For what it's worth, I bought a pair of Bushnell 8x42 Legend Porros for
$270. No idea if these are too far below your budget. My budget was
about the same as yours, but I ended up with these purely through lack
of time to find anything better. They were cheap enough that I won't
feel bad about upgrading, and good enough to keep me happy for a while.
Six months later, I'm still fairly happy with them, and still haven't
had time to look for better ones, so I think they were a good choice.
They're rubber armoured, and claim to be 100% waterproof and fog proof.
They don't actually say they're nitrogen purged, but how else do you
make something fog proof? The manual suggests they might be, but
doesn't actually say so. I've used them in the rain and I've used them
in the cold, but I wouldn't say I'd really tested out the waterproofing
or fog proofing.
They have quite a wide field of view (143m/1000m), but the outer 1/4 is
out of focus. I found them to be noticeably sharper than the Legend
roof prisms (at more than twice the price), but I think the roofs
wouldn't be as blurry at the edge (not sure).
A major requirement was good relief, as I wear glasses. With 18mm they
have plenty enough for me, and the twist up cups are better than fold or
push downs as they can be set to the right position and only move when I
push the lens covers on. Duct tape fixed that.
I upgraded from some shocking 8x21's, so the new ones were heaven for a
while, but now I'm starting to notice their deficiencies. The edge blur
is ok, as it at least helps you follow flitting birds, but is still
annoying to anyone greedy for a better view.
I haven't compared them to better ones, but the coatings seem ok. I
only lose contrast when I'm looking fairly close to the sun, when other
people seem to have trouble too.
I have no idea what will happen if I drop them. Robustness may be what
I've sacrificed for a lower price, but I have no intention of finding
out.
Coincidentally, I really wanted to look at some Nikon Monarch 8x36's,
which have a wider FOV than the 8x42's, but they aren't available in
this country. The Legends should at least be easy to find.
For specs, see:
http://www.bushnell.com/general/binoculars_legend_porro_19-0842.cfm?
and
http://www.optics4birding.com/legend-8x42-porro-1426.html
Peter Shute
wrote on Tuesday, 24 July 2007 10:44
AM:
> I am in the market for a pair of waterproof/fogproof and
> rubber coated binoculars for less than c.$800. I have my eye
> on the Nikon Monarch 8x42.
>
> Does anyone have any advice for me regarding good budget
> waterproof binos or maybe someone has a pair of the Nikon
> Monarchs and can tell me how they find them. Any advice on
> where to buy a pair would also be appreciated.
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