Nikon Monarch HG 10x42 Review, By Matt Cashell

[Justin Crossley]

The optics professor is back with another great binocular review. The Nikon Monarch HG 10X42 looks like a great mid-priced option for the guys looking for premium glass without paying top tier prices.

Nikon Monarch HG 10X42 Review

 

[Tag_Soup]

Wow! I will definitely be checking these out. Thanks Matt! If anyone gets a chance to stack these up against some SLC's, that would be a great review to see. I don't expect them to top the swaro's, but I have long been looking for something that comes in close to SLC performance at a light weight.

 

[Justin Crossley]

Wow! I will definitely be checking these out. Thanks Matt! If anyone gets a chance to stack these up against some SLC's, that would be a great review to see. I don't expect them to top the swaro's, but I have long been looking for something that comes in close to SLC performance at a light weight.

I didn't review these by any means but Matt let me check them out at bear camp compared to my Swarovski EL 10x42 and they held their own for sure. I wouldn't feel like I was missing out at all if I was carrying these Nikons on a hunt.

 

[Matt Cashell]

Wow! I will definitely be checking these out. Thanks Matt! If anyone gets a chance to stack these up against some SLC's, that would be a great review to see. I don't expect them to top the swaro's, but I have long been looking for something that comes in close to SLC performance at a light weight.

The Monarch HG is much wider and has less distortion than the SLC. The SLC has slightly better CA correction at the edge.

The Monarch HG compares more to the EL SV than the SLC.

 

[Josh Boyd]

Great article Matt. I love your optic reviews; very well written and informative.
-Josh

 

[jbentham84]

Very detailed and well put together review. Top notch.

 

[OG DramaLlama]

Great review.....Been awaiting this one.

Couple months back I got the opportunity to look through some at Cabela's, albeit briefly and indoors, and was impressed. Couple questions:

The color transmission, to me, was skewed to the a "yellowish' tint. My gut tells me it was the optics in the setting. I was curious if you observed this or if your tests show a more neutral color transmission?

How comfortable (eye strain) was the fit on your eyes after extended glassing periods?

Thoughts on the comparison vs. the Maven's B2's. Was looking at the 11x....Significant weight penalty/field of view/CA and I believe your past tests of the Maven's were almost, but not quite up to the Meostar's.

Is there a Rokslide sponsor that sells these bad boys?

 

[Matt Cashell]

The color transmission, to me, was skewed to the a "yellowish' tint. My gut tells me it was the optics in the setting. I was curious if you observed this or if your tests show a more neutral color transmission?

I found them neutral with just a slight warm tone.

How comfortable (eye strain) was the fit on your eyes after extended glassing periods?

Zero eye strain. Collimation was perfect.

Thoughts on the comparison vs. the Maven's B2's. Was looking at the 11x....Significant weight penalty/field of view/CA and I believe your past tests of the Maven's were almost, but not quite up to the Meostar's.

I reviewed the B1, but I have used the B2. The B2 does seem to require quite a bit of focus adjustment when glassing, and the Monarch HG does not.

Is there a Rokslide sponsor that sells these bad boys?

Camera Land does.

 

[SoTxShooter]

Really enjoyed reading that review! I'm getting ready for my first mid/upper tier pair of binoculars, and this one just shot toward the top of the list. I'm torn between the Maven B1, Meopta Meostar, and the Nikon HG. Your direct comparison with the Meoptas was very helpful!

 

[jbentham84]

The other thing that wasn't mentioned (or I missed it) is that these carry the lifetime repair/replacement warranty which is pretty awesome

 

[Matt Cashell]

Really enjoyed reading that review! I'm getting ready for my first mid/upper tier pair of binoculars, and this one just shot toward the top of the list. I'm torn between the Maven B1, Meopta Meostar, and the Nikon HG. Your direct comparison with the Meoptas was very helpful!

Thanks!

Maybe this can give you some more info:

Maven B1 10X42 Binoculars - Rokslide

Those are three quality choices to choose from. As I note in this review, the HG is at the top of my list.

 

[Matt Cashell]

The other thing that wasn't mentioned (or I missed it) is that these carry the lifetime repair/replacement warranty which is pretty awesome

Yes they do. It is even a “No Fault” Warranty.

 

[wind gypsy]

Well, that'll sell some Nikon nockers for sure!

Nice review.

 

[slowelk]

Other online reviews mention experiencing diopter drift. Did you experience anything noticeable?

 

[Matt Cashell]

Other online reviews mention experiencing diopter drift. Did you experience anything noticeable?

No problems with the diopter. It is a locking adjustment and works well. It never moved unintentionally.

Interestingly, I have seen people experience “drift” with similar locking diopter designs, but it turned out they damaged the diopter ring by forcibly moving it while locked, rather than unlocking, setting, and locking the ring at that setting.

I wouldn’t expect a professional reviewer to do that, but I could see something like that from a user review.

 

[Tony Trietch]

Great review Matt!

 

[camping1601]

I'll add a little amateur testing to this if I may. Bought the Nikon HG 8x42's and Swaro slc 8x42's at the same time and did some side by side testing for a few weekends.
Long story short is I like the hand feel, weight, and focus knob better on the Nikons, but the the Swaros were a little more forgiving with eye position.
Spent a bunch of time with both simulating how I would use them for WT hunting in the NE and it's was nearly impossible to tell any difference, at any light, at yardages out to 150.
Then I spent a couple evenings looking at mountain tops around 1500 and 3000 yards (insert WAG here). At 1500 I will say it was very hard to see that the SLC's were better but I would stand behind saying they are the very slightest bit better. At 3000 yards It was the difference of seeing some branches on a tree with the Nikons and maybe being able to count some of the branches with the SLC's.
I'll repeat that I'm very amateur with binos and don't understand all the nerdy stuff with them. Both myself and the wife agreed the slc's are ever so slightly brighter.
In the end I'm keeping the 8x Nikons and trading the 8x slc's for 10x slc's.

 

[tipsntails7]

The Monarch HG is much wider and has less distortion than the SLC. The SLC has slightly better CA correction at the edge.

The Monarch HG compares more to the EL SV than the SLC.

Matt if you were to buy a set for yourself are you saying monarch>SLC? If so that’s extremely encouraging for Nikon, as they make some of the worlds best camera glass, it would be nice to see them transition that into sports optics at a pretty dang good price.

 

[William Hanson (live2hunt)]

The Monarch HG is much wider and has less distortion than the SLC. The SLC has slightly better CA correction at the edge.

The Monarch HG compares more to the EL SV than the SLC.

Wow that's impressive

Live2hunt custom shelters

 

[dotman]

Too bad Nikon camera is anti hunting, won’t give them a dime. They could make a bino equal to the Swaro EL SV and I’d still buy the Swaro to support a company that is pro hunting. Now if your ok with supporting an anti hunting company sounds like a good option. Just ask Doug from cameralandny if he can sell Nikon rifle scopes and cameras, nope he can’t. Nikons camera division is the main driver of that company. Just putting this out there since this is a hunting forum.

If I’m wrong please correct me.