After looking through a sample, I ordered a pair of the new Monarch 16x56; we'll see how they do...

They oughta be sweet for dusk and dawn in a big field.

Any comparison between these and the 15x vortex viper HD's since they are in a close price group? I'm certainly in the market for a set like this?

Jon

I have not yet seen any of the Vortex 15x's so no opinion on them. Cabelas had the Nikons, and the example I saw looked really good, looking around in the not-so-bright store. Plus I am a Nikon camera guy, so have some trust in them. It is supposed to be a new design, and when Nikon decides to do it, they can do really good optics. The price was $796, which is cheaper than the Vortex Kaibab, and a bunch less than Euro glass

The other optic to take a look through would be the Minox German BL 15x56 which will be superior to the Nikon Monarch at a lower price

"VOLKSWAGEN DESIGN" 38.1 oz. light wt. for a 56mm!

The Vipers aren't very good as 15s, the Kaibabs are good, but the price reflects that. A decent 12X50 is better than the viper 15X50... anyway, hopefully an experienced bigeye glasser like Enrique can get ahold of the Nikons and review/compare them against the standard.

Kent

Thanks for the input on this guys! Kent you Coues hunters are the experts on this topic. Your input is def valued

Jon

You must be getting ready to go on a coues deer hunt. Me too. I'm taking an obsolete Docter 15x60 porro glass.

Jon, hope you're doing well buddy... I can't give a good review of the 56+ objective roofs because my eyes are too close together to use them. I've looked through plenty of others glass and tried the 50 and 45 objectives, they suck. The big porros are what I use, you get better glass for the money, the flip side is more weight and size.

The Kaibabs barely work for me and if I ever decide to spend another 1200 on glass again, that's what I would get.

For the pure budget minded roofs, the Minox in 13 or 15 wins.

Kent

Those docters will make you go blind!... LOL... nice glass!

Kent

The minox 13x in my opinion is far superior to the minox 15's kent.

The new 12x50 swaros are indeed pretty amazing.

Halfway to Coues. Far west Texas Mule Deer

They did arrive yesterday, and so far the ergos, fit and finish look very nice. Taking some real quick looks, without a tripod, the images in low light look sharp and contrasty. We'll see how they work in the desert - in conjunction with a pair of Zeiss Victory 10x56

No deer in the cooler, but in any case I worked about half and half with the Zeiss Victory 10x56B T* P* and the Nikons. The Nikons do allow more detail to be observed, compared to the Zeiss, but not a lot more. Of course, a later version of the Victory might narrow the gap. And you really need a tripod or solid rest to see the difference.

Ar some point I'll look at the premium Euro glass in 15x or greater, but after this hunt I'd say the Nikons are a pretty good buy.

I am hoping to try a set of the top end Nikon 18x70 Astrolux binoculars this coming spring bear season. They should do well for Coues as well.

Swarovski's new 15x56 will also be available by early 2014. I suspect they will be "OK".