Opticron discovery 7x42 vs Nikon 7x35 (1 Viewer)

Has anyone viewed both of these side by side

I absolutely love the wide FOV and the 7x stableness of my Nikon 7x35 binoculars.....but they are too big. I can barely fit them in a jacket pocket and I normally have to bring a backpack

I’m willing to slightly compromise on the FOV (but not really), but I don’t want the optics to be of lesser quality

Can anyone comment...thanks

I have owned and used them both. I still own the 7x42 Discovery. I donated my Nikon 7x35 Action to my American Legion Post which is situated on the shore of a lake filled with Bass and Panfish and frequented with varieties of ducks, Blue Herons and an occasional Egret. There is a pair of nesting Bald Eagles nearby.

https://www.nikonsportoptics.com/en/nikon-products/binoculars/aculon-a211-7x35.html

The Nikon 7x35 Action is now discontinued and has been replaced by the 7x35 Aculon. It is virtually the same binocular as the 7x35 Action and is a Porro prism with a very wide FOV of 487'@1000yds. The edges of its view are out of focus because it has a lot of pincushion distortion. But the edges can be dialed into focus. It also has very short eye relief of 11.9mm. If one wears glasses one won't be able to see the full FOV.

The Opticron is a different type of binocular with roof prism construction. I like using it much better than my old 7x35 Action. It has very long eye relief of 25mm. Someone who wears glasses could use it while wearing the glasses and likely see the full FOV. It is very sharp and this sharpness extends to about 75% of the view with a slow barely noticeable tapering off to the edge. Its FOV is 408'@1000yd which is noticeably smaller than the Nikon but still (IMO) more than adequate. The best 7x42s have FOVs of 8º or 420'@1000yds.

Both of these binoculars weigh just about 25 ounces but the Opticron is clearly more compact.

https://www.opticronusa.com/Pages/discovery_wp.html

The optics of the Opticron 7x42 are excellent for a binocular in its price range. Its performance is above what my expectations for it was. It costs $200.00 more than your Nikon but you will be able to see the difference.

It might be able to fit into the front pocket of a Safari Jacket.:smoke:

Bob

I too have retained the Opticron Discoveries, not perfect for me but they get used anyway which means a lot. My Nikon Actions are listed for sale in a charity auction on Saturday.

At the same time as I played with the two above I got some Opticron Imagic TGA WP 7x42 porros. The fov is less than the Discovery, and that design has a certain amount of 'stiction' due to the seals to provide the WP element, but the handling is otherwise excellent for me and they too are still around and used.

As I have been lucky with excellent long range eyesight, I tend to locate and identify mostly that way and only use bins when that method fails, when not in my patch they get used a lot more, so fov is not often a major consideration.

Anyway I was disapointed with the Action EX, which other than a possible ruggedness did nothing for me. They are excellent value, and are probably more suited to the boating/rock scrambling fraternity where their chunkiness will have advantages/

Thanks guys!....one more question

I really like 7x binoculars but optical quality is important to me as well. Are the optics good for this price range or should I look at 8x42 binoculars with the same price and with better quality optics?

Dd61999 said:

Thanks guys!....one more question

I really like 7x binoculars but optical quality is important to me as well. Are the optics good for this price range or should I look at 8x42 binoculars with the same price and with better quality optics?

Click to expand...

To my knowledge, this is the only 7x42 roof prism binocular in this price range. (Even in the "Alpha" category price range there seems to be only one 7x42 left and that is the Leica 7x42 Ultravid HD Plus which costs about 2 Grand.)

I have one of these Opticron 7x42s and it is well worth the $285.00 price charged for it.

There are numerous 8x42 binoculars in this price range to choose from but it probably will be a crapshoot to find one that is significantly better than these Opticron 7x42s are.

These 8x42s are all manufactured with similar optics, prisms, coatings and other components designed to make them profitable to sell in the under $300.00 price range.

Bob

Probably the best thing is that each of the three are significantly different to the others. All to often the only real variation is in the rubberised shell, enclosing a common design.

Also, for once I was able to buy three low cost binoculars mail order without a single manufacturing defect.

If you read the specs and go for the one which comes closest to your ideal you are unlikely to be disappointed.

About the only real advantage of going for 8x is that you stand a chance of finding more than one model in a store and you can compare them and go for the one that suits you best.