Telescope Reviews: 10x40 Nikon... What is it ???

From the ad: "view is as god as Nikon LX HG"

Even if he had written "as good," that would still have been an exaggeration.

I'm surprised Hallelujah didn't pick up on that typo! :-)

This is the third pair of pre-LX HG roofs I've seen for sale on eBay, and all the sellers were from Canada.

I don't remember them being sold in the US, but I think 1992 was before I became interested in bins. I was still into telescopes.

Americans got the Sporters. I bought the 8x36 model. It was my first small roof bin (I already had a 9x63 Jap. roof with Abbe-Koenig prisms), and it was also the first bin I owned with twist-up eyecups.

I liked the eyecups, the generous ER and FOV, and the usual Japanese Nikon superior edge sharpness, but I noticed that the images were "soft" compared to my porros (at the time, the original Jap.-made 8x42 Ultralite and Jap.-made 8x32 Celestron Ultima).

I was also amazed that the images looked larger than 8x, particularly at close range.

However, I didn't like the ergonomics, but that's true of almost every close bridged roof I've tried.

The only roof bin I've used hand held that felt as comfortable in my hands and that I could hold as steady as a porro was the new Nikon 10x42 EDG (actually, steadier than the views through the 10x42 SE).

No doubt it's much better optically than the pre-phase coated HG and Sporter, but the $1,650 price difference ($2K) is a huge amount of money to pay for improvements, which for the most part, were made to correct the inherent deficiencies in the roof prism design in order to make it as "god" as much less expensive porros.

It should therefore come as no surprise that I think the industry has gone in the wrong direction by putting almost all their R & D and innovations into roof prism bins.

Having tried a 505 Nikon SE recently (the next to last production run), with updated coatings that give it almost as much contrast and color depth as my LX roofs, I can imagine what Nikon could have done with the SE and EII series had they continued their evolution instead of damning them to extinction.

The internal focus Leupold Cascades cost only $200. They have the best ergonomics I've ever had the pleasure to hold in my hands. When I picked them up for the first time, my fingers and palms fell in just the right position without any effort, and they have extra cushioning right where my thumbs rest underneath. Wonderful to hold!

The Cascades optics were good, but not spectacular, however, the stingy FOV was claustrophobic.

I also didn't like the thin, finger pricking, "on the focuser" diopter adjustment wheel (which adjusted the LEFT EP).

Didn't like the "on the focuser" right diopter adjustment wheel on the EDG either, though it is more comfortable to use, but not easy to find.

Put SE-quality optics in that Chinese-made Cascades body, expand the FOV to at least 7.5*, keep the internal focuser, make a click-stop right diopter ring on the right EP, and then add field flatteners and ED glass, and for a fraction of the cost of an alpha roof, you'd have a porro as waterproof as the $2,000 EDG, and optically, as good as (if not better than) the EDG.

All I can say about the sad fact that Nikon abandoned its high-end porros so it could compete with the Big Three alpha bin makers is "Ain't That A Shame":

FATS

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B'rock, son of Grilka
Member of the House of Kozak
Klingon Poet-Warrior
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"The character of a Klingon poet-warrior is measured not only by the metal of his blade--but also by the mettle of his words."