( 41 reviews )
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( 1 of 1 found this review helpful ) Posted: Jun 1 2009
We already had the Nikon Action 8x40 which I think was reasonable quality for $60, but I was somewhat disappointed by the Action Extreme 12x50 I bought when I wanted something waterproof and with more reach. Both the Action and Action Extreme have a lot of internal reflection that causes glare around the edges during daytime viewing and from bright objects at night like the moon. This is very noticeable and I don't know why more reviewers fail to mention this. I use these mostly for bird watching, and they are decent but nothing special. The extra dollars you pay to go from the Action to the Action Extreme line must all be for the waterproofing, as my admittedly casual observation is that the optics quality is very similar to the Action series. However due to the weatherproof design, the Action Extreme is noticeably more solidly built and more likely to survive being dropped. Brightness was sufficient, as these are not fully multi-coated so I didn't expect them to be tremendously bright, especially at 12x, but they are satisfactory in that regard. It's the internal glare and lack of clarity on the outer thirds that bothers me. The adjustable eye cups work beautifully for a glasses wearer like me (and are far superior to the rubber cups that fold down on the Action model). The Nikon brand reputation was the deciding factor for me, but if you have an opportunity to get another decent waterproof set for less, I suggest comparing them if you can. I wish that I had. If you can afford it, the Nikon Monarch series promises to be substantially better than these. Overall, I was just a little let down on the image quality from these as the reviews on Amazon were mostly glowing. Many people may be comparing them to their experiences with BAK 7 prisms or other low quality binoculars, in which case these are vastly superior. I have a pair with the BAK 7 prisms and the Nikons are much, much better than those. I would still recommend them to friends but I would definitely shop around for comparable quality for less money. I suspect some of the waterproof Bushnells I've seen priced significantly less aren't much different. Of course, the way everything is sealed in plastic these days the opportunity to compare is severely limited unless you have a friendly camera shop nearby, or maybe a birding group whose members can let you see through their equipment.
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( 1 of 1 found this review helpful ) Posted: Jun 1 2009
We already had the Nikon Action 8x40 which I think was reasonable quality for $60, but I was disappointed by the Action Extreme 12x50 I bought when I wanted something waterproof and with more reach. Both the Action and Action Extreme have a lot of internal reflection that causes glare around the edges during daytime viewing and from bright objects at night like the moon. The clarity also suffers more than I expected from about half way out from the center to the edges. These are very noticeable and I don't know why more reviewers fail to mention this. At least the 12x50 AE don't exhibit the pincushioning that the 8x40 Action do when I pan the horizon with them! I use these mostly for bird watching, and they are decent but nothing special. The extra 90 dollars you pay to go from the Action to the Action Extreme line must all be for the waterproofing, as my admittedly casual observation is that the optics quality is very similar to the Action series. Maybe optics that Nikon have made in China don't have the quality of products they make in Japan? Brightness was sufficient, as these are not fully multi-coated so I didn't expect them to be tremendously bright, especially at 12x, but they are satisfactory in that regard. It's the internal glare and lack of clarity on the outer thirds that bothers me. The adjustable eye cups work beautifully for a glasses wearer like me and the build feels very solid, but the adjuster knob on my pair does not move as smoothly as I would like. The Nikon brand reputation was the deciding factor for me, but if you have an opportunity to get another decent waterproof set for less, I suggest comparing them if you can. I wish that I had. If you can afford it, the Nikon Monarch series promises to be substantially better than these. These were on par with cheaper Celestrons I had used, and you might do well to compare them to Bushnell and other recent Chinese imports as well. Overall, I was just a little let down on the image quality from these as the reviews on Amazon were mostly glowing. Many people may be comparing them to their experiences with BAK 7 prisms or other low quality binoculars, in which case these are vastly superior. I have a pair with the BAK 7 prisms and the Nikons are much, much better than those. I would still recommend them to friends but I would definitely shop around for comparable quality for less money. I suspect some of the waterproof Bushnells I've seen priced significantly less aren't much different. Of course, the way everything is sealed in plastic these days the opportunity to compare is severely limited unless you have a friendly camera shop nearby, or maybe a birding group whose members can let you see through their equipment.
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Posted: Jun 1 2009
We already had the Nikon Action 8x40 which I think was reasonable quality for $60, but I was disappointed by the Action Extreme 12x50 I bought when I wanted something waterproof and with more reach. Both the Action and Action Extreme have a lot of internal reflection that causes glare around the edges during daytime viewing and from bright objects at night like the moon. The clarity also suffers more than I expected from about half way out from the center to the edges. These are very noticeable and I don't know why more reviewers fail to mention this. At least the 12x50 AE don't exhibit the pincushioning that the 8x40 Action do when I pan the horizon with them! I use these mostly for bird watching, and they are decent but nothing special. The extra 90 dollars you pay to go from the Action to the Action Extreme line must all be for the waterproofing, as my admittedly casual observation is that the optics quality is very similar to the Action series. Maybe optics that Nikon have made in China don't have the quality of products they make in Japan? Brightness was sufficient, as these are not fully multi-coated so I didn't expect them to be tremendously bright, especially at 12x, but they are satisfactory in that regard. It's the internal glare and lack of clarity on the outer thirds that bothers me. The Nikon brand reputation was the deciding factor for me, but if you have an opportunity to get another decent waterproof set for less, I suggest comparing them if you can. I wish that I had. If you can afford it, the Nikon Monarch series promises to be substantially better than these. These were on par with cheaper Celestrons I had used, and you might do well to compare them to Bushnell, Oberwerk and other recent Chinese imports as well. Overall, I was just a little let down on the image quality from these as the reviews on Amazon were mostly glowing. Many people may be comparing them to their experiences with BAK 7 prisms or other low quality binoculars, in which case these are vastly superior.
