After lurking around this site for over a year, I finally took the plunge and ordered the Nikon 82EDA around 2 months ago as a birthday present for myself! And boy, am I glad I did.
First of all, EagleEyed and cl5man provided some pretty good information on purchasing from Accuflite. JB at Accuflite was really helpful and patient in getting the order fulfilled since my credit card kept getting declined due to "fraud protection" being triggered. The prices have gone up slightly but nevertheless I ordered the ED82A kit (8337) and the 30xWA (7462) from Accuflite. I paid $1124 for the kit and $225 for the extra eyepiece and ~$30 for S&H. I figured the over $200 savings was worth the risk of the no-return policy.
Everything arrived promptly and was well packaged.
Once the scope arrived, I dragged my wife over to Samy's Cameras to try out some heads and tripods. I had checked out the scope (and the Swarovski 80mm HD) physically at Scope City but had never seen the Manfrotto heads and tripods and so thought it was prudent to physically check them out first. Based on this site I was considering either the Manfrotto 128RC or 701RC2 head and the 055XDB or 055XV legs. Luckily for me, Bogen had a stall set-up outside Samy's and was having a sale. The sale prices weren't dramatically less but the regional manager happened to be there and he claimed he had the perfect birdwatcher's kit for me, in the back of the store. I was of course very skeptical! He came out with the 701RC2,745MF3K carbon fiber kit which also has a carrying bag. He said he would give it to me for $334.78. I figured this was a good deal for a carbon fiber kit but wasn't sure because I hadn't read any reviews on it. And why pay ~$150 bucks more for something only a couple of pounds lighter and some fancy "quick-lock" legs? I was about to get the 128RC/055XDB combo when my wife, who had been mostly quiet, said, "Honey, I think you should get the carbon fiber kit". And so I did.
It turns out the regular price for this tripod kit is around ~$550 and a few pounds do make a difference, in that, even this setup seems heavy when carried around for a couple of hours.
I have taken the setup to several bird walks on the LA river and the wetlands around here. Most of the time I find myself using the 30XWA since the larger but dimmer views of the 25-75x zoom don't seem to give me any more detail. Incidentally, I had waited for the alleged WA zoom to be revealed at the Shot Show, but of course that didn't materialize. I have also shyly and slyly compared the same scene through some Kowas and Swarovskis in the field, and in my limited experience, didn't notice any obvious difference. The ED82A seems just as bright and as sharp as many people here have pointed out. Usually, the limiting factor in the field seems to be the distance and the atmosphere, and I guess that there is not much that any of the other potentially superior scopes and zooms can do about that.
One place the zoom seems marginally useful is when looking at stars and planets and the moon. However, this is a secondary use of the scope. Similarly, one con with the tripod kit is that since the center column cannot be moved up and down, I have to stoop if looking at objects that are up in the sky.
I also noticed a hair/fiber inside the scope when I looked through the objective lens but it doesn't seem to interfere with the view and so I have decided against sending it in to Nikon for now.
Finally, my wife is showing some interest in birds! The scope is usually in the bedroom on the third floor that overlooks the Verdugo Mountains and some roofs, trees and power lines. There are usually mourning doves, mocking birds, house finches and sparrows doing something or the other up there and she gets a kick out of watching them close-up as they go about their business.
In summary, the ED82A is an excellent piece of equipment for the money and it may even help with the perennial birding/marriage impedance mismatch!
And of course, thank you to everyone on the site for their helpful postings.
First of all, EagleEyed and cl5man provided some pretty good information on purchasing from Accuflite. JB at Accuflite was really helpful and patient in getting the order fulfilled since my credit card kept getting declined due to "fraud protection" being triggered. The prices have gone up slightly but nevertheless I ordered the ED82A kit (8337) and the 30xWA (7462) from Accuflite. I paid $1124 for the kit and $225 for the extra eyepiece and ~$30 for S&H. I figured the over $200 savings was worth the risk of the no-return policy.
Everything arrived promptly and was well packaged.
Once the scope arrived, I dragged my wife over to Samy's Cameras to try out some heads and tripods. I had checked out the scope (and the Swarovski 80mm HD) physically at Scope City but had never seen the Manfrotto heads and tripods and so thought it was prudent to physically check them out first. Based on this site I was considering either the Manfrotto 128RC or 701RC2 head and the 055XDB or 055XV legs. Luckily for me, Bogen had a stall set-up outside Samy's and was having a sale. The sale prices weren't dramatically less but the regional manager happened to be there and he claimed he had the perfect birdwatcher's kit for me, in the back of the store. I was of course very skeptical! He came out with the 701RC2,745MF3K carbon fiber kit which also has a carrying bag. He said he would give it to me for $334.78. I figured this was a good deal for a carbon fiber kit but wasn't sure because I hadn't read any reviews on it. And why pay ~$150 bucks more for something only a couple of pounds lighter and some fancy "quick-lock" legs? I was about to get the 128RC/055XDB combo when my wife, who had been mostly quiet, said, "Honey, I think you should get the carbon fiber kit". And so I did.
It turns out the regular price for this tripod kit is around ~$550 and a few pounds do make a difference, in that, even this setup seems heavy when carried around for a couple of hours.
I have taken the setup to several bird walks on the LA river and the wetlands around here. Most of the time I find myself using the 30XWA since the larger but dimmer views of the 25-75x zoom don't seem to give me any more detail. Incidentally, I had waited for the alleged WA zoom to be revealed at the Shot Show, but of course that didn't materialize. I have also shyly and slyly compared the same scene through some Kowas and Swarovskis in the field, and in my limited experience, didn't notice any obvious difference. The ED82A seems just as bright and as sharp as many people here have pointed out. Usually, the limiting factor in the field seems to be the distance and the atmosphere, and I guess that there is not much that any of the other potentially superior scopes and zooms can do about that.
One place the zoom seems marginally useful is when looking at stars and planets and the moon. However, this is a secondary use of the scope. Similarly, one con with the tripod kit is that since the center column cannot be moved up and down, I have to stoop if looking at objects that are up in the sky.
I also noticed a hair/fiber inside the scope when I looked through the objective lens but it doesn't seem to interfere with the view and so I have decided against sending it in to Nikon for now.
Finally, my wife is showing some interest in birds! The scope is usually in the bedroom on the third floor that overlooks the Verdugo Mountains and some roofs, trees and power lines. There are usually mourning doves, mocking birds, house finches and sparrows doing something or the other up there and she gets a kick out of watching them close-up as they go about their business.
In summary, the ED82A is an excellent piece of equipment for the money and it may even help with the perennial birding/marriage impedance mismatch!
And of course, thank you to everyone on the site for their helpful postings.