By way of retraction - Nikon ProStaff 5 12x50mm Roof Prism Binocular

I have in the past written some partially damning reviews of the Nikon Prostaff 5 12x50 roof prism bins, how they don't adapt to a tripod and such, venting my annoyance at having to get a universal tripod mount rather than a simple L-adapter, etc.
At this time, though, in light of my first experience with them, this time astronomically, I feel compelled to express how satisfied I am with their performance. Last night - well, actually early this morning - with one of the best skies I've had in some time and late enough for Canis Major to give way to the rather comparatively bleak array of stars in Puppis, rife as it is with open clusters of many descriptions, I began at M41 (CMa) South of Sirius, an easy find, widely scattered starburst as it is, first notably written about by Aristotle in 325 B.C.; then naturally going East to the smaller diffuse glow around NGC 2360 (still in the big dog's yard), more difficult but conspicuous with averted vision; now Puppis: here where the treat of three Messier objects beckons - first one scopes out M 93, a fine triangular glow in the 12xs; I found quickly M's 46 & 47, only around a degree apart. 46 is a haze of about 100 members, mag. 9-13, so not resolvable at 12x; I read that there's a tiny planetary, NCC 2438, 11 Mag. and but 65" wide invisibly lurking there; now continuing on M 47 is a glittering 4.5 mag. jewelbox outshining the other 2 handily. I could go on, but I spent much more of the rather frigid night peering at all 5 clusters, until I decided that these roofers were easily equal in my opinion to the Porro 11.5xs I had been using...