[israelbug]

Hi,

I'm new to this forum. I'm a biologist, mostly entomologist, not a serious birder. I do my bird trips every now and then, and my old porro 10x50 Soligor are no longer usable (fungi allover the prisms and slacky, misaligned focusing mechanism).

I was about to order the Nikon Monarch 10x42 (£200/$400/€300) when I came across the new "Binox" BV 10x42 BR. Incredibly cheap (£115/$230/€170), good looks (they state it's a VW design) and also weather sealed, nitrogen-filled fogproof, multi-coated glass, phase-corrected and a limited lifetime warranty (don't know whether that is only for the US, I've seen 30 years instead in european sites).
Analyzing both bins (official sites), the ridiculously low price is perhaps reflected on its weight (780g/27.5oz against 610g/21oz). The Minox boasts a super-close focusing, 4ft/1.2m, against a normal 8ft/2.4m provided by the Nikon (perhaps the Minox will be better for entomology?

How about the optics? Will they reflect the £85/$170/€125 difference?
Is the Nikon perhaps more ruggedly built?

Need some help! Thanks. Kind regards.

Israel

PS- don't aim for high-end optics (Leica, Zeiss or Swaro are beyond my reach), don't want to spend more than $400=€300=£200. But I sure would like some big improvement over my old Soligor (they had BaK7 prisms, not that bad).

[ceasar]

Hi Israel,
Welcome to Bird Forum!
Your US dollars price on the Nikon is about $100.00 too high. They usually sell for $299.99 or even less if you look hard enough. Nikon has a very reasonable 25 year warranty and will fix or replace them if needed. Minox doesn't do it's own repairs. Leica does them. The Minox binocular you mention is a new item that is Minox's version of an economical binocular and is as yet, largely untested in the market place. Conversely, the Monarchs have been extremely well received. I have a good friend, who like you, used a 10 x 50 Porro for more than 20 years. He is rather wealthy and can afford any binocular made. After alot of tries with other binoculars he finally settled on the 10 x 42 Monarchs. He's had them for about 3 years and he still raves about them. It's your choice though and you have to get them by mail order. What will it be, the old tested ones or the new unvetted ones?
Cordially,
Bob

BTW: I am in no way disparaging Minox. In fact, I own their BD 10 x 32 BR Aspherics. One of their Mid Range priced binoculars. For whatever reason, it is hard to make good 10 x 32's and the ones I have are excellent.

[Tero]

Looks pretty good, the 10x32, but as the fov is the same as a typical 10x42, what would I gain with them?

[ceasar]

Originally Posted by Tero

Looks pretty good, the 10x32, but as the fov is the same as a typical 10x42, what would I gain with them?

Compactness and portability. That's the main reason I got them. (If you want a 360' FOV you will have to spend about $1000.00 more.) My main birding binocular is a 7 x 42 Trinovid BN and I wanted a sharp, bright and compact 10x to bring along with them in my Binocular case. (My Nikon 10 x 42 SE is not at all compact!) These Minox's fit the bill. Drawbacks are narrow DOF and no scale to help set the correct IPD, which is inexplicably missing from all roof prisms that I know of. With a 3.2 EP an IPD scale on the hinge would be a big help.
Bob

[israelbug]

Hi Ceasar

Thank you so much for your comments.

I only made the conversion to dollars. I'm European and so it's not advantageous to order them from the US (I'd have to pay for extra VAT and some more smaller taxes). These are the lowest prices I find on the internet, in Europe.
You are right about the Minox being new and untested, it would be safer to go with Nikon (I've also seen many positive comments). But still it's over €100 more expensive.

Does anyone here in Europe know where I can find some Nikon 10x42 Monarch under €300/£200?

Thanks everyone! Happy birding.

Kind regards

Israel

Originally Posted by ceasar

Hi Israel,
Welcome to Bird Forum!
Your US dollars price on the Nikon is about $100.00 too high. They usually sell for $299.99 or even less if you look hard enough. Nikon has a very reasonable 25 year warranty and will fix or replace them if needed. Minox doesn't do it's own repairs. Leica does them. The Minox binocular you mention is a new item that is Minox's version of an economical binocular and is as yet, largely untested in the market place. Conversely, the Monarchs have been extremely well received. I have a good friend, who like you, used a 10 x 50 Porro for more than 20 years. He is rather wealthy and can afford any binocular made. After alot of tries with other binoculars he finally settled on the 10 x 42 Monarchs. He's had them for about 3 years and he still raves about them. It's your choice though and you have to get them by mail order. What will it be, the old tested ones or the new unvetted ones?
Cordially,
Bob

BTW: I am in no way disparaging Minox. In fact, I own their BD 10 x 32 BR Aspherics. One of their Mid Range priced binoculars. For whatever reason, it is hard to make good 10 x 32's and the ones I have are excellent.