Nikon 7576 Monarch 5 8x42 Binocular (Black)

Bought these to take on a ferry ride from Bellingham WA to Juneau AK and anyone who did not have binoculars with them was regretting it. I haven't owned a pair of binoculars before so I can't give you a comparison review, but I was very impressed by the detail I was seeing from about 1/2 mile away from the shore I would say and often more. I was able to clearly see a pair of bald eagles roosting at the top of a fir tree on an island and without the binoculars, it would have been hard to tell what was in the tree. I almost wish I had gotten a pair with greater magnification but these were about as expensive or as heavy as I wanted to go, and were really excellent for all but the farthest distances. They are easy to use, whether wearing eyeglasses or not. They are easy to focus. They are reasonably small and light, small enough for me to take to europe on my next trip there for sure, when I travel with a shoulder bag and one carry-on rolling bag, so I watch every square inch and every ounce. I see what folks were saying about the cover that goes over the eyepieces to protect them-- mine fell off the neck cord a couple of times and eventually I just put it away. But in another situation (ie not outside on a windy rainy ferryboat) it wouldn't be such an issue. One thing to keep in mind is that the soft case itself has no shoulder strap or neck strap-- so when I took out the binocs, I was having to tuck the case somewhere safe so it wouldn't blow away. But it makes sense not to have 2 neck straps, and obviously for safety reasons one must have a neck strap for the binoculars themselves, so it's a functional design. Once you have the binocs back in the case, of course, the neck strap for the binocs becomes a neckstrap for the whole combo. All in all, I think this is was an excellent purchase for me. I note that these are advertised as fogfree etc and they certainly were perfect that way, as I went inside the warmer ferry interior and then back outside into what was often a biting rainy wind on the ferry deck. What a trip it was, and I wouldn't have seen 1/3 of it without these great binoculars.

I own several binoculars that I have used thru out the years. I’ve owned this Nikon binoculars several years. I really love it. It has all the features that top binoculars have. Of course Nikon makes some of the best glass. I also have Leica and Swarovski glass. Is Nikon as good? No it isn’t. Yet if you never had a Leica binocular you won’t know what you are missing. When you compare a Nikon vs a Swarovski there is a difference. The clarity of the Swarovski is the best. It also has other technical differences that one would see if they knew about it. I use the Nikon for night viewing. I can see plenty of stars, star clusters, some galaxies, the moon, and planets. It’s also good for comets. When do I use the Leica, when I need the best optical quality. I can find a galaxy much faster with a Leica or Swarovski binocular. Of course they will still be little. Even with a telescope they only appear a bit larger. These are also great for concerts or sporting events if the venue allows them. Some venues will allow a smaller binocular then some have banned binoculars. Which is dumb as some phones have telephoto lens capabilities. Also a plus for glass wearers is the eye cups are highly adjustable as well as the diopter adjustment. The Nikon binoculars feel very well built.

I looked at other binoculars in this price range, including the Vortex Diamondback. When I brought these up to my eyes, they were just noticeably clearer and brighter. My old bino's were the compact variety and I'd been wanting a good pair for years. I use them for birding and I'm thrilled with them. It feels almost "magical" to see those beautiful little creatures so clearly and with such detail. I think the ED glass really does brighten things up. Some people complain about the loose cap for the eyepiece end. It works exactly as it should. It drops off easily when you raise the binoculars up to look through them, and it sort of falls back into place when you lower them, so that dirt doesn't fall into them when you are walking through brush, etc. I wouldn't want to bother with removing tight fitting caps every time I looked at something. The adjustable eye relief is really helpful. It has steps so you can easily set both eyes the same. They are comfortable to hold. I plan to get a harness because I find it uncomfortable to have anything hanging around my neck, but the strap that comes with them is a really nice one. In my opinion, the only thing that could make these better is if the field of view were slightly greater. Some in this price range do have a little wider field of view, but good optics seems to be the most important feature to me.

I've had these for a few months over ten years. I've traveled all over with them. They have held up very well so far. I use them mostly for wildlife viewing. I've carried them with me in my back seat for years. No issues even when my car was parked outside in the Phoenix summer. I would buy a new pair of these (or maybe the more expensive Monarch 7s) if I ever had these lost or stolen. The eye cups are very comfortable and work well. You can use them with or without glasses easily. They are light enough I never leave them at home during a hike.

My last pair of binoculars finally needed to be retired and I struggled with finding a new pair. I purchased a pair and once I received it, I took them out of the box and they felt cheap, the picture wasn't clear and they didn't fit me with my glasses. So I was without binoculars for a few years. I am a bird watcher so this was hard. So finally I started looking again and I think through a Google search, I found a link to the Monarch 5. I had an internal debate but finally purchased them and when I finally got them, I was apprehensive. Pulling them out of the box I felt that they were substantial but not heavy. They are I guess medium sized but on the smaller size which for me is great. I travel for my work so they really fit my lifestyle. Then came the test of looking at birds, with my glasses on. I was incredibly impressed with the picture and ease of focusing. Today as I sit on my balcony in Freetown Sierra Leone on my latest assignment, I had a lovely bird watching experience with my new binoculars. I can't wait to take them out hiking.

