Nikon Monarch 7 8x30 - Any current issues? Excellent in demo (1 Viewer)

[Laughing Kookaburra]

A few months ago a friend and I had the opportunity to demo the Nikon Monarch 7 8x30 alongside other 8x32 models including the Zeiss Terra ED, Vanguard Endeavor II, Leopold Mojave, Meopta Meostar, Vortex Viper, a Kowa model as well as a Nikon Monarch 7 10x30 side by side.

This was at B&H photo in New York on a partly cloudy day, looking from inside out to the street, and in the street, at a group of pigeons, street and store signs, and people. We both found the Monarch 7 8 x 30 significantly brighter than the above bins. It was very sharp with a nice wide field of view, generous sweet spot, good contrast and color representation and excellent ergonomics with grippy armoring. The thing that most struck us was how bright they were for a small diameter lens 8x30. We both experienced too much shake with the Monarch 7 10x30, which I hadn’t expected, and personally I didn't think it was worth the slight extra magnification.

I was so impressed with the Monarch 7 8 x 30 that I was planning to pick it up as my hiking/travel bino given the low weight and then read this 2014 thread reporting issues on some users' binos:

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=278630

Does anyone have any new/current info on the Monarch 7 8 x 30 issues mentioned there? Have there been many more reported cases? Have these issues been seen in current models?

1) Uncoated/unpainted "ring" and improper baffling causing light leak and/or insufficiently blackened internal reflective surfaces. Affected models showed a bright arc near the Exit Pupil on photos through the Exit Pupils. From the thread: “The real problem reflection is the thin bright ring near the edge of the exit pupil. That's glancing non-image forming light that goes right back to the eye, possibly from the metallic objective cell, focusing lens cell or the front prism aperture. Looking into the binocular from the front doesn't reveal much about these glancing reflections. It's what you see from the eyepiece end that matters.”

2) Veiling glare in diffuse light, say a grey winter day when looking at a dull subject

3) Plastic cover piece for the front on the hinge assembly loose (which apparently Nikon will replace if you lose them), but worth making sure these are screwed in tight when you get them.

For those of you who have been using the Monarch 7 8 x 30, have you continued to be happy with them?

 

[typo]

I've never seen a M7 with the unpainted surface that Frank saw but you will see that still some users criticise the glare levels. This also been mentioned for the Kite Lynx, which is essentially the same design made in Japan. I've not seem the Maven B3 but I imagine it's the same there.

This is what I think is the cause. You can decide if it is a problem. An 8x30 has a 3.75mm exit pupil. If you hold the binoculars away from your eyes you can see there are little crescents of stray light fairly close to the main light path. As the light levels fall, your pupils expand and the more likely it is that the stray light will enter the eye and cause glare. It can also happen if the inter-pupillary distance or eye relief isn't quite right. In relatively bright conditions I only get a problem if I'm tilting my head right back and the binoculars are not square to my eyes. In lower light it needs more care with eye positioning, but usually only at acute angles to the sun. It's up to you to figure out if these particular characteristics outweigh the M7's other virtues.

David

 

[PhilR.]

I think that young Mr. Typo has hit this particular nail square on the head. I've mentioned several times here that the 8x30 M7 is sensitive to correct eye placement. As long as I use ours correctly, I don't get glare issues. The only exception to this is when they are pointed in the general direction of a low-sitting sun, which is when many binos struggle.

Although I have a number of much more expensive binos, I still like to use our M7. It is especially useful when hiking on cloudy/rainy days, where it provides a brighter view than my usual 8x25 hiking bino. Because of it's very light weight and small footprint, the 30mm M7 is barely noticeable hanging from a neckstrap. It is a joy to use, but then again placing it correctly is 2nd nature to me. I would not recommend one to someone who has difficulty w/correct placement of binoculars.

BTW- my example was sent from one side of the country to the other, and has been tried by three other members of this forum. They seemed to like it. Hopefully they will chime in here....

 

[ceasar]

There is nothing wrong with my Nikon 8x30 M7.
No unpainted rings causing a light leak which I can see through the ocular. Its interior is very well blackened. Nikon has been building binoculars for about 100 years and I am confident that they know how to baffle them.

