"What is that spot out there?" I asked myself as I plopped myself down on some steep, rocky New Mexico real estate and raised my 10x40's to study the black object that did not fit the terrain of the brush-covered slope of the next mountainside.

Was it indeed a big "blackie" that I was looking for? Well, it was a blackie, but not the variety I wanted; it turned out to be an Angus beef cow. More often than not, most far-off black objects turn out to be cattle or charred stumps here in the desert southwest, and if it was not for good optics, I would sure have to do a lot of up and down hiking.

Out here we have quite a few color-phase black bear, and we need to tell if that little blonde blob is a bull elk or actually a bruin. Is that really a brown boulder in the shade a half mile away?

But, things do not need to be all that far off to need a good look with binos. For instance, last spring I was sitting in a blind off of a strange looking dirt tank (we do not call them ponds or dams out here) and waiting for an elusive long-beard turkey to show up. I was reading a paperback to keep me from going nuts, and every minute or so, I would look up to see what was about.

All of a sudden, there stood this huge chestnut-red Hereford cow not 50 yards away; it stood in the spillway and only the upper half of its body was in view. I pondered to myself, "How had that huge bovine snuck in on me like that without making a sound?"

Raising my 8x25 binos, I was suddenly struck with the fact that the cow morphed right in front of my eyes, into an equally huge red bear! As I studied him, I realized that he had to go 400 to 500 pounds easily. His ears were tiny, and his head was huge and wide; a real monster. The bear finally quenched its thirst and turned and lumbered off, its hairy body undulating from the mass. Those little binos were a blessing.

Up until a few weeks ago, I was quite content with my two pair of binoculars, although if the truth be known, deep down inside I always have coveted owning a pair of Swarovski's.

Then I went out to southern California to visit my ailing folks, and while there, I made an appointment to meet Vicki. She and her husband are owners of a fast-rising company named Alpen Optics. She insisted that her optics would give me a pleasant shock, and before I left two hours later, I was loaded down with three binoculars, two spotting scopes and a high-end variable 3-9x42 rifle scope.

I am a working man, just like most of you, and I cannot afford high-dollar optics. At the same time, I used to buy low-dollar scopes and binos and even though they all carried lifetime warranties, every one of them let me down at critical times.

Now I buy only mid-range glass ($100-$500), most of which fall under the $350 mark. All of the Alpen Apex and Shasta models fit into this category; how would they stack up against what I already owned?

I replaced the scope on my muzzleloader with the Apex variable. I was in a time crunch and was unable to shoot the new combo right away. All I could do was compare it to other name brand scopes on other guns.

All were set up side by side on a cardboard box, and using the Alpen as the standard, a pal, Goz, and I examined each, one at a time, from ranges of 50 to 450 yards. It was a cloudy day and we compared brightness, sharpness and clearness. In every case but one, we declared the Alpen the winner. In the lone case, Goz thought one of the other new variables I had was brighter, but I felt they were both equal.

Next, we fetched out the binoculars; my 8x25's ($175) and 10x40's ($400), and Goz's top-of-the-line, ultra-high-dollar 10x42's ($1,800). I also borrowed two high-dollar ($500- $1,000) 8x30's & 8x40's, a topof- the-line, high-dollar 12 power ($1,200), and another top-of-the-line, ultra-high-dollar glass ($2,000).

There is a telephone pole with a splintered top, standing near a clear meadow behind my house at a measured 552 yards which would be our point of focus. The splintered top would provide definition and the clearing would give us brightness while both combined would give us clarity.

A pair of Alpen Apex 8x32 and 10x42 would be our standard of measure against all others and we would compare each, one at a time. Remember, I was perfectly happy with my current glass, so I came into the experiment somewhat skeptical, as was my friend.

When it was all said and done, we agreed the two ultrahigh- dollar binoculars beat out both Alpens by only a hair (Apex's cost between $300- $400), and in sharpness the medium priced Apex's were equal to the big guys.

Both Alpens tied the $1,200 model and the $750, 8x40 pair, while badly beating my two pair as well as a $500 pair, and that was in all aspects.

Next, I had the owner of the $1,200 pair make a comparison and he decided that both Alpen Apex's beat his, and he offered to buy either of them right there!

Finally, I had the man who loaned me the two high-dollar jobs and the ultra-high-dollar job, test his against the Apex's. He agreed that one of his was badly beaten, one tied, and the $2,000 glass was beaten by the Apex 10x42's! He too, asked to buy the binos on the spot.

I prefer light and portable spotting scopes, so I brought two of them with me; an ultra-compact 20x50 that fits in one hand and a somewhat compact 15-30x50 glass, both with tripods. I compared both to an ancient 40-year old Germanmade Bausch & Lomb 30x that I inherited. Neither Alpen measured up to the old fellow, but the old glass weighs three times as much and is 20 inches long! Needless to say, I do not use it in the field.

Both spotters were sharp in image, but slightly lacking in brightness and clarity. In all fairness, both these units are in the bottom end of the mid-price range, and Alpen does offer high-end units that I am sure would measure up to the best competition, and their light weight more than compensates for their shortcomings.

To sum it up, all four of the testers were very impressed with all of the Alpen products represented, and for me, I am going to sell both of my current binoculars and keep the Alpen Apex's, and probably the rest of the products too.

As always, keep the sun forever at your back, the wind forever in your face, and may the Forever God bless you out there.