We have been considering the purchase of new mid-range binoculars and, after reading much promotional blurb and user reviews, decided on the Nikon Monarch 8×42 with 8×32 as second choice.
Could anyone with experience of these please give us their opinion. As a caution to others attempting binocular selection, I append the following:
In Australia, prices vary enormously between stores by as much as 100%. We could buy from the US, where prices are about half the lowest Australian price on offer and this option is currently helped by our strong dollar. Cost of postage/shipping and insurance is little, compared with the price saving, and no customs duty or GST apply under $1000. There is, however, further confusion over the Nikon warranty. Companies offering to sell and ship well-priced binoculars then ask for extended warranty payments, suggesting two or three years. Next I found an Australian company offering these binoculars at a price little more than US prices; again with extended warranty information. So I contacted Nikon about their manufacturer’s international warranty and asked why I should need to take out a retailers’ extended warranty.
Nikon informed me that their warranty only applies to approved importers, where transport, storage and marketing are controlled. There are illegal importers, they said, often operated via crime syndicates in Hong Kong and these offer binoculars at much cheaper prices. If you buy from ‘grey’ retailers who have obtained binoculars through these channels, then the Nikon warranty is voided. Grey retailers offer extended warranties to replace the voided Nikon warranty and the offset the low cost at which they sell.
So, we are back to looking at reputable Australian retailers who publicise the fact that they are not ‘grey’ importers. We’ll pay more but can rely on our product and its warranty.
===============================
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line) to: birding-aus-request@vicnet.net.au
http://birding-aus.org ===============================
Comments
One response to “Nikon binocular prices”
I’ve had Nikon Monarch 8x42s for over a year, and I’m happy with them. I’d prefer a wider field of view like my old Bushnell Legend porros, but their field of view is fairly standard and I’m used to it now.
I thought it would be good to have tethered objective covers, but they eventually started falling off all the time, like everyone else’s, so I’ve removed them to avoid losing them. I wear glasses, so the eyecups are always down, but I’m heard complaints, possibly from owners of previous models, of eyecups eventually coming off if they’re raised and lowered a lot.
There have been several Monarch series, mine are sometimes called the Monarch III, and I assume that’s what you’d be getting.
I think I paid about $330 from B&H in the USA, including shipping, and I don’t recall anything about extended warranties. I have a vague memory of confirming that the warranty would be valid here, but I’m not sure. At that price, providing they arrive in working order, it’s not that big a risk. I think at the time I would have had to pay at least $500-$600 to buy them in a shop here, so with the savings I could just buy another pair if something happened.
Would an extended warranty bought from a dodgy dealer be worth the expense?
Peter Shute
===============================
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
http://birding-aus.org ===============================