this is not what the lady is doing. Sounds like he wants to purchase her a high end general use binocular that she can view birds from, maybe an occasional sporting event. I have a rare, bought in near new condition, Docter Classic 8x30 porro prism that I guarantee she would love. Problem is they are rare, lol! Like hen teeth!
I did some research years ago on this topic. The one thing that really struck me was light gathering capability. The human pupil can typically open to about 5mm. When selecting binoculars, you want the diameter of the objective lens to be at least 5x the power; this ensures good light gathering. If this ratio works out to 7x, you get even better view, especially when lighting is low, around dusk/dawn.