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  1. Alexis Powell

    Monarch 82ED, a Perfect Ten

    According to the Nikon catalog, the 24-48x for the Monarch 60ED (= 30-60x on the 82 ED) is just as wide at its lowest setting of 24x as the 30x (= 38x on the 82 ED) fixed eyepiece. Both are 2.5 degrees, or 132 feet at 1000 yards (whereas at 16x your current zoom is only slightly wider at 2.6...
  2. Alexis Powell

    Monarch 82ED, a Perfect Ten

    Any of the Nikon fixed eyepieces will be quite wide compared to that zoom. I am not familiar enough w/other eyepieces to provide recommendations, but I can tell you that the problem of becoming dark at high magnification is not a problem that can be solved with a different eyepiece. That is just...
  3. Alexis Powell

    Monarch 82ED, a Perfect Ten

    An excellent bit of information. Much appreciated! --AP
  4. Alexis Powell

    Monarch 82ED, a Perfect Ten

    What's the secret to Nikon's success? Proper manufacture and assembly of the objective cell unit? Side-stepping most issues with prisms by using a porro rather than roof? Both of the above? Or something else? --AP
  5. Alexis Powell

    Monarch 82ED, a Perfect Ten

    If you get one that is a perfect 10, it will almost certainly be better than the others. Nikon scopes are hard to beat until you get to the very top-end models, in which case their optical performance and durability is still hard to beat but others can be better when it comes to zoom eyepiece...
  6. Alexis Powell

    Monarch 82ED, a Perfect Ten

    If, like me, you aren't using low powers for their wider exit pupil or their greater DOF, then 30x can be a fine magnification as the low end, as long as the FOV is large. So for me, it's all about the FOV specification, which varies quite a lot between models these days. These past two summers...
  7. Alexis Powell

    Monarch 82ED, a Perfect Ten

    Here are a couple of the threads that I remember best on adapting astro eyepieces to the fieldscopes: https://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?p=2881206 https://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=322702 --AP
  8. Alexis Powell

    Monarch 82ED, a Perfect Ten

    Wide zooms are a nice innovation and are certainly the way of the future as the default eyepiece on scopes. However, for the sort of birding that I do, which has the primary goal of IDing birds (i.e. it is birding, not bird watching), I don't find magnifications above 30x very useful (except in...
  9. Alexis Powell

    Monarch 82ED, a Perfect Ten

    I don't disagree with the above responses, but to add a cautionary note, it depends on what you mean by "really does compete with the very best at about half the price." If your concern is optical quality with respect to resolution of either zoom or fixed power eyepieces, and to FOV and eye...
  10. Alexis Powell

    Monarch 82ED, a Perfect Ten

    This is a welcome improvement. I have always found it a bit difficult to focus the Nikon 78ED and 82ED Fieldscopes precisely when using them at 75x. I wish variable-ratio focus were used in more bins and scopes. --AP
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