Took these to Africa on a safari. We had the best pairs out of all the people we encountered. Even the guides were blown away buy the optics in these things. I did a ton of research and for all around use for what I do, animal, bird watching and hunting, this fit the bill. Worked great in low light, rain, and everything. People were blown away by the clarity. Nikon's lenses are above all others. We viewed stuff thru bushnell and others, and they just didn't compare. It was hands down the best thing we took on the trip with the exception of our Camera. The field of view and magnification of 10X were absolutely perfect for viewing wildlife. We viewed some higher magnifications and they were too shaky. I could litterally sit there for 10 to 15 mins sometimes starring at animals without a problem. And one last thing, for some reason, every pair of bino's I've ever used in my life, has caused some crazy thing to occur where I couldn't focus quite right or would see slight double images. Not with these. They have some deal where you can extend the eye piece and easily adjust focus as you need, and I was blown away by how easy it was to focus and see. Absolutely no eye strain. My wife (who has trouble operating anything) was easily able to operate these. That in in of itself, makes them worth it.

I'm a product designer, and as such, I like to inspect the quality of the things I buy and figure out why certain choices were made. It is my opinion that the eyepiece lens caps were made slightly large on purpose, not by mistake. The injection molding on them are too clean for it to be a mistake, and they're obviously too large for them to be designed with a snug fit. If you look in the instruction book, some of the first pictures in it show you how to attach the (included) neck strap and how to properly connect the lens caps to the strap. When using the binoculars as they're intended, that is wearing them around the neck, the lens caps stay in place quite well. When it comes time to use them, though, the lens cap easily lift off of the eyepieces and hand from the strap out of place. When you let the binoculars hang from your next afterwards, the caps fall over the eyepieces and protect them. Since they face upwards, having them protected helps ward off rain, debris, or sunlight shining directly into the lenses. If they were any more snug, they would not work in this way. Yes, it would be nice if they were a bit more snug, as it would make it easier to use them without the neck strap, but that's the way it is. I also wonder how much they'd wear into the rubber eyepieces if they had a more snug fit. Sometime down the line I may design up and 3D print some more snug lens caps and will post the files online, so keep an eye out for those. Well enough about that, now on to the binoculars themselves. In a word, they're spectacular. I'm used to some of the older and larger Porro prism binoculars or the smaller, cheap roof prism type. But regardless of style, I've never looked through a nicer pair of optics. Before buying these, whenever I was out somewhere in nature, I'd always wished I had some nice binoculars with me, and since I have a big trip coming up, I thought I'd spend the money on a nice pair, and these blew me away. The very close minimum viewing distance is nice, as it makes looking at birds and squirrels a lot of fun. The long distance adjustment works very well, too. Looking past the optics, I wanted a pair that would be small enough to carry with me and won't be a burden (like while camping), but something large enough to provide good magnification. These are pretty much just the right size, as they're easily packable, but still large enough to feel good in the hand and have just enough weight to easily hold them steady. The rubber coating has a nice feel, and I think it should be able to protect them well. The objective lenses are set back enough that I don't have to worry about them taking damage if it bumps up against something flat. The objective lens covers are very nice and snap on tight. The tripod mount threading is nice, as securing it to something with legs really helps with stability. I am looking forward to using these more thoroughly on our trip and will try to post back about how well they work.

I'm really liking the image quality, color and clarity of these binocs for a pretty reasonable price. I use them for birding. They are sturdy and the neck strap is very comfortable. Mine came with a soft carrying case. Easy to hold/grip and stabilize. Focus dials are smooth and quiet. I personally appreciate the design of the lens covers on both sets of lenses (this seemed to be a contentious issue in some other reviews) - the ones on the objective lenses quickly pop open and hang down off the end so you can't possibly lose them but without at all being in your way; the ocular lens cap seems designed to be a little loose for fast removal and hangs off one side of the neck strap so you can't lose it either. If you assemble it correctly this should not really be an issue and I would not let this stop you from at least trying these out! I've had no issues so far, had them for about a month, even got them quite wet and they survived.

Excellent for bird watching

I did a lot of research before my purchase, and these were one of my top picks. When the right price appeared on Amazon, I jumped at the purchase. Significantly better than my 20 year old Japanese made 8x28mm binoculars that I paid more for in the late 1990s. Technology does keep trickling down to lower priced items. The only minor criticism would be slight loss in clarity at the very edge of the field of view. This is not troublesome at all, and is to be expected at this price range. The Monarch 7 is better in this regard, but quite a bit more money. I would highly recommend this binocular if you find a good price. It's main competitor would be the Vortex Diamondback HD.

These are superb binoculars, A friend compared them with her much more expensive pair and wanted to swap! They are clear, sharp, comfortable and focus down to about eight feet. The diopter adjustment stays firmly in place once adjusted. The focus ring is smooth and easy to use.

Nice feel, clear optics. Kind of what you'd expect from Nikon. However, the reason I gave it four stars instead of five, is because the lens cap for the rear lens does not fit. It is so sloppy that when you tip the binoculars in any direction the lens cap simply falls off. I thought perhaps it was a packaging error so I sent them back and ordered another set. But the new set was exactly the same. There's at least 1/8 inch Gap all the way around between the cap and the lens. This is a serious flaw, for which I have contacted Nikon and will update this post if and when I hear back from Nikon. Status update: I contacted Nikon and they say this is the only lens cap that is available and that it will stay on while the binoculars are folded in for storage. Not a very satisfactory answer, so I've reduced my rating to 4 stars from 5. I am now on the search for either some other product's lens caps or a way to modify these. When you have them around your neck going through brush and tall grasses, you don't want the lens cover to fall off. A snug fit would be much better.

Enfin des jumelles qui rendent une image claire et précise. Excellent pour débuter en ornithologie et même jusqu'au niveau intermédiaire. Légère, ergonomique, étanche, semble assez robuste. Très satisfaite.