My Celestron Outland 8x42 binocular is falling apart. It started with one of the oculars coming off the tube then the other one did the same. They screw into the tubes to the right and the eyecups twist so either twisting them up or back down, I don't remember which way, you are twisting opposite the direction of the ocular in the tube. I suspect that this has loosened them as I always twist them down when I put them away so the next time I use them without my glasses, which is as much as possible, I have to twist them again. Then one of the plastic loops for the neck strap broke. That is probably a result of my putting split rings in them which get twisted and put stress on the plastic when they are in the neoprene carry bag. I had a two shoulder suspender-type elastic strap attached to the split rings in place of the thin stock neck strap. The iPad was over top of the suspension system so there was a lot of stress on that little plastic bar and it failed. The binocular has a lifetime no fault warranty so I could have it repaired or replaced (probably with a refurbished binocular) for $25 but that would leave me without a suitable binocular for a month.
Nixon got in bed with She Safaris to market a binocular to women. The binocular is a standard Monarch ATB that has a brown rubber skin in place of the normal black and bears a gold She sticker on the hinge. It has a nice wide neck strap with the She logo embossed all over it. They include a trunk that is supposed to serve as a handbag that has a little pocket sewn in the bottom to store the binocular. The marketing gambit failed and B&H picked up the remaining stock, probably for a song, and are selling them for half the cost of the same binocular in black, $119.00.
I tried them out at home looking at printed text posted on my wall and my feeling was that they were brighter than the Celestron binocular even though they are higher magnification and a smaller aperture (10x36 vs 8x42). They also have a slightly smaller field of view although they both claim 6°.
Sunday turned out to be clearer than forecast so Peter and I met at Bryant Park. He was supposed to be studying and I was going to do my solar observations. I took both binoculars with me to compare them in the outdoors. Peter agreed that the Nikon was the brighter binocular. The focus is smooth and the image crisp. The tubes are shorter than the Celestron so feel cramped but that is something I will probably get used to. The objective covers have a terrible way of attaching to the neck strap and will quickly be lost so will have to remain at home or in a pocket until I come up with a better attachment scheme.
Yesterday I used them on the birding tour. I was oblivious to the change from the Celestron except for the fact that I can hang the Nikon around my neck. When I was looking at birds I was unconscious of it being a smaller binocular and I don't notice the increase in magnification. That is what I want in a binocular. I don't want to be conscious that it is there the way I was with my old West Marine binocular.
Last night Peter asked if I would pick up a binocular for him so I did that today. I also bought myself a small, but larger than I wanted, camera bag to transport the binocular in.
