Buy or don't buy - Nikon Monarch Gold 2.5-10x50 SF Rifle Scopes

1-29-2011 After reading reviews and doing my homework I purchased this scope thinking I would get a scope that would rival the European scopes. The pros for this scope are it does have extremely clear optics under low light conditions, the BDC reticle is pretty much dead on accurate and allowed me to kill a deer at 393 yds this season but you need to use Nikon's software, print out a ballistics table and tape it to the stock of your rifle for a quick reference chart.

The cons and weigh these before making your purchase. The occular lense does not have a looking ring, when I was using a climbing treestand I would hook the rifle sling over my shoulder,around my head/neck and when I would get settled and look through my scope the crosshairs would be out of focus more times than not and I would have to reset the occular lense for crosshair clarity. The first time this happened was on the 393yd shot and it took me a few minutes to figure out what happened because all of my other scopes have lock rings and i was not expecting this to be an issue. Question, what happens if you throw up for a quick shot and you can't see the target because of the out of focus crosshairs? The second con is the rubber eye cup tries to come off. I noticed this when I was using my climbing stand as well and the gun was slung over the shoulder and around the neck/head. We have all become accustom to higher quality products coming from Japan and this scope was made in Japan but I also ordered a pair of Nikon's upscale binoculars at the same time I ordered the scope and the binocular box has "Made in China" on it so ask before you purchase. "Made in China" is not really what I expected from Nikon. I did have a friend who is hunting with a Nikon Prostaff tell me he thought lower end Nikon scopes were made in China and the upper end scopes were made in Japan and/or Germany. The field of view is not that of a German scope either.
I anticipate using glow in the dark paint and putting a dot on both the scope and occular eye piece for easy reference points.
I purchased the scope online for approximately $540 and Nikon was running a $50 rebate at the time so for the money I would say I got a pretty good buy and will probably purchase another as long as I get the discount. I do like the BDC software and it will allow me to switch the scope from a 7mm Rem Mag to a 375 H&H to a .223 and still print out accurate ballistics.

If the discount was not there then I would have to seriouly think about going back to the old standby, Leupold.










Pros: very clear optic, very good light transmission at dawn, dusk & over cast skies
Cons: occular eyepiece does not lock, field of view is more narrow than anticipated, rubber eye piece tries to come off

This review was written in the old system and had content requirements that are different than reviews written today.