Reviews by dwatsonbirder

Excellent scope, which still provides one of the best views on the market. I've owned Kowa TSN3/823, Swaro ATS65HD/AT80HD and Leica APO77, all of which are of a similar vintage, but none of which surpass this scope optically. It can be purchased used for as little as 500, which can only be described as a bargain. Such a shame that Nikon never developed a WA zoom for the scope. The 30x DS provides one of the best views available, and for a little more power, the 50X offers an excellent higher power alternative to the zoom.

I bought these in the 10x42 format to compliment my Swarovski 7x42 SLC's, and since I bought them I've not yet used the Swaro's!
The image is wide (for a 10x it is quite astonishing), super sharp, bright and with excellent colour renditioning. The edges on these binos are often referred to as "soft" but as I look at birds in the centre of the image, I really don't notice this. They work extremely well with glasses, which was a very pleasant surprise, and I can see the full fov. They perform very well in low light and dull conditions, and I have used them at gull roosts after sunset. The close focus is exceptional - less than 2m!
They are very well constructed, and feel very sturdy and well balanced.
There are two negatives that I can think of: 1) eye placement and 2) glare control. The first "issue" is not major and more likely due to the smaller exit pupil than I am used to. When focusing in the mid to long distance and then focusing to the extreme close range I have to adjust the IDP in order to get a comfortable (and full) image. It takes a split second longer for me to get onto birds I believe also as a result of the smaller exit pupil, but again perhaps with more time in the field this will become less of an issue. The second issue is slightly more serious - glare and stray light control. When looking directly below the line of the sun (e.g. on a winters day looking toward the sun at midday) there is some noticeable glare and stray light in the left hand lens. It's not something I have read about before, so perhaps is down to the combination of the shape of my glasses and my face. I've not used the binocular in different climates or seasons (yet) but I suspect that this could be an issue in strong sunlight or high contrast areas (e.g. in a forest clearing in the tropics).
Altogether I would rate this bin very highly, and I can see it fast becoming my main bin ahead of the swaros. I will report back in a few months when hopefully I will have been able to try it in different environments.

I have owned these bins since 2006 & they were the best bins on the market when I bought them. They are extremely tough & I have used them from -20 to +43 degrees & they have never let me down. the field of view suffers a bit for spec wearers, though the image quality is as good as any of the german models from the same generation.
If I were to replace them I would almost certainly buy the Zeiss Fl's or Ultravid HD, though Im more likely to keep these & use them as a back up pair when funds allow me to upgrade.

After 6 years of heavy use I had to replace the rubber focusing wheel, as the rubber had corroded and became loose. A quick email to Nikon and a replacement wheel was with me in 2 days! I still hold high regard for these bins, though I would like to upgrade to FL's at some point due to lower weight and more natural colour cast.

A truely fantastic peice of kit with some serious glass. if you do most of your birding on the move & not at the extremes of the day then you simply cant go wrong.