The New Nikon 8x42 EDG

First Impressions: You gotta try real hard to find anything not to like about this glass.

SYNOPSIS: We got a sneak peak at Nikon’s grandly touted new entry into the Alphabinocular class–the EDG.  Offered in 8x32, 7x, 8x and 10x42, this open-bridge, roof-prism binocular toes the line that defines optical perfection.  It houses about as many high performance attributes as can be packed into a single instrument.  It is handsome and well crafted.  A birder looking for a high quality, high performance birding binocular would be remiss, bordering on negligent, not to consider this glass.

NOTE: These evaluations are preliminary reviews of the yet-to-be released Nikon EDG.  The instrument was examined, not rigorously tested.  We are offering two independent reviews of the prototype by CMBO staff—Pete Dunne, Director and Jason Guerard, Northwood Sales Manager.  Expect a more thorough review in the future.

REVIEW #1

Our Nikon rep had a sticking cold but he delivered the glass to our door, as promised.  A pre-production model: 8x42 EDG–Serial # 300003.  A hand-built prototype. 

 “It’s not the final product,” he cautioned.

We knew.  Knew enough to make allowances for things like diopter adjustment rings that don’t do anything but spin.  We’ve seen this (and worse) before on prototypes. 

But like most people who follow the world of optics, we’d been eagerly awaiting the arrival of Nikon’s hot new roof prism.  It promised the world, of course.  But since it was Nikon making this promise, it wasn’t a promise you’d dismiss out of hand.

Nikon is a very conservative company.  They are very, very serious about the quality and performance of their instruments, particularly instruments designed to be the optical flagship of their line.  The Venturer LX and LXL set the resolution standard back in the late 90s; a standard that was matched by the Leica Ultravid and surpassed (barely) by the Ultravid HD.

The new EDG seems every bit as sharp as the HD.  The image is just plain good-as-good-gets in AD 2008.

I only had twenty minutes to play with the instrument.  There was no time to run the instrument through our standard test; no time to compare it against multiple makes and models; no time even to go outdoors.

Only time to make some fast but considered opinions and I offer them now.

It feels good, it performs great.  The balance is so perfect it defies the onerous implications of the word.  You pick it up.  There it is.  Just right.  And, just like the LXL, the body is covered in textured rubber that seems to fuse to your hand. 

It focuses close, but not too close–just below 7 feet.  It focuses fast, going the range from near to infinity in about one and quarter revolutions of the wheel.  The field of view is generous (in excess of 400 ft/1,000 yards).  The eye relief is, if anything, over generous–exceeding 18 mm. 

Things to quibble about?  Only two.  First, the glass shows an ever so very slight bias toward red–but you have to be really, really critical to see this, much less care.  The only other thing, and something that can easily be corrected, the click stop eyecups have their first click setting at about mid-point–9 mm.  It would be very useful to put a click stop at about 4 mm–where many eyeglass wearers are going to need one.

Most eyeglass wearers require only between 14-16 mm of eye relief.  A click stop at 4 mm will set the eye-cups just right.

That’s it.  Everything else about this glass, at first look, is to love.

We’ll put the new EDG to the test at a later date–a full production model.  In the meantime, start saving your pennies.   Figure on something in the $1700-$2000 price range.  And if you end up not buying the EDG, there’s a whole lot of other high-end glass that falls into this category. 

Who knows, maybe the marketing gremlins at Nikon will undercut the whole market–offer a premium binocular at a Euro-snubbing price.  

Be hard to say no to something like that.

Be hard to explain why anyone would.

–Pete Dunne, CMBO Director      

REVIEW #2 

We were lucky enough to get a sneak peak at Nikon’s new high-end offering, slated to hit the streets sometime this summer.  To give a small bit of background, I was actually lucky enough to see a sample (a 7x42) in January ’08 at Birdwatch America—the birding industry’s biggest trade show.  All major optics vendors were there and Nikon gave dealers a first look at this new, highly touted optic.  Now, it is very hard to actually test an optic inside a giant convention center but even at first glance I could tell this was an optic that I wanted to spend more time with in the near future.  Even better was watching some of the high-end optics competitors sweat a little.  I returned from Atlanta excited to share the news of my new optical find.

I had the good fortune to actually go outside and do a little birding with another sample when my Nikon Representative stopped by recently.  Again, I became excited…that is until I was unable to get the binocular to focus!  As it turns out, there was an issue with the diopter adjustment that after a little fine-tuning on Nikon’s part, was corrected.  Sure, not a great first impression but that is why so many optics companies come to CMBO; we work with them and give insightful comments which ultimately make the product better for you, the birder. 

With the diopter adjustment set for my eyes, I found myself just as pleased with the view of this optic in the “real” world just as I thought I would the day I looked through the 7x42 in Atlanta.  I found the field of view to be no less than sharp from EDG to EDG!  In fact, the field of view is slightly larger than the other high-end 8x42 counterparts.  With a 403 ft/1,000 yards (Nikon quoted) field of view you get upwards of an additional 10 feet in comparison to the others who dominate the top of the market. 

The open bridge design continues to gain marketplace appeal since Swarovski released the EL binocular at the end of the last century…and for good reason.  Most everyone finds the open bridge comfortable because you can wrap a hand around each barrel—so no matter the size of your hands, the binocular just seems to fit.  The EDG is no different in this case.  In fact, the exposed “metal” on the barrel is coated with some sort of “enamel” which seemed to inhibit the metal’s absorption of cold.  This made for a more pleasing birding experience for the short time I had the glass in my hands.  Nikon has also continued using the textured rubber armor on this optic (like with their LXL line) which adds to the comfort factor. 

In testing the optic next to the other high-end glasses (I choose to use Zeiss 8x42 FL, Swarovski 8.5x42 EL, Steiner 8x44 Peregrine XP, and Leica 8x42 Ultravid) I can honestly say that the new EDG easily compared to the optical quality of the other leaders in the pack.  I found the image to be relatively color faithful (meaning I found no major color bias), very bright (and I was trying these bins on a gloomy, overcast, cold and rainy day), and comfortable to hold.  The depth of field and close focus was not exemplary but certainly on par with the other options out there.  

So what did I not like?  Well, that’s a good question and I have had to think a good bit about the answer.  Keeping in mind that I was looking at a pre-production sample and not the exact product you will see for sale in CMBO stores or here on-line at FeatherEdge Optics; there really are not too many things to pick on.  The diopter adjustment and lock are the most significant.  It took me a while to fix the adjustment so that I could focus the glass.  This of course is not a good thing but definitely something that Nikon will fix before they release the glass for sale to the public.  The other real issue I have is with the price.  With another high-end 8x42 starting at about $1900 member’s price, I’d think that Nikon would do better to try and beat the competition by selling the optic for a good $250-300 less than the other high-enders.  But then again, I am thinking of this from a Sales Managers point of view.   

With those two issues aside, I think Nikon has produced a winner.  A glass that I think any birder from rank beginner to seasoned veteran will be extremely happy with.  And, did I mention that it will have Nikon’s “No-Fault Policy” warrantee?  I could go on about the additional winged eye-cups to be included; light weight (28.6 oz.), solid magnesium construction; large, easy to use focus knob which turns about 1.25 total revolutions; “rubberized objective frames”….  But, I’ll save the rest of the good stuff for the real review of a production model.   

For now, I’ll just let you know that choosing which top of the line optic to buy just got a little harder. 

- Jason Guerard, Northwood Sales Manager