With more than 20 major optics companies – plus a host of lesser-known brands – competing for your store space, how do you decide which models to stock?

Each company offers a dozen or more different models. Retail prices range from under $50 to well over $1,000. It is not easy for a retailer to select the best from the hundreds of different models available.

The challenge of picking the right binoculars is even more difficult for your customers who are not familiar with optics. They don't know what to look for or which features are important. That's why they often ask, "Which one is best?" They rely on advice from friends, ratings in magazines and, of course you – the retailer.

Birding, hunting and outdoor publications often publish articles comparing various models and proclaiming their favorite. General consumer magazines test binoculars. There are even Web sites that rate binoculars for birding.

Unfortunately, there is no uniformity of opinion among these so-called experts. Each source touts a different model as best.

After selling optics for years, I believe that two major factors influence how your customers choose the perfect binocular for themselves. The first is you, the retailer. The second, and most important, is the customer.

I won’t recommend the best model even if a customer asks. Rather, I explain how they can go about deciding themselves which is best.

To help, I created my list of eight rules for picking optics. A copy of these rules is posted on my optics cabinet, and I discuss each rule with all prospective customers.

1. No single model or brand that is best for everyone.

Next time you are in a group of good birders, notice how many different binoculars are being used.If one “best” model existed, all experienced birders would be using that model. They don’t. Each birder has a favorite.

Why? Because birders, like birds, come in all sizes, short, tall, thin, stout. No two are exactly the same. Hand sizes and finger lengths vary. The distance between eyes is different from person to person. Therefore, no single model will feel best to every birder.Also, if the one best model actually existed, why would optics companies make so many different styles and models? You would expect them to only sell the best one. But they understand that one size does not fit all.

2. Don’t rely on ratings in magazines.

Often a customer has seen an article or rating in a magazine. Maybe you don’t carry the recommended model. Explain that a magazine can’t possibly test all 200 to 300 models available. It only tests a few free samples received from a handful of manufacturers.Their analysis certainly isn’t a comprehensive analysis of all models. If the customer insists on a particular model, get it for them.

3. At the same retail price level, most binoculars are fairly comparable in quality.

I’m not saying $50 binoculars are comparable to models in the $1,000 range. They aren’t.But two sets of binoculars, one from Brand A and one from Brand B, both selling for about $400, will be roughly equal in quality.

Most people will not be able to discern any significant difference. They may prefer the feel and balance of Brand A or the ease of turning the focus wheel of Brand B, but the brightness and quality of the image produced by both A and B will be similar.

Both companies use the same quality of optical glass, coatings and manufacturing processes to produce their binoculars. That’s why the prices are similar.

4. Always try binoculars before you buy them.

If all similarly priced binoculars provide the same image quality, how do you decide which one is best for you? The answer is simple: Try them. Hold them in your hands. How do they feel? Which one is easier to use?

Look at the same object with several different models. Close your eyes and sense which model seems most comfortable in your hands. Which one just feels better to you?

In addition to being good advice for the buyer, this rule also makes an excellent argument for the brick and mortar retailer. You can’t test binoculars you buy by mail order or on the Internet.

I sometimes relate the apocryphal story of the man who bought mail-order binoculars because of a seemingly low price but found, when they were finally delivered three weeks later, that the bridge of the binoculars always rubbed his large Roman nose. He hated them.

If the potential customer is a petite female, the story changes to a small woman who purchased binoculars sight-unseen only to realize that she could not align the barrels closely enough to match distance between her eyes.

In summary, I try to suggest that a lower price may not be worth the potential problems that can occur.

5. Do a side-by-side test.

Always encourage a customer to try at least two pairs of binoculars. Ideally, it should be two of similar quality. But to demonstrate the superiority of quality, have them test one low price model and one high priced model.

Testing two models changes a customer’s decision process. If he only tests one model he asks himself, “Do I like this model well enough to buy it, yes or no?” When he tests two models his choice is not whether to buy or not but "Which one should I buy?"

Encourage customers to bring in their old binoculars for a side-by-side test with a new model. The new model is usually so much better that you do not have to do much selling. The superior image convinces the customer.

6. Never test binoculars on a sunny day.

On a bright, sunny day all binoculars, even cheap ones, seem pretty good. The dim light of a gloomy, overcast day, however, really demonstrates the superior image that quality binoculars can provide.On a bright day, suggest the customers focus on areas in shadows or in dark corners of the store. Explain that, some day you may see an unusual bird come to your feeder at twilight or hide in dense foliage and you’ll want to see it clearly.

7. You are the only judge of what is best for you.

It doesn’t matter which model your Uncle Joe recommends or which your dear friend Jill swears is the best. You are the one who will be using the binoculars.

Good optics can last a lifetime. You have to feel comfortable with them. Only you, not anyone else, can make this judgment.

8. Buy the best binoculars you can afford.

This rule may seem a little self-serving, but it is good advice. My first binoculars were inexpensive. After a year or so, I decided to upgrade to a better model. Two years later I upgraded again. Eventually I purchased top-of-the-line model binoculars that I have happily used for 15 years and will use for many more. But before I found them I bought three sets of binoculars that I don’t use.

Help your customers choose the best binoculars by advising them to follow the rules. They will be happier with their choice, and you will sell more optics.