Nikon Monarch M5 8x42 Binocular | Waterproof, fogproof, Rubber-Armored Binocular with ED Glass, Long Eye Relief | Official Nikon USA Model

Really well built, great clarity, has built in lens caps and most importantly has phenomenal eye relief (specifically the 8x42) to allow for ease of use with glasses. On sale it's a good value and has a good carrying case

Great all purpose binoculars. I'm not a pro birder or anything, but have compared these against others owned by serious birders & guides that I have encountered while traveling and they stand up very well. They are sturdy, easy to handle, good strap & case. Very good low-light and close-focus characteristics.

I have had problems with binoculars in the past, usually problems with collimation. These were perfect. Focus was exquisite. The optics are great. These are now my go-to general purpose binoculars for bird watching or other generic use. I have 15x70 for star gazing and 10x50 for upclose viewing. The 8x42 binoculars are easier to hold steady than the 10x50's and have a wider field of view. So far, I'm very impressed. They have more than enough adjustment to deal with looking through glasses or the naked eye. I have discovered no drawbacks yet.

Very clear picture, bright and easy to see things with. Great binoculars for the price.

Really good optics, sharp bright image day and night. Nice small size and sturdy tight build. I would have liked a wider view but this is still a pretty perfect binocular for my needs. I had to replace the strap as the one provided was not comfortable for carrying when hiking, not enough padding for me.

Very clear. Focus adjusts easily and precisely. Great for hunting and bird watching. Only drawbacks are eye covers fall off and no tripod mount

I have acquired 5 binoculars, of various but reasonably similar powers, and decided to do a sit down test of all of them at one time. I figured this was better than just writing individual reviews of each as a binocular can seem quite good in the absence of anything to compare it to. I was primarily interested in if they are able to keep the whole field in focus, ie when it is focused on the center of the field are the outside edges in focus. I was also interested in chromatic aberration. These are the binoculars I tested in order of quality:NIKON Monarch M5 8x4212x42 Powerful Binoculars with Clear Weak Light Vision AdorrgonIBQ Binoculars For Adults HD,12x50 High Power Binoculars Sold by: IBQ Tech15x52 HD Binoculars for Adults High Powered with Upgraded Phone Adapter - GIGAPENGUINIBQ Binoculars For Adults HD,12x30 Binoculars with Upgraded Phone AdapterSold by: IBQ CenterMy test was to attempt to focus on some willow trees with fine branches and fine leaves set against a white background of clouds. This I figured was excellent for figuring out if they had a clear field of view from edge to edge. I was also good to see if they had a chromatic aberration issue. I would inspect the interfaces of the branches and the clouds and look for color at the edges this would get obvious if you went a little bit out of focus you see a rainbow reddish color at the edges which indicates chromatic aberration which is not good. By far the best were the Nikon Monarch M5 Binoculars 8×42 6.4° field of view. The one I tested it runs about $250 but can often be obtained for around $200 in the “used like new” category. All the others were much less expensive but frankly so much worse that they are not worth buying with one possible exception namely the 12X42 from Adorrgon. I would say 80% of the field of view was focused with the Monarch which also gets good ratings on birding websites and was the favorite of the group for a South African safari we recently went on. The 12 x 42 Adorrgon was OK, I would say it was focusing about 60% of the field of view was in focus was in focus when you focus on the edge, the third was the 12×50 from IBQ. It was getting to the level of unacceptable with only about 40% of the field in focus. The fourth on my list was the most recent purchase Gigapenguin 15 x 52 with about 30% of the field of view in focus but even then the focus was uneven and showed muddy colors. For all except the Nikon monarch, the cases had a cheap feel. Overall, all but Nikon showed a lot of spheric aberration in other words if you were a little bit out of focus, you saw these rainbows on the edges of the leaves and branches and they were muddy overall. One important point is that the monarch was only 8 power, with the others having higher powers up to 15 power. Generally, I think people pick binoculars thinking that the higher power the better. This is usually not correct, the higher the power generally the more the issues you have with them optically they are also the heavier, longer and they are and have a shallower field of focus and are harder to get a good focus all the way across. Number five on my list was the 12 x 30 IBQ. I couldn't get the entire field in focus at all about 30% was in focus. For this and the Gigapenguin you couldn't even focus on the edge of the field. If you would take your eye and look at the edge of the field and try to bring it into focus and that wasn't possible so it means that there's bad optics to the binocular overall. I would say that the only binocular of these six worth purchasing with the Nikon monarch M5. They do a complete set of these various powers and fields of view, mine 8 x 42 is really nice solid binocular. It cost about three to five times what the others cost. This second one was the 12x42 Adorrgon which was acceptable and a whole lot cheaper than the Nikon at $40-$48 and none of the rest really are worth purchasing at all IMO.

I read a lot of reviews and decided to try these. They are great. We can sit on our back porch and watch wildlife in the fields behind our house. Even early morning and late afternoon the visibility is outstanding. Very easy to use and weight is no problem. Well worth the money.