Category Archives: Binoculars

Vortex Triumph 10X42 Binoculars: Entry Level Excellence

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We seem to be living in a golden age of birding. Not only have legions of new people discovered the joys of watching, identifying, and protecting birds, the marketplace is awash in incredible equipment to observe, photograph, and record birds. A few weeks ago, we reviewed Nikon’s terrific top-of-the-line Monarch HG binoculars. Today, we shift to an excellent entry-level pair, the Vortex 10X42 Triumph HDs.

Braden and I have both had great experiences with Vortex binoculars and spotting scopes—but have never field-tested their lower-priced equipment. In fact, I generally have shied away from encouraging people to invest in lower-priced binoculars, figuring they would break or wear out, or just wouldn’t deliver an adequate image. To challenge this assumption, I contacted Vortex to see if they would send me both some of their lower-end and mid-level binoculars to try out. I’ll review all of these in coming months, but was first drawn to test the Triumph HDs, which can be purchased for about the cost of a modest meal out for a family of four.

Vortex Triumph HDs offer excellent value for most beginning birders and, like other Vortex products, come with a lifetime no-questions-asked warranty.

It’s true that many binoculars you might buy for under $100 are poorly made. I’ve had several fall apart on me. My first impression out of the box for the Vortex Triumph HDs, though, was “Wow. These seem pretty hefty and sturdy.” Raising them to my eyes, I beheld a clarity and sharpness that seemed totally acceptable for well-lit birding conditions. Their size and slightly rough, slip-resistant rubberized coating felt very comfortable and “friendly” in my hands.

Like many other good pairs of binoculars, the Triumphs have other essential and convenient features for a birder. These include:

* solid eye relief tubes (eye cups) that twist out and can click into two different positions.

* adjustable diopter ring to allow a different focus for the left and right binocular tubes (essential for people whose vision differs in each eye)

* tripod adapter socket

* o-ring sealed and nitrogen-purged to be water- and fog-resistant

* shock-proof

I have to mention two other things about this and all of Vortex’s other products. One is an amazing lifetime warranty. No matter what happens to your binoculars or how, Vortex will repair or replace them, no questions asked, no receipt required. I don’t even know how they can afford to do this, but it’s an amazing benefit in this day and age when so many things break almost as soon as you breathe on them.

The other thing I just have to compliment them on is that their object lens protector flaps actually stay in when you pop them in place! This might seem trivial to some, but it means that it is a simple task to keep your binoculars protected, even in the worst conditions. Good job, Vortex!

And here’s the best news: although the Triumph HDs list at $149.99, these binoculars are available for around a hundred bucks.

One compromise with the Triumph HDs is a relatively long minimum focal length, which isn’t a problem for most birding situations but could make you “lose” a wren or tapaculo in close conditions. (Image courtesy of Vortex Optics.)

Of course, nothing is perfect and there are a couple of things you should consider before purchasing a pair. Many binoculars focus in as close as 6 or 8 feet, but the minimum focal distance for the Triumph HDs is 16 feet. For hunters and most birders that’s not a problem, but it can come into play when checking out wrens, warblers, tapaculos, and other small, secretive birds. It also pretty much rules out the Triumphs for watching butterflies.

Secondly, while Vortex products are excellent for birders, the company (at least recently) seems to gear its products more toward hunters. The binoculars come with a fairly elaborate combo harness/pouch system called Glasspak™. This is designed for you to carry a pouch on your chest from which you can just pull out the binoculars and quickly slip them back into place. This would work well if you are out birding nonstop all day or hunting elk, but it’s a bit cumbersome for many birders who are whipping their binoculars on and off repeatedly. The binos also come with a traditional strap, so if the Glasspak™ system doesn’t suit you, you may want to use the strap—or order a third-party attachment system that you’ve already used and are happy with.

Unlike many of Vortex’s other models, the Triumph HDs come only in a 10X42 option—which happens to be my favorite size anyway, but may rule them out if you prefer the wider field views of 8X42s. (Image courtesy of Vortex Optics.)

This, of course, inspires some advice to all binocular producers: why not build in larger loops directly onto the binocular bodies? This would allow users to quickly clip on a variety of shoulder straps, neck straps, and harnesses without having to go through a tortured attachment method of threading various straps through this and that. It seems like a no-brainer, and there is great irony that many companies make absolutely beautiful optical products—but don’t go the extra inch to create a fast, simple, convenient set up. This is not an issue specific to Vortex. It seems to be common to a lot of companies, but whichever ones fix it will earn big bonus points!

The Triumph HDs come with a Glasspak™ harness system. While great for hunters and some birders, the system is a bit too complicated for most birding situations. Fortunately, the binoculars also come with a simple strap for those who prefer it.

So let’s get to the nitty gritty: should you buy the Vortex Triumph HDs? I will unreservedly tell you that you won’t regret it if you do. For their price, they are a terrific pair of binoculars for a beginning birder that will last years and years. I have enjoyed using them on several recent outings and also let a friend check them out, and we both agreed they were solid and worked very well.

