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Newbie Monarch 7 question (1 Viewer)

ahardie

Active member
I've been looking to replace my cheap binoculars as I'm getting more into bird watching and my old £100 steiner ones aren't up to the job. After reading loads of reviews I decided that I would buy the Monarch 7 8x42 for around £350. But then I noticed I can get the Monarch 7 8x30 for more than one hundred pounds less. So is it worth shelling out that much more when as I understand it, only the low light performance will be better? Would that be the only difference? Any advice will be welcomed as all I know is what I have learnt from reviews and there is no local retailers to test them.
 
It is more than just low light performance. Because of the differences in their eyepieces the 8x42 will have easier eye placement which can be of help under difficult lighting conditions that often cause annoying glare in the view.

The 8x42 has long 17.1mm eye relief and a large 5.3mm exit pupil and this can be a good thing when the light is bright and one's pupils are constricted. It makes it easier to find your correct IPD when you set them up for use and it also allows you to move your pupils around inside the cone of light which reaches your eyes. The 8x42 will also be better for someone who wears glasses while using binoculars and many people who do not wear glasses prefer longer eye relief than 15mm.

The 8x30 has 15.1mm eye relief and a 3.8mm exit pupil. Basically it is not as "friendly" to use as an 8x42.

The 8x30 is about 7 ounces lighter in weight than the 8x42 (Both are light weight binoculars for their format) and it has a FOV of 435'@ 1000yards while the 8x42 has 420'@1000 yards. This small difference isn't really significant at most birding distances.

Bob
 
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ahardie,

Bob's comments are correct.

However, the flip side of it is that most 8x30-somethings are 2/3rds the size and 2/3rds the weight of their larger 8x42 counterparts. And, though slight in this particular case, the field of view is also wider.

Personally I find both the low light performance and the eye placement issues negligible concerns in comparison to the benefits of the smaller design. I don't wear glasses though and 99% of my birding isn't in conditions where I would benefit from the slightly better low light performance. In the case of the little M7, and its similar designs under other companies' sames, the ocular diameter is large in relation to the entire eyepiece diameter. As a result I find eye placement a bit easier, and more immersive, than other designs.
 
Thanks for that Bob. It sounds like I really would be better finding somewhere I can view them both as although it seems like the 8x42 would be better for me I'm not sure it would be worth the extra £100. I'm not sure if that will be possible though. Perhaps I had better just bight the bullet and buy the more expensive pair. Thanks again that was very helpful.
 
Thanks FrankD. That gives me some more valuable information to go on.
It is all a bit confusing though. I had settled on the Monarch 5 8x42 until deciding it would be worth paying extra for the "7". The thing is the 7 8x30 is actually £10 less than the 5 8x42 but wouldn't the optics be significantly better?
 
ahardie,

They are both fine binoculars. In fact I own the Monarch 7 8x30 and carry it around in my car with me and I can recommend it to you for your purposes but my major birding binocular is a Zeiss 7x42 Victory FL. I also use a Leica 8x42 Ultravid BL.

Most people don't have the luxury of choosing from among a number of Alpha binoculars but it took me quite a few years to get to this state of affairs.

You have to decide what is best for you. Both of the binoculars you are considering are more than adequate to get you more active into Bird Watching. My guess is that if you tried both of them you would like both of them. It's your decision. At least you have an idea about their merits and their limitations. Under most conditions there probably won't be really big differences.

By the way, do you know what eye relief your old Steiner's had? If you got along with them OK then compare it with these two.

There is an old saying: "The best binocular is the one you have with you."

Bob
 
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Thanks FrankD. That gives me some more valuable information to go on.
It is all a bit confusing though. I had settled on the Monarch 5 8x42 until deciding it would be worth paying extra for the "7". The thing is the 7 8x30 is actually £10 less than the 5 8x42 but wouldn't the optics be significantly better?



The Monarch 5 has a very narrow FOV of 330'@1000 yards although it does have very long eye relief of 19.5mm.

Personally I would pick the Monarch 7 8x30 with its 435'@1000 yards FOV over it for that reason alone as I do not have any problem with it's 15.1mm eye relief.

A wide FOV is addictive and very useful in bird watching.

Bob
 
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Thanks Bob. The field of view was one thing that put me off the M5. I have now ordered the M7 8x30 from Amazon for £250. So that is £100 saved. Amazon have a good returns policy so will return it if it doesn't impress. Thanks for all the help.
 