Today is a grey winter day with many dull subjects in diffuse light in the woods off my deck. There certainly is no veiling glare there. In my experience veiling glare is most likely to be a problem when looking at objects that are located in the general direction of the sun and I have used very few binoculars that did not show any susceptibility to it. This one is no different and it handles it very well. I don't like looking in the general direction of the sun with binoculars and I try to avoid it.

The plastic blind cap on the front of the hinge is on so tight I cannot budge it.

I have been using this binocular as a car binocular since fall and it has held up under winter conditions flawlessly. On very cold nights I bring it in the house as the focuser stiffens up if it is very cold.

It is thoroughly vetted out and I am happy with it.

Bob

 

[[email protected]]

A few months ago a friend and I had the opportunity to demo the Nikon Monarch 7 8x30 alongside other 8x32 models including the Zeiss Terra ED, Vanguard Endeavor II, Leopold Mojave, Meopta Meostar, Vortex Viper, a Kowa model as well as a Nikon Monarch 7 10x30 side by side.

This was at B&H photo in New York on a partly cloudy day, looking from inside out to the street, and in the street, at a group of pigeons, street and store signs, and people. We both found the Monarch 7 8 x 30 significantly brighter than the above bins. It was very sharp with a nice wide field of view, generous sweet spot, good contrast and color representation and excellent ergonomics with grippy armoring. The thing that most struck us was how bright they were for a small diameter lens 8x30. We both experienced too much shake with the Monarch 7 10x30, which I hadn’t expected, and personally I didn't think it was worth the slight extra magnification.

I was so impressed with the Monarch 7 8 x 30 that I was planning to pick it up as my hiking/travel bino given the low weight and then read this 2014 thread reporting issues on some users' binos:

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=278630

Does anyone have any new/current info on the Monarch 7 8 x 30 issues mentioned there? Have there been many more reported cases? Have these issues been seen in current models?

1) Uncoated/unpainted "ring" and improper baffling causing light leak and/or insufficiently blackened internal reflective surfaces. Affected models showed a bright arc near the Exit Pupil on photos through the Exit Pupils. From the thread: “The real problem reflection is the thin bright ring near the edge of the exit pupil. That's glancing non-image forming light that goes right back to the eye, possibly from the metallic objective cell, focusing lens cell or the front prism aperture. Looking into the binocular from the front doesn't reveal much about these glancing reflections. It's what you see from the eyepiece end that matters.”

2) Veiling glare in diffuse light, say a grey winter day when looking at a dull subject

3) Plastic cover piece for the front on the hinge assembly loose (which apparently Nikon will replace if you lose them), but worth making sure these are screwed in tight when you get them.

For those of you who have been using the Monarch 7 8 x 30, have you continued to be happy with them?

I tried the Nikon 8x30 M7 twice and the Maven B3. I could not tolerate the glare on either so I think the design is similar. I found eye placement difficult for a 30mm also. I returned mine and went back to a 32mm. Some people like them I didn't. They are a long ways from an alpha 32mm but they are a lot less expensive also. Maybe as a car binocular.

 

[birdrousta]

I use the physically very similar maven b3 as my primary bin just now. I have m7 in 8x42 as well. I suspect some of the issues with the m7 8x30 are ultimately a result of the careful placement a small exit pupil typically requires.

it took some time to learn to use the maven 8x30; the small exit pupil means they are very sensitive to placement. unfortunately, optimal placement for ocular relative to your eye may lead to sub optimal placement of ocular relative to your face, and light reflected from your face can reach the oculars if there is a gap.

because exit pupil is tight, moving the oculars may not work well, very quickly degrading the view compared to a 5 mm ep.

what I found worked for me were the small field optics wings. they helped reduce stray light at the sides when folded out, and I place mine at the lip of the ocular where they add to its circumference as it meets my face even if the wings are folded away.

for me, that makes it faster to find and maintain correct eye placement and helps with some of the stray light issues as well.

the only x30 or x32 binos I've seen that are as natural for me to use as x42s are also run 4 times the cost of the mavens.

 

[kkokkolis]

1) Uncoated/unpainted "ring" and improper baffling causing light leak and/or insufficiently blackened internal reflective surfaces.

I haven't noticed such a thing

2) Veiling glare in diffuse light,

Yes, it's there, in sharp contrast with my Zeiss. But the benefits outweight it.

