We think it's the best inexpensive birding binocular you can get away with. It's small and will fit in a medium-sized pocket. It comes in your choice of 8 power or 10 power magnification. And the optics are surprisingly good for such an inexpensive binocular.

It's our best-selling binocular by far. And when you are ready to step up to even better optics, you'll find the Triumph comes in very handy to loan to a friend who you're introducing to birdwatching.

Why did we love it? Let us count the ways.

• With 18mm of eye relief, both the 8-power and the 10-power work for virtually everyone, including those who wear glasses.
• It focuses as close as 8 feet.
• The eyecups twist up and stay put.
• It weighs less than 10 ounces.
• It performed as well as much more expensive binoculars on our optical resolution tests.
• Oh, and did we mention that it's inexpensive? Nothing else with a focus that sharp approached its low price.
• It's nice to look at, too, with a silvery-and-black two-tone body.

This one is a bargain.

How to decide between the 8-power and the 10-power? It's an individual matter. They're exactly the same size, shape, and weight. And both focus up close — as close as 8.2 feet! People whose hands are a bit unsteady will probably do better with the 8x, because wobble gets magnified along with the picture. Those whose hands are reasonably steady might prefer the 10x.

Diane likes the 10-power binocular, but she admits she's greedy for power, at least in optics. It does, after all, multiply the image by 10 instead of 8, so the object is 1/4 bigger.

On the other hand, the 8x does give a slightly wider fieldof view (300 feet at 1000 yards as opposed to 262 feet wide for the 10-power). It comes down to which matters to you — a little more field of view, or 25% more enlargement of the image.

You won't go far wrong with either model.