Good glass, poor lens covers - Nikon Monarch 5 8x42mm Roof Prism Binoculars

I've owned the Monarchs in 10x42 for years and use them extensively in my work, as well as for hunting & recreation. For the price point, they are a great value. The glass is clear and bright, color rendition is good, aberrations are minimal in this range. The armor is tough, the twist up eyepieces are nice, the right ocular lens adjustment is a bit too tight, but it stays put, The focus knob is smooth, not too tight or too loose, and the knob is big enough and rubber coated with serrations that work well with gloves or bare fingers. Field of view is good, too.

Beware the lens caps. The ocular (eye piece) lens caps are junk. The primary job of a lens cap is to protect the lenses. Lens are typically damaged in one of 3 ways, broken while dropped, scratched by an object, or damaged through improper cleaning. The ocular covers fit so loosely, they constantly fall off. Nikon Customer Support claims they are designed this way, so when you lift the binoculars, the cap naturally falls off & remains attached to the straps. Unfortunately, this "feature" is a big fail in the real world.

If you are active at all, while wearing these bino's; hiking, hunting, even moving from place to place on anything other than level ground, or in a windy area, the caps will fall off leaving your lenses unprotected. While they may not get scratched, they can. The real world problem is the lenses will get dirty and dusty. Blowing sand can be a disaster. You're outside, need to clean your lenses and the opportunity to scratch the lenses or wear off the lens coating rises. Did you bring a lens pen? How about a soft cloth? Were you able to get the sand off before wiping the lens clean? Did you use your shirt or a paper tissue to clean the lens? Do you like cleaning your lenses every 1/2 hour while hiking or hunting?

The objective lens caps are better, but a PITA. They are a rubberized plastic, attached to the barrels. There was a slight redesign a few years back. Initially, there was just an inside lip on the lens cap that was press fit into the barrels. Nikon added an outside lip to grip a little better. These mostly work OK. The tethers are a bit tight and tend to pull on one side, popping the lens cover off at times. Another PITA is when in use, the caps seem to pop into your view at the worst possible time. Murphy must be a free accessory. Eventually, a plastic tether will break and you may lose a lens cap. Be careful you don't scratch the objective lenses and clean them properly! The good news is Nikon will send you new ones, but it can take 4-6 weeks where your lenses are at risk. Do yourself a favor and contact Nikon Customer Support to get a "new" set of objective lens caps and store them in your case.

For a really good product, it is a shame Nikon has cheaped out on the lens cover design. While mostly a small issue, the lens covers are a constant annoyance and reminder every time you use the bino's. I now carry a small supply of rubber bands in my case. I use one over each barrel to keep the lens covers on. It's a pain, and you have to change them out every so often, but it works.