Nikon Monarch 5 10x42 (1 Viewer)

Hi, I have just joined tonight, so newbie, having just had heart surgery and been house bound for weeks before that, I am anxious to purchase a pair of binoculars that I have put on the back burner since being ill, now I should be on the road tore overly I was very interested in the above bins, I know I could throw high money at these, but I have a budget of around £300, I am based in Rugby Warwickshire, and find it difficult to find local stores who hold these in stock, I was trying to get over to Rutland bird centre to see if they had them so that I could try them out, I am now thinking with the reports so far to just purchase them on line and get birding, has anyone any first hand info on these and would appreciate any feedback, or am I totally going the wrong way with the Nikons, thanks Roy

I was really impressed with the Monarch 5's. To me they handled better than the 7's, I wouldnt say they were superior to the 7's optically, but I would say ergonomically I prefer them.

I am happy with my pair. Good value for money.

Roy,

I very much liked the Monarch 5 when I tried it. Nice performance, light and compact but the field of view is somewhat narrower than some. If you can get to somewhere like Focus Optics you might want to see some similarly priced alternatives like the Opticron Countryman HD, the Vanguard Endeavour ED, Hawke Sapphire ED TH and perhaps one or two others and decide what works best for you.
http://www.focusoptics.eu/focus/

David

I tried the pre-ED upgrade 10x42 M5 @ Dick's Sporting Goods. Inside a store is not the best place to evaluate a bin, but the optics seemed pretty good for the price. What I didn't like were the ergonomics. The bins were small for their size and unlike the 8x30 M7, there wasn't enough room to wrap my fingers around the barrels, so the view was shaky, and the 5.5* FOV seemed a bit cramped.

I also tried the 10x42 Prostaff 7 that same day, which I found easier to hold steady (being 7 inches long!), and it had a wider FOV (6*).

YMMV (and will probably be lower than EPA estimates and much lower than Kia's)