3) Plastic cover piece for the front on the hinge assembly loose

Yes, sligthly loose on the right side, I wouldn't notice it if I wasn't informed about it from BF

For those of you who have been using the Monarch 7 8 x 30, have you continued to be happy with them?

Absolutely happy

 

[Cluster]

Both my wife's and my 8x30 continue to give great views. I can't see any bare metalic rings inside. I have seen odd glare in some conditions that appears to be more related to my eye position over the EP. The mechanics and handling are very good.
These are the bins that we take when hiking or just as a standby when on holiday.

 

[paddy7]

I think all the above sums it up quite nicely. They are great bins provided you spend a bit of time with the eye positioning. If i've been using other sets for a while, it takes me 5 mins or so to re-acquaint myself with the M7 and its EP, but they're definitely worth the effort. I've recommended them to several others (particularly for travelling) as the attributes of weight, size, optical quality, FoV and cost take some beating.

 

[ceasar]

There is nothing wrong with my Nikon 8x30 M7.
No unpainted rings causing a light leak which I can see through the ocular. Its interior is very well blackened. Nikon has been building binoculars for about 100 years and I am confident that they know how to baffle them.

Today is a grey winter day with many dull subjects in diffuse light in the woods off my deck. There certainly is no veiling glare there. In my experience veiling glare is most likely to be a problem when looking at objects that are located in the general direction of the sun and I have used very few binoculars that did not show any susceptibility to it. This one is no different and it handles it very well. I don't like looking in the general direction of the sun with binoculars and I try to avoid it.

The plastic blind cap on the front of the hinge is on so tight I cannot budge it.

I have been using this binocular as a car binocular since fall and it has held up under winter conditions flawlessly. On very cold nights I bring it in the house as the focuser stiffens up if it is very cold.

It is thoroughly vetted out and I am happy with it.

Bob

PS: I love its large eye cups and wide oculars! There is plenty of real estate there to brace the binocular up under my eye brows and find the perfect IPD.

 

[mooreorless]

I think that young Mr. Typo has hit this particular nail square on the head. I've mentioned several times here that the 8x30 M7 is sensitive to correct eye placement. As long as I use ours correctly, I don't get glare issues. The only exception to this is when they are pointed in the general direction of a low-sitting sun, which is when many binos struggle.

Although I have a number of much more expensive binos, I still like to use our M7. It is especially useful when hiking on cloudy/rainy days, where it provides a brighter view than my usual 8x25 hiking bino. Because of it's very light weight and small footprint, the 30mm M7 is barely noticeable hanging from a neckstrap. It is a joy to use, but then again placing it correctly is 2nd nature to me. I would not recommend one to someone who has difficulty w/correct placement of binoculars.

BTW- my example was sent from one side of the country to the other, and has been tried by three other members of this forum. They seemed to like it. Hopefully they will chime in here....

I am one of the people that had use of the Phil's Nikon 8x30 M7. I liked it very much, I did not have trouble with the glare issue. I liked how light in wt. the binocular is. I found it very close to the resolution of my Nikon 8x32SE. I hated to send it back to Phil. Thanks Phil for letting me try it out!

 

[davekelley]

I think that young Mr. Typo has hit this particular nail square on the head. I've mentioned several times here that the 8x30 M7 is sensitive to correct eye placement. As long as I use ours correctly, I don't get glare issues. The only exception to this is when they are pointed in the general direction of a low-sitting sun, which is when many binos struggle.

Although I have a number of much more expensive binos, I still like to use our M7. It is especially useful when hiking on cloudy/rainy days, where it provides a brighter view than my usual 8x25 hiking bino. Because of it's very light weight and small footprint, the 30mm M7 is barely noticeable hanging from a neckstrap. It is a joy to use, but then again placing it correctly is 2nd nature to me. I would not recommend one to someone who has difficulty w/correct placement of binoculars.

BTW- my example was sent from one side of the country to the other, and has been tried by three other members of this forum. They seemed to like it. Hopefully they will chime in here....

I think that young Mr. Typo has hit this particular nail square on the head. I've mentioned several times here that the 8x30 M7 is sensitive to correct eye placement. As long as I use ours correctly, I don't get glare issues. The only exception to this is when they are pointed in the general direction of a low-sitting sun, which is when many binos struggle.