Thanks Bob. The field of view was one thing that put me off the M5. I have now ordered the M7 8x30 from Amazon for £250. So that is £100 saved. Amazon have a good returns policy so will return it if it doesn't impress. Thanks for all the help.



You're welcome.

Good luck!:t: I'm sure you will be happy with it. Remember, the best binocular is the one you have with you! Come winter you can even carry the 8x30 in your coat pocket;)

Bob
 
OK, I have another question. I'm confused now about what I've bought. I was looking at online reviews and noticed the M7 8x30 is around $370 in the USA vs the £250 I paid. Normally for this type of product the price in dollars is around the same as we pay in pounds in spite of the difference in exchange rate. Then I noticed that the model numbers are different. The US version is 7579.
The model I've bought is BAA787SA. So are the optics the same? Im a little concerned that the difference in price might be because it has inferior optics although I think it might be that the US model has a tougher body. Does anyone know please?
 
Don't worry about it. It looks like it is exactly the same binocular as mine. There is no reason Nikon would skimp on the optics or construction of those sold in the UK or the USA.

Here is a link to it in the Nikon U.K. Store. Note the higher selling price at the Nikon store. It won't undersell Nikon's UK vendors who might be able to sell it for less. The different number is probably an inventory designation to identify those sold in the U.K.

https://store.nikon.co.uk/sport-optics-binoculars/monarch-7-8x30/BAA787SA/details

Bob
 
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Yes I'm beginning to think they are the same. I thought that perhaps they had different tougher bodies because I noticed when I started to look into buying Nikon Monarch binoculars that they are marketed in the USA as ATB (all terrain) but not in Europe. I think that is purely down to marketing though. The specs check out the same on Nikon's US and UK sites so I think you are right they are the same binocular even though they have different model numbers. I have never seen an item of this type cost more in America than the UK though and by a significant amount. Thanks again .
 
Don't forget that the pound has been devalued by about 18%, so prices are all mixed up at the moment.
People are coming to the U.K. now and buying things here because it is cheaper here.

Of course, it is likely prices will rise here, but by unknown amounts.

I got my first new 5 pound note.
Neat, as it has photos printed on it.
Supposedly plastic.
I wonder what happens if it burns. Does it give off toxic gas?

Maybe Brussels would ban it. But hey, we are leaving it seems.
 
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Amazon is a curious place. Computer logarithms seem to control some prices depending on demand. A couple of hours before reading this thread I too bought a Nikon 8x30 M7 on Amazon.co.uk for £232 GBP. It was was from a UK dealer fulfilled by amazon so the amazon returns process is the same.
Immediately afterwards the price had gone up to £279 !
BTW. over the years the UK price pre-tax is sometimes the same or less than the States. At X-mas I bought a new Nikon 14-24 f2.8 zoom for £755 + VAT from a dealer in London selling gray market photographic equipment. This was less than traders on ebay.com and way less than amazon.com.
 
You can thank me for that bargain then Maico. I had seen those at that price and not being all that familiar with Amazon market place, and not having heard of the seller, I decided to buy them from Amazon themselves. Looks like I wasted £20.im not too bothered though as I saved £100 by not buying the 8x42. They should arrive tomorrow. Hopefully they will arrive early enough that I can give them a good try out before it gets dark.
 
You can thank me for that bargain then Maico. I had seen those at that price and not being all that familiar with Amazon market place, and not having heard of the seller, I decided to buy them from Amazon themselves. Looks like I wasted £20.im not too bothered though as I saved £100 by not buying the 8x42. They should arrive tomorrow. Hopefully they will arrive early enough that I can give them a good try out before it gets dark.

The thing you have to watch out for is non-Amazon fulfilled traders advertising on Amazon. Many are not VAT registered, not in the UK and their stock is not held or shipped out by Amazon !
 
Having had five days to try out the Monarch's I've pretty well decided to keep them. I was a bit unsure at first as although they have a much brighter and colourful image than my Steiner's, I wasn't sure they were sharper (if that's the right term) than my cheaper binoculars. For instance reading lettering on signs seemed little clearer than my old binoc's. Not being an expert maybe I shouldn't have expected them to be. A couple of weeks ago I had an opportunity to try a pair of RSPB HD 8x42 and was immediately impressed with them but at £500 they were outside my budget. Today I had a chance to try them out side by side at the RSBP shop at their Sandy HQ and I really couldn't see much difference. Having got the thought that they weren't comparable to the HD's out of my system I spent a couple of hours around the grounds at the Sandy site and felt much happier with them. I don't think I could have done better at the price and don't think it would have been worth my while spending more.
Thanks again for the help.
 
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