My name is Bill and I’m a bincuholic. I am new to this forum, having joined just a few days ago. So here is my problem: I have not bought any binoculars in over three months! I need a fix!
I mostly use 6.5 and 7X binos but I’m thinking of trying another 10X. I have tried four so far and none were satisfactory.
First was a Zeiss Jena Dekarem. I like this one pretty well but the 1980s coatings are not up to modern standards, the diopter setting drifts all over the place, and the construction is not very tough or weather resistant. I’ll keep it anyway, but not for birding.
Second was a Swift Ultra 10X42 Model 962 porro. It was spectacularly bright and sharp in the center, but had a small field and a relatively small sweet spot. It also had significant stray light problems.
Third was a Swift Ultralite 10X42 Model 762. It had a very pleasant view with a nice, big 6.6 degree field and a smooth, pre-weather-proofing focus. I thought I had found the perfect 10X rig until I discovered that it was completely debilitated by stray light.
Fourth was a Stokes 10X42 DLS. It seemed nice at first but the focus was too fast (for me anyway) and I had trouble aligning it to my eyes perfectly, which caused a CA problem. Also, it didn’t seem as sharp in the center as the Swift 962 and the view was not as easy.
So now I’m ready to try another 10X and need advice. I suspect that the 10X50 SLC would be ideal for me, since I wear glasses and like big exit pupils, but I don’t want to splash out that kind of money. Zen Rays are interesting to me since I’m very happy with the 7X36. Cameraland is selling Zen Ray ED1 demos for $300, which seems like a fairly good buy. A new ED2 is about $100 more. Is it worth the difference? Or is the new ZRS HD the way to go? The bigger field of the Zen EDs is attractive, but 6 degrees is probably fine if the field is pretty flat. I’ll likely have to do the “glasses flip” with all of these but that’s alright. I looked at a Leupold 10X50 and loved the bright, sharp, easy view, but the field was way too small. What else should I be looking at?
Bill
Hi Bill,
I'm not really a 10x guy--you have tried more 10xs than me. But one 10x that I think would impress anybody is the Nikon 10x42 SE. My brother in law has one, and I recently got to cuddle up to it some on a visit. Most 10x don't seem to have the snap of 7x or 8x to me. But this thing is awesome, keeps up with my 8x42 Zeiss FL, and with a near perfect edge to boot. If you don't need waterproofing, super wide field (it's 60deg apparent), and the sleek roof design, or course. Also, if you can find one, since they seem to be fading out of existence.
Uh, go Toppers!
Ron
I agree with Ron. Get a Nikon 10 x 42 SE!
I was using my 10 x 42 SE yesterday afternoon and evening and I kept wondering why I even used another 10X binocular! And I have and often use the Nikon 10 x 32 LX L and the Nikon 10 x 35 EII both of which are outstanding!
Bob