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Message: <blockquote data-quote="SteveClark" data-source="post: 1353596" data-attributes="member: 2882">G'day allA bit of clarification might be in order.I live in rural Australia.  There is no way I can try many binoculars before I buy and I'm not buying before trying.  When I purchased the Monarchs I went to the main shops in Melbourne and spent a day doing nothing else but trying binoculars.  There were only two models that felt right and one of these was way outside my budget.  From memory I tried similar priced Pentax and Steiners for instance but they didn't feel right.  In the year and a half that I had the Monarchs I was perfectly happy with them.  They fit me and the optics were fine.  Many of the brands mentioned here and elsewhere are not marketed in Australia (e.g. Audubon, Opticron) except occasionally via mail order dealers and you don't get to try before you buy.So, unless I get a lot of feedback to say that the Monarchs regularly fall apart I will probably buy another pair and assume I was just unlucky the first time.As an aside - my faulty pair were sent back in July to the dealer (in Melbourne) who told me they would be sent to Nikon Japan for assessment.  They were eventually repaired and returned to me but this took 4 months.  The dealer loaned me a pair of Steiner Skyhawk 10x42s for a month or so.  These were possibly better optically but didn't feel right.  When my returned Monarchs broke again last weekend (after 3 days!) the dealer agreed to refund my original purchase price.  There are some aspects of the experience with the dealer that I am not happy with but I won't be naming the dealer (or buying from them again).CheersSteve</blockquote>

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