They are here! Today is Monday, I ordered the Nikon SE 8x32 on Saturday afternoon, and they are on my doorstep when I get home tonight after work. I cannot believe at the speed of how quickly I received them. They are here.
I opened the box--which is brand new and has never been opened before--and remove the SEs. Yup, the aperture lens caps are hard to remove. I will have to look into the Bushwacker caps # 6, recommended by Brock over at the Cloudy Days and Microscopes forum here at Cloudy Nights. They are here.
It is 7:30 p.m., dark outside--but who cares? They are here.
I place the SEs against my face. Oh, how nice they feel in my hands. The armor cover acts as if it was made for my fingertips. Man, Nikon knew what they were doing when they designed this baby. They are here.
When I first look through them I see black outs. But, I have not adjusted to my 67mm IPD. So I adjust the oculars to my eye width. Perfect fit. No black outs. They are here.
I aim for the house two streets over. The house has a street light at the corner and the roof and chimney is well let. I gasp--and I have not even touched the focus knob. They are here.
I focus on the lighted chimney. I gasp twice: Gasp! Gasp! I have never seen such clarity Every millimeter of the view is so clear. And this is night with 32mm apertures. I cannot believe it. Inside, my Fujinon 7x50 must be crying. They are here.
I walk inside and wrap them back up in the plastic that they came in. I want to place a few slits in the aperture caps before I put them back on. I also want to try the Bushwackers. They are here.
My wife calls out: "What did you get in your package?"
I quickly hide the box and packing. "Oh, nothing much," I shout from behind my closed study door. They are here, this time whispering to myself.
Oh, I will confess the deed. They are my Christmas present and my wife has not bought anything for me, yet. Anyway, I thought I would have till Friday--four more days--to prepare the unveiling. They are here.
A friend over at the Cloudy Nights forum will be disappointed. But they are here. And the EIIs are there in England and I am here and they are here and I can touch them and I hold them in my hands and I can watch the sunrise in the morning with them and . . . They are here.
I check my e-mail. There is a reply from Warehouse Express of Norwich, England. I sent them an e-mail yesterday asking about inventory of the EIIs and delivery to Kentucky. I open the reply and read that they currently are unable to deliver to the USA. That's OK. That's fine. That's perfect. Because--the SEs are here with me in my Kentucky study. They are here.
And I am so excited. I want to thank everyone who . . . Wait that will be another post, tomorrow's post. This is tonight's post. The unveiling post. The shouting post. The bouncing post. They are here.
Yes, I will submit more reports on the SEs. I am already thinking of some face-offs with the Swift Audubon 820 ED 8.5x44, and, yes, even a faceoff with the king of my optical case, the Fujinon FMT-SX 7x50. Will Fuji be cast down from the throne? Will SE wear the crown, earn the No. 1 spot in my optical case? We shall see in the months ahead. They are here.
. . .
Can you tell that I am excited?
--Bob
Kentucky, USA