5-11-2011

About a week ago, I started testing these new Steiner Nighthunter XP's in 8x42. I am going to continue to use these in various lighting conditions as will be dictated by the weather. So far, I am very impressed by how sharp they are. Colors are nice and vivid without any unnatural appearance. The FOV is listed by Steiner to be 400 ft @ 1000 yrds and the sweet spot is very comfortable with imagines being sharp and clear in approx. 75-80% of the field of view. I'll be reporting more on these when I get the chance to use them in a rainy/overcast enviroment, low light and at night.






One of the reasons I will use these in the rain is that they are equipped with Steiner's hydrophobic lense coatings called "Nano Protection". According to Steiner, these coatings help repel water and are resistant to dirt, fingerprints and are scratch resistant as well. These 8x42's felt very comfortable in my hands and have a nice rubber armoring that provides a non-slip surface. On the back or underside are thumb rests as can be seen in the pictures above. Located on either side are click lock type fasteners for the supplied neoprene neck strap that allow the bino to rest flat against your chest. The focus wheel is smooth, without any detectable backlash and goes from lock to lock in 1 1/2 turns, the same as the Peregrine XP's. The eye cups have fold down "wings" which block side light from coming in and help prevent glare as well. The eye cups are adjustable for eyeglass wearers and have detents for various positions. Included with these bino's are a nicely padded carry case, carry strap and a neoprene ocular lense cover to keep things dry when not in use. Lastly, these new Nighthunter's are manufactured completely in Steiner's factory located in Bayreuth, Germany and carry a 30 warranty. Street price looks to be about $850.

Roy, Have you compared these to the Steiner Peregrine XP?

Not yet, but I plan on that. These are pretty darn sharp and appear to be somewhat better than the standard Peregrine from my best recollection. The standard Peregrine had a focus ratio of 1 turn lock to lock and I feel that it was a little to fast for fine focusing. That is not the case with the Nighthunter XP. I like these better than the standard Peregrine due to the slower focus ratio and the hydrophobic coatings now being used.

RD,

Really want to see what you think of these long haul. I'd have never considered the Peregrines if not for your and other members reviews. Real impressed with them so far.


Travis

I'm glad Steiner is focusing more attention on developing new roof prism bino's.

You'd look long and hard to find anything, and I mean anything tougher than a Steiner. If they're anything close to the XP (superb) that's saying something.

Durability is a Steiner strong point.

I like the "carry flat" on the chest feature. And I'd like to know if they fog on the outside of the oculars in sub zero temperatures.
What do they weigh ? E

Time will tell on the fogging issue. Steiner says they weigh about 26 ounces.

What is the price level on these Nighthunters? They look just like the Predator Xtreme Doug passed around for comment. The Nighthunter has a slightly larger fov, 400 vs 387. I wondered when I saw your photos if the Nighthnter and Predator Xtreme were pretty much the same binocular with different coating specifications, or if the differences go deeper.

The Predator did nothing to dissuade my opinion that they, like anything Steiner, will be tough.

Steve, these are going for $850. I haven't looked at the Predator Extreme, however I have owned the Peregrine and the original Predator both at the same time and in 8x42. When I stacked both it was very apparent that the Peregrine had a sharper imagine and those were listed as having "HD" optics where as the Predator did not.

I'm going to try to ask someone in the know about the glass differences, prism coatings (dielectric ?) and the warranty. I know that the Nighthunter XP does have the hydrophobic "Nano" coatings and it has a Argon/Nitrogen gas blend compared to just straight N2. I'm betting these use a higher grade of glass and prism quality.

OK these are over twice more expensive than the new Predator Xtreme. They still share an almost identical housing. So I guess my wondering about the two being differently coated versions of the same binocular are probably off track.

There was no indication with the Predator that they were HD or ED glass as far as I remember. If these are better than the original Peregrine and have a 400' fov they may be on to something here.

I wonder how these compare to the C5's that I just bought a few months ago. Which I do like, still debating the move to 10X from 8X though.

I was able to contact someone at Steiner and the two are quite different in the glass used and construction materials. The Predator uses a high tech plastic for the chassis construction and the Nighthunter XP uses a material called Makrolon which is a fiber reinforced polycarbonate material.
The prism's are dielectric coated in the Nighthunter XP and they use HD glass as well. The Nighthunter XP has a 30 year warranty and the Predator Extreme has a 10 yr warranty. As I think I said earlier, the Nighthunter XP is Argon/Nitrogen blend charged and the Predator is nitrogen charged. Lastly, the Nighthunter XP has hydrophobic lense coatings which are very durable, or as Steiner calls them, "robust".

Guys just put a set of the 10x42s up at $750 shipped Great deal. NIB Only reason I am selling as I got a pair of beat old Leica BNs and 8-12 Duovid. The Xps are as good as any glass out there. Spence

That's a good deal for someone. Heading out today in the rain to check out the "Nano" coatings. More to follow.

I have to say that I soaked these the last two days and the Nano coatings do in fact work. Water on the lenses reacted similar to what I've seen on my Elites with Rainguard coatings. Looks as if the water droplets are smaller when they hit the lense surface which makes them less visible when looking through them. I'm very impressed with these new Nighthunter XP's.

I am sure that these are great, but they look like something Prince Vulan would have carried...
Yes, it's a 1980 movie reference.

DIno in Reno

Everything there is highly functional. The wings on the eyecups fold down but they help quite a bit in blocking side light.

Those wings are one of the things I really like, (C5's) blocking the side light very effectively.

I replaced the eyecups on my 7x50 Whitetails with the winged version. They completely block out side light.

So now that I have been using these Nighthunter XP's I really becoming very fond of them. They are close optically to the Peregrine XP's I also have and they are lighter in weight. I just spent a few hours with these and their color and contrast are simply great.

Anything new to report on this bino?

I'll be using this one duringhunting season this year. Then I'll be better able to report on how well their rain/fog coatings work. I really like these alot.


Originally, I thought these weighed 26 ounces, but I satand corrected. They weigh a hair over 28 ounces.

Any new reports on these?

Did you mean Prince Vultan? (Flash Gordon)

Yup. They're my new go to bino. Excellent optics !!!

RD:
These seem worth a look, and the $1,000. price has lots
of stiff competition. I also like the Steiner winged
eyecup, very nice, for both glasses and without.

What other binoculars that are good, have you made a direct comparison with? Have you tried the Peregrine XP? They can be found for close to same price.

The Peregrine XP is better optically but only by alittle bit. I own a pair of the 8x44's and have compared them side by side. The XP's also have a more natural open type view, meaning they look less than "looking through" a binocular, if that makes any sense.

They are both XP's, so ? Other makes of binoculars you've compared
with ?

Sorry, I was referring to the Peregrine XP above. The Peregrine XP also have a sharper view to the edges or larger sweet spot. The Peregrine XP was Steiner's pull all the stop's type bino, but it just didn't compete with the mindset "big three" guys if you know what I mean. I've compared the Peregrine XP to Leica HD's, Zeiss FL's, Swaro EL's and SLC HD's and, IMO, there isn't a spit's worth of difference between them optically.