Hi,
We are trying to decide on which brand of compact binoculars to purchase for cross country skiing. We both have 8 x 42 for birding but they are too large for skiing. We are interested in the Nikon 8x2o LXL's due to the price unless the Zeiss 8x20's are much better. We mostly bird but do ski all winter. We would like to have binoculars of this size so that we could always have them with us. Even for a trip to town for milk. We live in a remote location and have been to all the stores looking to try these binoculars and none carry them even though we have tried the Zeiss as they are owned by some friends. Any comments would be appreciated. Thanks, Yvette
Optically the Nikon LXL are superb, so if you are OK with the little finger driven focus, they're an awesome bino (and I note that their price has dropped recently, at least at Eagle Optics).
The challenge I think you'll face w/using them during skiing is that the exertion of skiing will cause your muscles to be more shakey than usual, which makes using such a tiny, lightweight bino quite challenging. You might want to use a ski pole as a monopod, or poles as a bipod.
--AP
[QUOTE=Alexis Powell;1367182]Optically the Nikon LXL are superb, so if you are OK with the little finger driven focus, they're an awesome bino (and I note that their price has dropped recently, at least at Eagle Optics).
The challenge I think you'll face w/using them during skiing is that the exertion of skiing will cause your muscles to be more shakey than usual, which makes using such a tiny, lightweight bino quite challenging. You might want to use a ski pole as a monopod, or poles as a bipod.
--AP[/QUOTE]
I always take mine skiing.
Never find muscle shake too much of a problem when you have been sitting in a bar drinking 'vin chaud' for 3 hours, after that the alcohol shakes take over....
I have a pair of Nikkon Travelite 8x25's; they are small enough and cheap enough that if you have a crash it's not the end of the world.