Dear Margie, et al.

The Finnish birding journal Alula, which not everyone here reads
:-), did field tests of several top-of-the-line scopes and published its
conclusions for zooms in its fall, 1996 issue. It ranked the top three
as very close but placed Swarovski 1st, Kowa (823/4) 2nd, and Leica 3rd.
For non-zooms, they published their conclusions in spring, 1995, before
the new Kowas were available, and put Leica slightly ahead of Swarovski.
In both surveys, the others trailed that pack. The Finns are very
meticulous about such things, so I would tend to trust their judgment
which was by a panel of keen birders, not by just one person.

I had an opportunity to evaluate all at the WFO meeting in Arcata,
Calif., last October, when about 50 scopes were lined up on a distant
Mongolian Plover. Personally, I liked the Kowa zoom the best.

If you stick to those three, the major difference IMHO is where the
focusing mechanism is. Which you prefer is a personal choice, as is
whether you prefer straight-through or angled; both considerations may
affect your enjoyment of the scope more than which of the three brands
you choose. If you buy just one eyepiece, I think the zoom serves the
most purposes.

Good luck!
---------------------------------------------------------------
P W (Bill) Smith
Grays Harbor, Washington USA
pwsmith at techline.com