Nikon Action 7x35 (non-EX) - cheap or inexpensive? (1 Viewer)

My normal binos are a Zeiss 7x42 and a Leica 8x32.

Recently I bought a pair of Nikon action, non EX, 7x35 for permanent
tripod mounting to watch feeder birds from my window. Total cost,
delivered to my door, was $54.

Overall impressions;

Build quality seemed decent. No obviously cheap parts and fit and finish
seems good enough to me. Overall appearance is not one of a cheap pair of
binos.

Optics:
Surprisingly bright. During daytime use I could see no practical
difference between the Nikons and the Zeiss. They may be a bit brighter
than the Leicas but nothing to lose sleep over.

On axis sharpness was very good. No huge difference between
the Nikons and the others in this respect. Center 2/3s fov seems decent
and after that gets soft quickly. The Zeiss are pretty much sharp edge
to edge. While the Leicas are sharp to the edge they do exhibit some
field distortion out on the edges. I anticipated this issue with the
Nikons and it's not a problem for me at least. I wanted on axis
sharpness with a wide fov to keep the birds in sight and the Nikons do
this quite well.

Not surprisingly both the Zeiss and Leicas showed superior contrast
with more intense vivid colors. Considering the difference in price
this a a no-brainer.

Eyerelief:
Very short. While I normally wear glasses I don't when looking through
optics. However even without glasses and the eyecups extended I could
not see the full fov. With the eyecups folded down and no glasses full
fov comes in ok if I just touch the ep lightly. Works ok for me but
these binos are not for those who must wear glasses. Also because of the
short eyerelief I tended to press down on eyecups to get the full fov.
This effectively seals off the ep from ventilation and gave me a lot of
problems with fogging from eye moisture. Also, I would think, using
the ep with eyecups folded down in the field might give problems with
flare from the sun.

If Nikon would come out with these using the long eyerelief eps of the
EX series for about $65 they would have a real winner. I think Nikon's
marketing people know this and don't want to detract from EX sales.

Handling:
What can I say? They are porros. Wide and bulky. Compared to the Zeiss
they are like comparing a tall slim aristocratic women to a short buxom
pheasant women. Not elegant but they get the job done. I think bulkiness
is a particular problem with the action series because, I believe, they
all use the same prism assembly regardless of focal length. I have used
porros which were much more trim and compact then these Nikons because
the prisms were scaled to the focal length of the binos. The weight
seems about average for this size of glass which is to say a bit heavy
but not by much.

All in all a decent glass. If you can live with the short eyerelief you
probably will be satisfied with them at this price.

They may be inexpensive but they are not "cheap".

SF

Yeah, the Action and Action EX are very similar, I would be OK with either but prefer the EX. I do wear glasses part time.

Very nice review. I have utilized this pair of bins briefly before giving them to my father as an upgrade from his old pair. I agree with your evaluation of them. The only thing that I can think of that you did no mention is the eye piece bridge. It was probably my biggest concern after the eye relief and poor off axis performance. The bridge flexed quite easily with even a moderate amount of pressure against the eyecups.

FrankD said:

The only thing that I can think of that you did no mention is the eye piece bridge. It was probably my biggest concern after the eye relief and poor off axis performance. The bridge flexed quite easily with even a moderate amount of pressure against the eyecups.

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If you look at the picture of the Zeiss and the Nikon you can see how much more robust the Zeiss bridge is - the Zeiss is a little over 1/4 inch thick while the Nikon is half that. Also notice that the hinge spacing is also wider on the Zeiss.

The Zeiss do flex a little but not much. Also the Zeiss focus is very light, smooth and precise with no slop whatsoever after more than ten years of hard field use. I wonder how well the Nikon will fare after ten years.

At the end of the day the Zeiss have proven to be worth the $900 I paid for them and I think the Nikons will prove to be worth even more than the 54 bucks I paid for them.

SF

At the end of the day the Zeiss have proven to be worth the $900 I paid for them and I think the Nikons will prove to be worth even more than the 54 bucks I paid for them.

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I most definitely agree. For birders on an extremely tight budget the 7x35 Actions are an excellent choice. Image quality alone is a reason to buy them.