Although I have a number of much more expensive binos, I still like to use our M7. It is especially useful when hiking on cloudy/rainy days, where it provides a brighter view than my usual 8x25 hiking bino. Because of it's very light weight and small footprint, the 30mm M7 is barely noticeable hanging from a neckstrap. It is a joy to use, but then again placing it correctly is 2nd nature to me. I would not recommend one to someone who has difficulty w/correct placement of binoculars.

BTW- my example was sent from one side of the country to the other, and has been tried by three other members of this forum. They seemed to like it. Hopefully they will chime in here....

Regarding the eye placement thing, I found it an issue initially with my Monarch 7 8x30's. A novice user could be easily frustrated. After learning to get this sorted I decided I would try some soft rubber eyecups which I have now added to the bins and I absolutely love them now, I can retract the twist up eyecups all the way down and press my eyes into the soft rubber eyecups. I don't think even a novice would have any issues with the. Also, the image quality is excellent and I doubt I would be able to tell the difference no matter how much more money I paid for a pair of Leica or Swarovski etc... My Canon 15x15 IS run them damn close though, but that's a different animal altogether. The eyecups are all over Amazon, just search 32-36mm soft rubber eyecups. they cost well under £10. I hope that helps.
Dave

 

[Bob_McBob]

I tried the M7 8x30 and Maven B.3 8x30, and ended up with the Maven due to what I felt was better build quality, as well as the ease of adding an o-ring behind the eye cups to make viewing without glasses easier (I gather the M7 no longer has removable eye cups). I've tried several Monarch models, and I just don't get along with Nikon's rubber armour or feel like it will hold up long term, but that's obviously not as much of a concern as it is in my head based on how popular the M7 and M5 are with birders. If I were buying again, I would give more serious consideration to the Opticron Traveler 8x32, which is even more flexible than the Maven in terms of DIY eye cup adjustment. I really like this class of binocular and appreciate having the Mavens in addition to my regular 8x42 pair. They are small and lightweight and still give a great view.

 

[Brink]

I think you should take Bob's advice here. The m7 is good optically and you really have to pay a lot more (and generally sacrifice FOV and/or weight) to do much better. I experience occasional glare with these but it has never been particularly bothersome for me. The build quality would be my only qualm. The rubber armor got increasingly more loose and tacky as time went on until it started peeling away and fraying excessively at the bridge. The strap is also garbage and will fall apart quickly (I replaced it with a simple cheap nylon strap). They did see about 5 years of heavy use, I would take them on long backpacking trips and throw them in a carry-on backpack when travelling light. I now keep them in my glove box and they rarely get used. I would suggest doing a demo of the Mavens. I have never seen a pair, but if they are optically the same as the m7 then they are probably worth the price for extra build quality and an exceptional product guarantee.

 

[eitanaltman]

Since this thread has been resurrected from the dead, I'll give a hat tip to the Opticron Traveler 8x32 ED. I owned the M7 8x30 for years and the Opticron are slightly better in many ways, worth the price uptick. Glare performance isn't anything special but better than my old M7 which was pretty awful. Optics are very bright, very neutral color, sharp enough with a large sweet spot with very nice correction of distortion, overall just excellent clarity for the price point. Also ergonomically they have easy eye placement, nicer eyecups (the fact that they screw off and can be customized a bit with an o-ring is pretty huge for non eyeglasses wearers), and the smooth rubber armor is nice to the touch (if not as cushy as the M7 rubber).

It's not as fancy looking as the GPO that I tried, which had tip top fit and finish, but the Opticron's optics are much better. And I'm fine with a "utilitarian" look and feel to my small/light backup bin. The whole point is to grab it and take it when you don't want to take one of the bigger, fancier binoculars.

The Maven B3 8x30 is the one that I haven't tried yet, I better order it soon to try out before the return window is up on the Opticrons...

 

[Brink]

Geez, didn’t realize the thread was so old. Nice to know about the travelers though, maybe if I ever get back into backpacking I will give them a look.

 

[dries1]

Geez, didn’t realize the thread was so old. Nice to know about the travelers though, maybe if I ever get back into backpacking I will give them a look.

I have done it many times, and always have a laugh about it.

Andy W.