It all ended with a smash!

What was left of my Nikon Sky & Earth after the fall

But let's rewind to May 2005 where it all began.  I had just graduated from college and was headed to Wyoming for my 3rd summer of field work with Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory.  For the previous 4 years I had fumbled around Wisconsin, Utah, Wyoming, Oregon, New Hampshire, Colorado, and various other states with a spotting scope that left a lot to be desired.  I don't remember the brand, but I remember the 20-40X50 power scope was a piece of junk--but a piece of junk a kid in college working part time on minimum wage could afford.  And that scope saw lots of birds.

Great Gray, Northern Hawk, and Snowy Owl had been viewed through that scope. Scarlet Tanagers, Blackburnian Warblers, and Veery had graced me with views through the glass.  For the $100 or so dollars I paid for that scope I got my moneys worth--but every opportunity I had to look through better scopes left me envious of what I didn't have.  So with college behind me, and an entire summer to spend hoofing around Wyoming I decided I needed to drop a little bit of money on a better scope.  I actually spent about a month trying to decide what to do.  I could afford something in the $300-500 range.  I wanted something in the $2000 range.  What I found at the time is there wasn't a whole lot in between those two that I saw value in--and there was no way I was going $2000 in to debt for a spotting scope.

So after going to Sportsman's Warehouse a 1/2 dozen times and looking through every scope under a grand, I chose a reliable brand that I had been using since I started birding a decade earlier--Nikon.  The 20-60x80 Nikon Sky & Earth was a beefy scope.  It came in a $549 and although a little bit out of my price range, it was well worth the price to move up from the scopes around $200.  When I got it into the field it made all the difference in the world.  Shorebirds, Gulls, Lark flocks, distant Waterfowl, Grebes, and Loons all were brought in much closer and clearer than previously.  It still wasn't anywhere near top of the line, but man was it an improvement, and it got some serious usage.

The Old Faithful Sky & Earth looking at Gulls

Fast Forward to the winter of 2011-2012 and you would still find me lugging the same Nikon Sky & Earth with me along the dikes at Farmington, across the landfill in Salt Lake looking at Gulls at Lee Kay, at the south shore hoping to turn up a Snowy Owl, and various other places.  This scope had like my previous scope seen a lot of birds.  During the Park City CBC the mounting bracket came off.  I "fixed" it with Super Glue, but it wasn't long before it came loose again--this time in the middle of a country road in Lehi, Utah.  I had turned my back to grab my camera when I heard the crash.  Turning back around I already knew what lay in wait.  The scope on the ground, obviously misshapen inside the scope case.  Picking it up I could tell it was in 3 or 4 pieces--The Sky & Earth had met it's maker.

But it wasn't the end of the road for my scope.  See Nikon has this wonderful 25 Year No Fault Warranty.  That is, Nikon will repair or replace any binocular or scope regardless of how it became damaged and all you have to do is cover shipping and handling plus a $10 fee.  It's a philosophy that has won over many customers, and one that many other optics companies have followed suit with.  Most of the top end companies already had a similar warranty, but Nikon was the first with affordable optics that I had heard of with such a deal.

In any event, I packed my scope back in it's original box, paid the $26 for shipping with insurance, and sent the scope back to Nikon.  10 days later, and $13 for shipping plus the $10 fee and I arrived home to a brand new spotting scope on my porch.  But there is a twist.  As with most optics, and a variety of other products on the planet, most years companies come out with new and better versions of the previous models.  The Sky & Earth had been abandoned just about the time I picked mine up--and Nikon was now into their 2nd version of the new line called the Prostaff.  They didn't send me the newest, but I did pick up the first version of a the Prostaff, a 20-60x82 scope with superior optics to the Sky & Earth, a more rugged build, and a very nice case.

New Nikon Prostaff 20-60x82

And just like that I should be set for another 7 or 8 years hopefully.  I gave the scope a quick test in my yard, scoping out the mountains about 2 miles to the east.

Looking east to the mountains

The view was amazing.  Clear, bright, and crisp.  I snapped a shot with my phone at 20x to show how nice the 2 mile distant peak looked through the scope.

Not a bad view at all

Today I plan on getting out in the field and actually trying it on some birds.  I can't praise Nikon enough for their customer service.  The level of quality provided, along with the coverage of products has made me a Nikon user for life.  The fact that $49 eight years later got me a new $549 scope seems unbelievable.  There just aren't that many business like that anymore

I would still love to go out and pick up a $4000 Nikon Edg Scope, but I don't see the benefit in it for me when I've got a great scope that gets the job done.  In birding it's not about having the best optics and the most expensive equipment.  It's about having the best optics that you can afford and make sense for you.  If you can afford the top of the line stuff, then absolutely go for it.  IF you can't there are a plethora of brands with great warranties that will get the job done and keep you happy for a long time.

So thank you Nikon for always being Top Notch.

Some birders get confused on what the numbers on their binoculars stand for. For example 7x45 (pictured above, best binoculars in the world)...the 7 stands for the magnification (power), and is built into the ocular lenses (the lens you put your eyes up to). The 45 stands for the diameter in millimeters of the objective lens (wider lenses at the end of the binoculars). The wider the objective lens, the more light they are supposed to gather, although glass quality and type of coating on the lenses plays a part in this.

