Nikon 7576 Monarch 5 8x42 Binocular (Black)

I've had these for a few months over ten years. I've traveled all over with them. They have held up very well so far. I use them mostly for wildlife viewing. I've carried them with me in my back seat for years. No issues even when my car was parked outside in the Phoenix summer. I would buy a new pair of these (or maybe the more expensive Monarch 7s) if I ever had these lost or stolen.The eye cups are very comfortable and work well. You can use them with or without glasses easily. They are light enough I never leave them at home during a hike.

I own several binoculars that I have used thru out the years. I’ve owned this Nikon binoculars several years. I really love it. It has all the features that top binoculars have. Of course Nikon makes some of the best glass. I also have Leica and Swarovski glass. Is Nikon as good? No it isn’t. Yet if you never had a Leica binocular you won’t know what you are missing. When you compare a Nikon vs a Swarovski there is a difference. The clarity of the Swarovski is the best. It also has other technical differences that one would see if they knew about it. I use the Nikon for night viewing. I can see plenty of stars, star clusters, some galaxies, the moon, and planets. It’s also good for comets. When do I use the Leica, when I need the best optical quality. I can find a galaxy much faster with a Leica or Swarovski binocular. Of course they will still be little. Even with a telescope they only appear a bit larger. These are also great for concerts or sporting events if the venue allows them. Some venues will allow a smaller binocular then some have banned binoculars. Which is dumb as some phones have telephoto lens capabilities. Also a plus for glass wearers is the eye cups are highly adjustable as well as the diopter adjustment. The Nikon binoculars feel very well built.

I'm a product designer, and as such, I like to inspect the quality of the things I buy and figure out why certain choices were made. It is my opinion that the eyepiece lens caps were made slightly large on purpose, not by mistake. The injection molding on them are too clean for it to be a mistake, and they're obviously too large for them to be designed with a snug fit. If you look in the instruction book, some of the first pictures in it show you how to attach the (included) neck strap and how to properly connect the lens caps to the strap. When using the binoculars as they're intended, that is wearing them around the neck, the lens caps stay in place quite well. When it comes time to use them, though, the lens cap easily lift off of the eyepieces and hand from the strap out of place. When you let the binoculars hang from your next afterwards, the caps fall over the eyepieces and protect them. Since they face upwards, having them protected helps ward off rain, debris, or sunlight shining directly into the lenses. If they were any more snug, they would not work in this way. Yes, it would be nice if they were a bit more snug, as it would make it easier to use them without the neck strap, but that's the way it is. I also wonder how much they'd wear into the rubber eyepieces if they had a more snug fit. Sometime down the line I may design up and 3D print some more snug lens caps and will post the files online, so keep an eye out for those.Well enough about that, now on to the binoculars themselves. In a word, they're spectacular. I'm used to some of the older and larger Porro prism binoculars or the smaller, cheap roof prism type. But regardless of style, I've never looked through a nicer pair of optics.Before buying these, whenever I was out somewhere in nature, I'd always wished I had some nice binoculars with me, and since I have a big trip coming up, I thought I'd spend the money on a nice pair, and these blew me away. The very close minimum viewing distance is nice, as it makes looking at birds and squirrels a lot of fun. The long distance adjustment works very well, too. Looking past the optics, I wanted a pair that would be small enough to carry with me and won't be a burden (like while camping), but something large enough to provide good magnification. These are pretty much just the right size, as they're easily packable, but still large enough to feel good in the hand and have just enough weight to easily hold them steady. The rubber coating has a nice feel, and I think it should be able to protect them well. The objective lenses are set back enough that I don't have to worry about them taking damage if it bumps up against something flat. The objective lens covers are very nice and snap on tight. The tripod mount threading is nice, as securing it to something with legs really helps with stability.I am looking forward to using these more thoroughly on our trip and will try to post back about how well they work.

Bought these to take on a ferry ride from Bellingham WA to Juneau AK and anyone who did not have binoculars with them was regretting it. I haven't owned a pair of binoculars before so I can't give you a comparison review, but I was very impressed by the detail I was seeing from about 1/2 mile away from the shore I would say and often more. I was able to clearly see a pair of bald eagles roosting at the top of a fir tree on an island and without the binoculars, it would have been hard to tell what was in the tree. I almost wish I had gotten a pair with greater magnification but these were about as expensive or as heavy as I wanted to go, and were really excellent for all but the farthest distances. They are easy to use, whether wearing eyeglasses or not. They are easy to focus. They are reasonably small and light, small enough for me to take to europe on my next trip there for sure, when I travel with a shoulder bag and one carry-on rolling bag, so I watch every square inch and every ounce. I see what folks were saying about the cover that goes over the eyepieces to protect them-- mine fell off the neck cord a couple of times and eventually I just put it away. But in another situation (ie not outside on a windy rainy ferryboat) it wouldn't be such an issue. One thing to keep in mind is that the soft case itself has no shoulder strap or neck strap-- so when I took out the binocs, I was having to tuck the case somewhere safe so it wouldn't blow away. But it makes sense not to have 2 neck straps, and obviously for safety reasons one must have a neck strap for the binoculars themselves, so it's a functional design. Once you have the binocs back in the case, of course, the neck strap for the binocs becomes a neckstrap for the whole combo. All in all, I think this is was an excellent purchase for me. I note that these are advertised as fogfree etc and they certainly were perfect that way, as I went inside the warmer ferry interior and then back outside into what was often a biting rainy wind on the ferry deck. What a trip it was, and I wouldn't have seen 1/3 of it without these great binoculars.