Customer Reviews

Nikon Premier LX-L 10x32 Binoculars with Wide-Angle View

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I have owned a Nikon LX 10x32 for over 2 years. This is probably the most expensive pair of binoculars I can ever afford.

Pros:

Superb optics. Ratcheting eye-cups (I wear glasses, and sometimes switch between viewing through binoculars with and without glasses). Silky-smooth focus knob. Stable in my hands. Waterproof (on the Oregon coast, rain and ocean spray are constant enemies. No problem with the Nikon LX). Eyepieces spread wide (my pupils are far apart; most compact binoculars are too narrow for me; viewing without becoming cross-eyed was the main reason I bought full-size binoculars).

Cons:

The price. I could have achieved 80 percent satisfaction (relative to the LX 10x32) for 40 percent the money by down-grading to mid-level binoculars (which are outstanding -- I recommend the Nikon Monarch series).

Objective lens:

We love star-gazing. Larger objective lenses are appealing but they are heavier. 32 mm is a good compromise. Certainly more than enough for viewing daytime wildlife, and indoor presentation slides.

Magnification power:

Some how-to-buy guides suggest 7x or 8x as good magnification levels, based on the reasoning that higher magnification tends to blur the image (because you cannot hold the binocular steadily) and capturing the target image into the field of vision is more difficult. This may be true especially for compact, lightweight binoculars with limited field of vision. However, the Nikon LX is large enough and hefty enough to maintain a solid hold on your target. I chose 10x magnification because I attend academic conferences often -- I have poor eyesight and the subscripts of mathematical equations are invisible from afar. 10x gives me the punch I need. It also helps when we watch whales from the beach!