The field of view is not determined from the size of the objective lens...the field of view is determined by the width of the ocular lenses. So a 7x50 binocular does not necessarily have a wider field of view than a 7x42...and may not be brighter in some cases. The field of view is measured in feet per 1000 yards. So a FOV of 350 ft. at 1000 yds. will be smaller than a FOV of 405 ft. at 1000 yds. When comparing full-sized high quality binoculars, most 10x binoculars have a smaller FOV compared to 7x binoculars. Don't be convinced by someone who claims to own a 10x binocular with a wide FOV.

Funny Tim mentioned binoculars, very nostalgic...I was just thinking about binoculars and some of my old pairs in particular. But also particularly about optics quality.

Is there an ultimately superior binocular that is light years above all others, or even noticeably better? I’ll agree, the top models are better than the mid and low-level models, but is there a significant difference between the big money ($1300 and up) Zeiss, Swarovski, Leica, and Nikon? And, if someone says they see a substantial difference, are they disillusioned, reluctant to acknowledge another binocular, or simply correct? Have you ever seen anyone with an expensive binocular try out another binocular and say “Wow, these are better”? To tell you the truth, I would never spend over $400 on a binocular. It’s just the principle with me; I don’t believe Optics manufacturers can’t bring the price down…c’mon $2200 for binoculars. I would just feel like a sucker! Believe me, there are $350-500 models out there that are excellent and will suffice in any environment. I’ll probably get e-mails for this, but the big manufacturers haven’t improved the glass since the early 90’s…but have done a great job in marketing since then.

My advice, if you are in the process of buying binoculars, make sure the field of view is wide, the image is bright and sharp, and they feel comfortable in your hands and around your neck. I have a brand new pair of Zeiss Victory FL’s, the latest and greatest by Zeiss, and they are spectacular… probablythe best optically (opinion of course). But I still prefer my 1994 Zeiss Night Owl 7x45’s for hawk watching and forest birding, they are heavy and smell like a skunk, but they have the widest field of view ever made and are optically brilliant. I had a pair of Swift Audubon’s in the late 80’s that I absolutely loved, but gave them to my birding mentor after I acquired the Night Owls…still think about those Swift’s though. I have friends who have old pairs of binoculars I can’t even look through without straining my eyes or biting my tongue. Just goes to show, the “best binocular” is really a matter of opinion and personal preference. I’d love to hear feedback about other brands as well as feedback regarding Tim's post.

On this snowy New Years Eve I spent the afternoon digging through boxes in the basement trying to get rid of some junk, and organize a few things I want to keep. Sam (my fiancé) and I were supposed to be in southern California, enjoying warmer weather and a few new life birds. But the winter storm the blasted Utah on Wednesday and Thursday forced us to cancel—and with it Island Scrub-Jay, California Gnatcatcher, Thrasher and Towhee, Black Skimmer, Nuttall’s Woodpecker, Tricolored Blackbird and Yellow-billed Magpie are just an afterthought.

We moved in to our house in Sandy, Utah at the beginning of September and me being a bit of a procrastinator, I still had a one huge box in our garage I needed to go through. So after lunch I dragged the box into the basement and started organizing. Trash, old license plates, binocular case, lacrosse balls, slippers, Frisbee golf disk, lamp, jump ropes, gaiters (damn! I needed you 2 months ago), old CDs, posters, and the list goes on and on. The box in question was about 3’ square and 3’ tall, so it could hold quite a bit of junk. As I neared the bottom of the mess I saw a small black pouch, and as I grabbed it unlocking the clasp, there was my first pair of binoculars.

My first binoculars. Copyright Tim Avery

Nikon Travelite III—a plastic set of 7x20 pocket binoculars that my dad gave me when I was 12 years old. Before this set I had always struggled with a pair of 10x50 Bushnell’s that he kept in the pickup truck along with a Golden Guide to birds. But the Nikon’s were my first pair, and they were the perfect starter set for a young birder. I only used them for about 3 years before I was given a pair of Nikon Attaché (the predecessor to the Nikon Monarch), but in those 3 years, those binoculars saw a lot of birds.

They traveled to Wyoming where they saw my first Lazuli Bunting and Cassin’s Finch. They made a trip to Nevada where Phainopepla and Crissal Thrasher filled the view. They traveled to numerous spots along the Wasatch front, and into the High Uintas Wilderness Area where Pine Grosbeak, Gray Jay, Clark’s Nutcracker, and Western Tanager were all firsts. They made it to southern Utah where they saw my first Gambel’s Quail, Black Phoebe, and Great-tailed Grackle. That little pair of binoculars was responsible for my first 280 or so species of birds—and responsible for keeping my interest piqued and helping me learn a lot about birds those first couple years.

They were a good pair of binoculars—but I outgrew them in my needs as a birder, and my size as a person. I placed those binoculars in a closet, where they stayed till I think 2005, when I let Colby Neuman use them as part of a Halloween costume—ironically the costume was of the stereotypical birder. And since then they have been tossed from one box to another, finally they will be put to rest in a box with a few old t-shirts, where they will hopefully remain for a long time—a memory of my first few years birding.