Hi Peter:
let me comment in hopes that I can help. I literally handle both of these
pairs of binoculars daily at the shop I work in. The Monarch 7 is never
designed to compete with a pair of Swarovskis. Its like comparing a Toyota
Corolla with a lamborgini... (forgive the spelling) What you should find
is that the Monarch 7 offers a bright excellent image that is highly
functional and gets you to the heart of the birding action easily. You
wont feel compromised by using them. At a sticker price of around $400
they behave more like a binocular that is about 2/3 the way there to the
Swaro image sharpness and quality. So for $400 they are a LOT of
binocular. But..... if you have used your faithful Swaros for years you
are naturally going to miss their razor sharp icey white bright image. The
Monarch 7 is NEVER designed to match the quality of a pair of Swaros. As I
said the beauty of them though is that they offer a lovely practical useful
image without the large price tag and the fear of having them stolen etc.
As Richard Nowotny noted the Nikon Monarch 7 8x30 is a big winner. Its so
small I can put a pair in a big pocket of my field pants yet its field of
view is a match for many full size binoculars. They are an absolutely
excellent take-to-europe on vacation type binocular designed to slip into a
daypack or purse for the gals. You wont miss any birding action at all
with this bin. Of course best scenario of all is if you can handle a pair
before purchase. At the store I work at our biggest annoyance with this
binocular is that Nikon is desperately slow in filling orders for them so
we are often in the position that the last pair has gone out the door and
customers are waiting for them to come in. By all means let me know if you
have any other questions about them or any other binocular I use/sell.
Cheers!
Don Kimball
On Thu, Dec 14, 2017 at 3:27 AM, Peter Shute <> wrote:
> Richard, I’m interested to hear your opinion of the image quality of the
> Monarchs vs the Swarovskis. I assume the latter are better, but by how much?
>
> Peter Shute
>
> Sent from my iPad
>
> > On 13 Dec 2017, at 11:25 pm, Richard Nowotny <
> > wrote:
> >
> > Birding Aussers
> >
> > I recently purchased a pair of Nikon 8x30 Monarch 7 binos - as
> recommended
> > by Don (in a generous private email exchange a few months ago).
> >
> > They were bought as a back-up to my Swarovski 10x42s, as a pair I can
> loan
> > to friends/visitors, and as a smaller, lighter option to take on trips
> which
> > are not dedicated birding trips but where some incidental birding may be
> > possible (eg a golfing trip).
> >
> > I have found them to be everything Don claims for them. Light (almost
> > exactly half the weight of my Swaros), easy to pack, excellent optics
> (with
> > a surprisingly bright image), good field of view, robust, comfortable to
> > use. I am extremely happy with them for all the purposes I had hoped for.
> >
> > No reservations (so far at least).
> >
> > Richard Nowotny
> >
> > Port Melbourne
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Birding-Aus On
> Behalf Of
> > Donald G. Kimball
> > Sent: Wednesday, 13 December 2017 5:37 PM
> > To: calyptorhynchus .
> > Cc: Canberra Birds;
> > Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Minox binoculars, declining quality
> >
> >
> >
> > Hi Folks:
> >
> > I actually sell binoculars (and other birding related products) for a
> living
> > at a shop called Wild Birds Unlimited in Novato, California. As I have
> > mentioned on here before we LITERALLY sell over 100 pairs of binoculars
> each
> > year. One of the big winners is actually from Nikon.
> >
> > Their Monarch 7 line is outstanding. Priced at around $400 U.S. They
> offer
> > Japanese made glass and great bodies. They also come with a lifetime
> > warranty. What I have noted is that for the 7.5 years we have been
> selling
> > them its very very rare for any of them to come back to us needing
> repair.
> >
> > That plus the optics for the money are absolutely excellent. Bearing in
> > mind also that if they are stolen one is not out a huge sum of money. I
> > really enjoy working with customers each day trying to marry their budget
> > and eyesight to whats best for them. Hope this helps a bit.
> >
> > Cheers!
> >
> > Don Kimball
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > On Mon, Dec 11, 2017 at 11:34 PM, calyptorhynchus . <
> > <> > wrote:
> >
> >
> >
> >> I am a great believer in budget optics because I think it's possible
> >
> >> to get a good quality image from binoculars without paying too much,
> >
> >> and it would be heart-breaking to have binoculars worth $1000s
> > stolen/lost/damaged.
> >
> >>
> >
> >> I had a pair of Minox 10 x 44 binoculars I was very happy with, they
> >
> >> got a problem and Minox replaced them. They got another problem and
> >
> >> this time they were out of warranty, but Minox said to me I could have
> >
> >> a pair of the successor model (BV 10 x 44) at a wholesale price, so I
> >
> >> took them up on this.
> >
> >>
> >
> >> However, when they arrived I found the optics were markedly inferior
> >
> >> to my old Minox binoculars. I couldn't get a sharp image, and I guess
> >
> >> that Minox has been cutting corners with lens quality &c. So I am
> >
> >> having to return them.
> >
> >>
> >
> >> I'll have to cross Minox off my list of quality budget optics.
> >
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