Benchmark Among Mid-sized Top-class Binoculars

I bought these mid-size Nikon binoculars to complement my full-size Zeiss binoculars and to provide a quality instrument for travel when a full-size pair of binoculars would be troublesome to carry. I was looking for a binocular that offered top-of the line resolution, excellent ergonomics, good eye relief for an eyeglass wearer and compact size with weight that was not objectionable. I did not require extremely lightweight bins, but I wanted something not too heavy either.

These binoculars are all that and a little more. The features are typical for their price and class: fully multicoated optics with low-dispersion glass elements, dry nitrogen purged, waterproof and fogproof, BAK4 Schmidt-Pechan prisms, rubber armored. The focusing is reasonably close (but not the closest in the class; Leupold and Brunton have that) and the focusing travel is smooth and quick with a minimum turn from minimum to maximum. Color rendition is true and at the same level as Leica, Swarovski and Zeiss. The available area of central sharpest focus is wide with no noticeable decrement at the edges or other aberrations at the edges of the view. While not as bright as binoculars with larger objectives--simple physics of light at work, other factors equal--they are plenty bright for daylight and shade viewing. Dusk viewing limits all except the larger-objectived and lower-powered glasses and most 8x32 binoculars would not be the best choice for viewing under those conditions. Ergonomics are very good. The eye relief is sufficient for normal style eyeglass wearing with no image blackout. IPD adjustment is easy, but this can't be locked as with the Leupold. Inter-eye adjustment is at the right ocular. The binoculars are covered in a pebbled-textured black rubber-like material that seems both cushioning as well as resistant to picking up dust. The shape of the barrels allows a relaxed cradling which I find reduces hand fatigue. The weight, a little over 630g, is easy to hold and wear and feels balanced in the hand and not front-heavy. There is a cushioned neoprene strap. An envelope style case is included along with a rainguard. The objective caps are a weakness for the quality of this binocular, untethered separate caps that come off very easily and probably would be easy to lose. They might be OK for protecting the objectives from dust when stored or when packed for travel, but they would be no use in the field.