I've got a pair of Steiner Nighthunters that I love when I'm guiding. Not so much when I am hunting myself. They are awesome binoculars and gather a tremendous amount of light, they are just very bulky and heavy. Also they haven't been made for quite a long time. The wife has a pair of Zeiss, she had eye surgery when she was a kid, and while her vision is 20/20 she has issues using a lot of optics. The Zeiss she picked out as being the best for her eyes in the store. Very clear glass, but I was quite disappointed with their performance in low light, they just don't gather light. If I was buying new, and had the money to spend I would buy Vortex Razors, they are super clear and gather just almost as much light as my Steiners, and are much more compact and half the weight.
Out of your choices, well I've always been a huge Leupold fan in scopes, but some of their binoculars don't look that good when I look through them. The Vortex Diamondbacks are good for the money, clearer and gather more light than most any other binos in their price range I have tried. Both Leupold and Vortex have an excellent warranty and no hassle customer service. I know a lot of guys with the Diamondbacks, and I will note that most of the guides I know with them have used the warranty and had them replaced at some point. They get used a lot and beat around, treated rough when guiding and eventually they go bad, but Vortex has always replaced them with no hassle. I've not known anyone to have any issues with their high end Razor line, but I would steer clear of their Viper line, IMHO there just isn't enough quality difference between it and the Diamondbacks to justify the price difference, and I have known guys to have to send some of the Viper products back (scopes and spotting scopes) if I was going to spend the extra money I would recommend going ahead and stepping on up to the Razors.
Swarvorski are also very clear, but very spendy. I've only used and looked through Swarvorskis that clients had, so I can't comment on their durability or customer service. They are good, I'm just not sure they are as good as their price tag.
Look through as many as you can in your price range and choose the ones that look best to your eyes. Unfortunately you can't really test light gathering capabilities in the store.
Interesting your observation on the Zeiss. I bought a couple of their scopes of late and the first real test was on .243 the young lady was using for the western mule deer hunt I posted.
During low light early morning and dusk periods I was not impressed at all with the Zeiss. In better light the scopes are terrific. The objective end is 44mm, I expected more. My Nikons are better in low light.
Osky
