Binoculars- tell me about them

[Catfur]

They will be used for looking at equipment mounted on power poles and transmission lines. They will spend 99.9% of their lives in a case in a tool bin on a truck. Im just about settled on steiner military/marine. Since i need good but dont need fabulous the $500 price range is where im at especially since they may not be used but once a year

This is probably the right choice. At any given price point, the porro prism binoculars will offer superior ruggedness and optical quality over roof pentaprism binos, because the roof pentaprism is so much more expensive to make than the porro prisms. Roof pentaprisms offer a size and weight advantage, but this isn't relevant if it's going to spend it's life bouncing around in a tool box on a truck.