going_2_africa

I have seen quite a few threads about binos and seen lots of information provided. What I'm wondering is if anyone knows about the Nikon 8x40 Action EX Extreme Waterproof & Fogproof Wide Angle Porro Prism Binocular with 8.2-Degree Angle of View. Have seen lots of people recommending the Monarchs, but what's the scoop on the Action series?

Thanks in advance for any info.

Shane

atravelynn

How much are these? Sounds interesting.

going_2_africa

They are $149. Here's the link to B & H photo, which everyone seems to rave about.

http://tinyurl.com/2qesnv

There are other Mag/FOV's available also, in the Action series.

GreenDrake

Shane a couple of thoughts

If you want good binocular information I have found the "birders" are an excellent source of information. Here is one birder forum I use that breaks down the binoculars by brand:

http://tinyurl.com/28xvkv

Action series vs Monarchs - Two totally different constructions with Action series being porros vs Monarchs being roof prisms. At the lower price ranges when comparing the two type of constructions you generally are comparing optical quality of porros vs field worthiness and lighter weight of roofs. At higher price range this optical quality difference is not an issue.

Porros are considerably heavier and until recently most models were not water proof.In this case this action model is about 1/3 heavier than Monarchs. They come in at about 1.9 lbs vs 1.3 lbs for Monarach - that is a heavy binocular. May be fine for you, but I would strongly recommend trying them out before purchasing.

I personnally ended up buying a waterproof 10x 42 porro type binoc 10x42 for about $300 that weighed 1.5 lbs. I sacrificed weight and possibly slightly less field worthiness for what I thought were better low optics.

going_2_africa

Thanks, GreenDrake. Wow..those people make my brain hurt. lol

Found on excellent post over there, that gave a lot of basic info and was a lot of help.

Thanks again,

Shane

DonTopaz

I just bought a pair of the Canon 10x30 Image-Stabilized binoculars (from B&H), and they are awesome. The image stabilization helps an enormous amount when looking at any sort of detail -- and that's really what binoculars are all about.

They're definitely heavier than my previous pair (not sure of the exact weight), but all things considered the trade-off was worth it to me.

safarichuck

I second Rizzuto's recommendation. The image stabilized binos are simply awesome.
Chuck

hills27

I third.