Does the Head Rest help on the NL 8x42? (1 Viewer)

[John Cantelo]

I've no experience with using the headrest with 8x42s but find that with my 10x42s it makes the specification usable in the field for me. The 'tripod' formed by resting the bins on eye sockets (or spectacle lenses) and forehead combined with the wonderful, firm 'gripiness' of the NL's 'coke-bottle body' enables me to keep the instrument distinctly more steady than would otherwise be the case.

 

[hyberboreus]

I have had my NL Pure 8x42 for four months now and I have found the headrest pretty useless in the wintertime. You cannot use it with beanie and also it feels cold when you place it to your forehead - very unconfrontable. Maybe in the summertime when you dont have to wear beanie it would be useful.

 

[Spectrum805]

For me on 10x42 NL it is quite helpful for several different reasons: 1) I am an eye glass wearer, I just don't like eye cups scratch my glass and the head rest solved the problem. 2) The pupil placement is somewhat sensitive. With the head rest, I can quickly adjust to the right stand-off distance to avoid the "black bean" effect due to getting too close, and to lock in the lateral placement for a beautiful wide-field view. 3) Reduction in vibration is noticeable but not dramatic, it probably reduced the shaking to the level of an unsupported 8x42 level or slightly better, which is good enough for me. Of the three, 1) and 2) are more important to me then 3) and makes the 10x42 NL enjoyable to use as a pair of binoculars that has 10x the mag but the field-of-view of 8x. Being from the astro side used to Ethos eyepieces, I enjoy the wide field-of-view. In comparison, NL is not that wide, but among the best unless one goes to the extreme of getting a Nikon WX (which is not really a birding bino with individual focus, 2x the weight, and 2x the bulkiness). Haibo

 

[Gijs van Ginkel]

On the cloudy nights binocular forum, one of the participants has published theoretical and measured resolutions of different binoculars among others the NL pure 8x42 and the Nikon WX10x50. In all circumstances except for free hand use and supported the 8x42 NL pure as the best or second and, when second, beaten by the Nikon WX 10x50. The results also show higher resolution of the NL pure 8x42 upon using the head rest.
Gijs van Ginkel

 

[Sc0tty]

I’m not sure if it’s been asked before but if you wear a baseball cap does the headrest bump into it when you raise your bins?

 

[Rotherbirder]

I’m not sure if it’s been asked before but if you wear a baseball cap does the headrest bump into it when you raise your bins?

Thinking of biting the bullet Rich and turning to Swaro?

RB

 

[BabyDov]

I’m not sure if it’s been asked before but if you wear a baseball cap does the headrest bump into it when you raise your bins?

A baseball cap brim will bump the headrest only if you wear your cap closer to your eyebrows.

 

[hyberboreus]

I started using the headrest just recently even though I did have from the beginnig (December 2020). My current setup gives a great stability when searching birds from the sky:

NL Pure 8x42
NL Pure Headrest
Outdoorsman NL Pure Stud
FotoFennica Finnstick

 

[Lightbender]

What do you think would be the more efficient method to stabilize a 10x NL: the use of the FRP head rest or a monopod? I guess the latter?

Thanks.

 

[tenex]

As a longtime 10x user I think the most efficient stabilization is a good handhold, with elbows under the bin, hands in just the right position for balance, and rotated in appropriately to support weight on the palm not thumb. That said I'd be curious whether FRP offers much improvement, whereas I'd find a monopod very awkward to use on a bin as well as carry. (I have used a monopod successfully with a long lens on a camera, back in the days of ISO 200 film and no IS -- which for me lasted well into this century -- but that was a different story.)

 

[BlueIn2Red]

Does anybody's headrest move in (i.e. out of the "locked" position) occasionally when your forehead touches it? I can't work out a pattern as to when it happens, so am wondering if mine is just faulty, or if "they all do that sir"?

 

[jan van daalen]

Does anybody's headrest move in (i.e. out of the "locked" position) occasionally when your forehead touches it? I can't work out a pattern as to when it happens, so am wondering if mine is just faulty, or if "they all do that sir"?

It should not move, unless you turn the wheel. If it does, just ask for another one.

Jan

 

[BlueIn2Red]

Thanks for confirming Jan, I will attempt to get it swapped out then.

 

[BabyDov]

You will find that you may need to readjust the position of the headrest should you be looking straight ahead and then look upward. It may seem, then, the headrest has moved out of position when it hasn't.

 

[Swedpat]

I received NL Pure 8x42 last week, and I included a headrest. My personal impression is that it definitely helps to stabilize the image even at 8x. And this makes me curious to know if it could allow me to handhold even 12x satisfying still!

 

[recon493]

I recently got the headrest for my 8x42. I also find that handshake isn't much of an issue with the 8x42 but I do find viewing comfort improved when using the headrest. It allows for your forehead to hit the binos before your eyes have to hit the eye cups. You can then gently ease into them. I can sit and gaze through them for an hour and it feels like it was custom fit for me. Before I was driving my eye into the eyecups for stability. Now, I mostly push against the headrest, with my eyes gently hitting the eye cups.

I have since added rubber eye shades which further the experience by (obviously) isolating the outside light. I didn't expect that light shields would be such an improvement to the viewing. For anyone thinking about getting some, they slide over the eye cups and can sit on the smaller diameter shaft between the eyecups and the body. With them on, the eye cups will screw down to a max of about position 2.

What amazing glass and now the form factor is close to matching the optics. I just saw an 16-18 point buck in the backyard area with them. It will move on very soon but these binoculars will not be leaving.

 

[GrampaTom]

Recon 493... 16-18 point buck? Really! Whitetail?

 

[recon493]

Recon 493... 16-18 point buck? Really! Whitetail?

Whitetail... West TX mesquite country. I have a 14 that is a regular on the property and this guy was walking behind him. He had drop tines and it was a mangled mess and hard to count. i have lived on this property since 1977 and had never seen anything remotely close. Had i just splurged on the 12x42 i may have had a firm count. Ha. But he was.... "THIS" big! 😏

 

[GrampaTom]

Whew! Awesome.
We have a Tule Elk reserve here out at Pt Reyes National Seashore, (California). Critters just roaming free. At end of mating season, late September, theres a watering hole just down a hill. Sitting with favorite 10X, (wishing for more), elbows on knees, up hill maybe 100 yards, with 2 dozen of these guys wandering around its like a moving forest. Tough to get an accurate point count. Last trip were at least 6 x 12s and 1 or 2 - 14s. Nearly went blind trying to discern which was which. Gorgeous

 

[ZDHart]

Whew! Awesome.
We have a Tule Elk reserve here out at Pt Reyes National Seashore, (California). Critters just roaming free. At end of mating season, late September, theres a watering hole just down a hill. Sitting with favorite 10X, (wishing for more), elbows on knees, up hill maybe 100 yards, with 2 dozen of these guys wandering around its like a moving forest. Tough to get an accurate point count. Last trip were at least 6 x 12s and 1 or 2 - 14s. Nearly went blind trying to discern which was which. Gorgeous

Tom... sounds like you need to upsize your 10x42s to 12x42s, not 8x32s!