Alexis Powell
Natural history enthusiast
Although the topic hasn't come up recently, there has been much discussion in the past about the tripod mounting foot of the ED50 Fieldscope and problems with its durability, particularly with the metal threading (helicoil) unwinding from the otherwise plastic foot. I've posted to some of these threads, and I now know, based on recent experiences, that some of my assumptions and advice in those posts were incorrect. Rather than rehashing all the details, or bumping them all up, here are links to some of those past discussions:
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=176316&highlight=Nikon+ED50+helicoil
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=175137&highlight=Nikon+ED50+helicoil
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=132418&highlight=Nikon+ED50+helicoil
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=80876&highlight=Nikon+ED50+tripod+foot
About a month ago, I found that the quick release plate on my ED50 was loose. Turned out that the metal helicoil was unraveling. I was very surprised because although I'd used my ED50 a lot over the past ~5 years, and I knew the ED50 is fragile in comparison to the other Fieldscopes, I'd been very careful with it and tried to avoid problems by keeping it attached to the same Arca-Swiss style antirotation quick release plate (a universal SLR body plate from Kirk Enterprises) to avoid lots of tightening/untightening of tripod screws in use. Poking at it a bit caused little crumbly bits of the surrounding black plastic in which the helicoil was embedded to fall out, and in fact the flat cover plate on the bottom of the mounting foot came off as well, allowing me to see inside the foot.
Some important observations on the original ED50 tripod foot design (see attached PDF--itself a collectors' item!--for a visual of the #s given below): The helicoil #72-1 is not attached to the rest of the surrounding plastic foot (which _is_ easily replaced since it is attached with four small screws #74, plus a larger screw #85 with O-ring #67 that apparently serves as a port cover after nitrogen injection). Instead, the helicoil is held into an extension of the main scope body assembly by a fairly soft black material (maybe a resin that hardens when the part is fitted?). It is the shaped lip of that black plastic that is visible around the end of the helicoil on an intact scope. It seems that replacing the helicoil is not so easy as removing a few screws. Instead, it would have to be replaced along with all of the rear body housing, or else the black material would have to be reamed out of the original housing and a new helicoil glued/bonded into place.
I mailed my ED50, as well a Sportstar IV pocket roof, to NikonUSA a few weeks ago. I included the USA warranty slips for both. A few days ago, the binos came back properly fixed and very clean (they had gone out of alignment--maybe weren't very well aligned to begin with), repaired under warranty (i.e. no charge). Today, I got another box from Nikon, this time with a new-in-box replacement for my ED50. I'm a little surprised that they didn't repair my old scope (at least to return to me; maybe it will appear as a refurb somewhere some day). Aesthetically, I'm a lover of repair versus replacement, but I've certainly no complaints so long as this new scope is optically as good or better than my original unit . Nikon customer service for Sport Optics in the USA has always been excellent in my past experience, and based on these experiences, continues to be so. And of course I'm not complaining about the new 13-30x zoom (I didn't ship the body with an eye-piece--I use the 27x) or $10 coupon that came with this body either.
Some observations about my new ED50: The tripod foot has had a least one design change: the metal helicoil has been replaced by a threaded metal insert. The body is now a darker charcoal gray than the gray of my original. The focusing action is a bit smoother, but is still well damped. Since the socket is now a solid piece and not a helicoil, my plan is to use the same QR plate as I have used up to now, but if the helicoil had been repaired (or if I were an owner of an older ED50 with helicoil) I'd do differently. I'd replace the original stainless screw of my QR plate, which fully engages 3 turns of the threading (the traditional standard for "secure" attachment) with a longer one that engages all the threads (i.e. ~5+ turns).
--AP
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=176316&highlight=Nikon+ED50+helicoil
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=175137&highlight=Nikon+ED50+helicoil
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=132418&highlight=Nikon+ED50+helicoil
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=80876&highlight=Nikon+ED50+tripod+foot
About a month ago, I found that the quick release plate on my ED50 was loose. Turned out that the metal helicoil was unraveling. I was very surprised because although I'd used my ED50 a lot over the past ~5 years, and I knew the ED50 is fragile in comparison to the other Fieldscopes, I'd been very careful with it and tried to avoid problems by keeping it attached to the same Arca-Swiss style antirotation quick release plate (a universal SLR body plate from Kirk Enterprises) to avoid lots of tightening/untightening of tripod screws in use. Poking at it a bit caused little crumbly bits of the surrounding black plastic in which the helicoil was embedded to fall out, and in fact the flat cover plate on the bottom of the mounting foot came off as well, allowing me to see inside the foot.
Some important observations on the original ED50 tripod foot design (see attached PDF--itself a collectors' item!--for a visual of the #s given below): The helicoil #72-1 is not attached to the rest of the surrounding plastic foot (which _is_ easily replaced since it is attached with four small screws #74, plus a larger screw #85 with O-ring #67 that apparently serves as a port cover after nitrogen injection). Instead, the helicoil is held into an extension of the main scope body assembly by a fairly soft black material (maybe a resin that hardens when the part is fitted?). It is the shaped lip of that black plastic that is visible around the end of the helicoil on an intact scope. It seems that replacing the helicoil is not so easy as removing a few screws. Instead, it would have to be replaced along with all of the rear body housing, or else the black material would have to be reamed out of the original housing and a new helicoil glued/bonded into place.
I mailed my ED50, as well a Sportstar IV pocket roof, to NikonUSA a few weeks ago. I included the USA warranty slips for both. A few days ago, the binos came back properly fixed and very clean (they had gone out of alignment--maybe weren't very well aligned to begin with), repaired under warranty (i.e. no charge). Today, I got another box from Nikon, this time with a new-in-box replacement for my ED50. I'm a little surprised that they didn't repair my old scope (at least to return to me; maybe it will appear as a refurb somewhere some day). Aesthetically, I'm a lover of repair versus replacement, but I've certainly no complaints so long as this new scope is optically as good or better than my original unit . Nikon customer service for Sport Optics in the USA has always been excellent in my past experience, and based on these experiences, continues to be so. And of course I'm not complaining about the new 13-30x zoom (I didn't ship the body with an eye-piece--I use the 27x) or $10 coupon that came with this body either.
Some observations about my new ED50: The tripod foot has had a least one design change: the metal helicoil has been replaced by a threaded metal insert. The body is now a darker charcoal gray than the gray of my original. The focusing action is a bit smoother, but is still well damped. Since the socket is now a solid piece and not a helicoil, my plan is to use the same QR plate as I have used up to now, but if the helicoil had been repaired (or if I were an owner of an older ED50 with helicoil) I'd do differently. I'd replace the original stainless screw of my QR plate, which fully engages 3 turns of the threading (the traditional standard for "secure" attachment) with a longer one that engages all the threads (i.e. ~5+ turns).
--AP