That said, if you can shell out just a bit more money, you might consider the Vortex Diamondback HD 10X42s. These list at $329.99, but can be bought for much less. At the time of this writing, I saw one place selling them for $124.95! Closer to $200 seems more typical, but either way, they are a deal. If you can stretch for this, you will be rewarded by better lens and prism coatings that are hardier and deliver more light to your eyes, especially in low-light conditions. They also have a cozy 5-foot minimum focal range. According to Vortex, they are the most widely-used binoculars in North America. Either of these models can be purchased directly from Vortex and a wide variety of other stores and online outlets.

So there you have it. We hope you find this and our other product reviews useful. We will keep ‘em coming!

Overall Rating (on a scale of cool birds): Song Sparrow (excellent) 

Products reviewed in this post were provided by Vortex.

Nikon Monarch HG Binoculars: FSB’s First Equipment Review!

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2025 ushers in a brand new year of birding, and as such, Braden and I are taking our birding paths in new directions—something you will see in our forthcoming posts. One of those new directions is to post more reviews of bird-related books and birding equipment—all in the context of our continuing birding adventures. We’ve already dabbled in reviews a bit (see our post “Our Favorite Bird Books for the Holidays”), but today are pleased to unveil our first equipment review: Nikon’s Monarch HG binoculars. We hope you find this and upcoming reviews useful. Please let us know what you think!

As recounted in last week’s—and our next—posts (“Birding in Victoria, BC”), my wife’s and my recent visit to Victoria offered a rare chance to search for and observe shorebirds and seabirds. Although Braden and I have been birding for over a decade, our opportunities to observe ocean birds have been lamentably scarce, and ahead of this trip, I asked myself the crucial question: “What equipment should I bring?”

Taking my camera was, as usual, a no-brainer, and I quickly concluded that I’d be kicking myself if I didn’t bring my spotting scope and tripod as well. After all, ocean birds tend to hang out annoyingly far from shore! Surprisingly, my binoculars gave me the biggest pause. I, of course, needed binoculars, but I had been using my trusty pair of Nikon Monarch 5s for almost nine years and, frankly, I’d beaten the crap out of them. Not only could I use a new pair, I decided that it was time for an upgrade.

Although writing is at best a questionable way to try to earn a living, one advantage is that publishers are generally happy to send me copies of books to review. I had never before requested equipment, but with the recent success of Birding for Boomers, decided to give it a shot as well. Braden and I have both had good experiences with Nikon and Vortex equipment before, and so I wrote to both companies requesting to try out their upper-range binoculars. To my astonishment, a Nikon rep wrote back the very same day with the message that he would get a pair right out to me. Even better, they arrived before our Victoria trip, providing the perfect chance to field test them.

The Monarch HGs offer superior optics, a better build, closer focal length, and a wider field of view than most other binoculars on the market—all at a reasonable price.

Nikon Monarch HGs are Nikon’s top-of-the-line binoculars for viewing wildlife, and as I pulled them out of the box, I immediately liked how they felt in my hands. The tubes fit just right into the arch between my thumb and forefinger, and the rubberized tube coating provided the right amount of “grippiness” for all kinds of weather. My next thought? Geez, you could run these over with a Jeep and not hurt them. I decided not to conduct that particular test, but with the HG’s magnesium alloy body, it may well be true.

I had requested a 10X42 pair of HGs. This meant that they offered ten times magnification and came with 42 mm diameter objective (front) lenses—the same specs as my old Monarch M5s. However, I immediately noted several cool additional features of the HGs. One is that they offered a 25% wider field of view—something especially important when scanning for birds. They also allowed me to focus on an object only 6.6 feet away versus 8.2 feet for the M5s. Think juncos and other sparrows!

Another great feature is that the HG diopter ring could be locked in place once you adjusted the focus for your particular eyes (for details, see note below).

The Monarch HGs feature a diopter ring (“corrugated” ring on the upper left) that can be locked in to make sure birders get a good focus with both eyes. Note that for people who wear eye glasses, the HGs feature eye relief tubes that are sturdy, pull out smoothly, and click in place at different lengths to avoid slippage.

A fourth handy thing I noticed about the HGs is that the objective lenses are set farther back from the front edge of the tubes. This means that they are less likely to get scratched and/or wet. Finally, Nikon particularly touts their field flattening technology with these binoculars—a technology that, according to them, dramatically reduces distortion and chromatic aberration across the full field of view. But the question remained: how would the Monarch HGs perform in the field?

It turns out that during our Victoria excursion, the importance of binoculars came into play to a surprising extent. Before the trip, I figured I would just be searching through my scope for seabirds and shorebirds. What I discovered, though, is that binoculars were an even more important scanning tool than usual. Why? For one thing, they allowed me to cover a larger area more quickly than the scope. It’s true that the lower magnification didn’t reach as far out to sea, but that was mostly compensated for by the fact that the binoculars offered a much brighter image. This was because of their lower magnification that let more light through to my eyes, and because of the extremely sharp image that the HGs produced. Especially at the low light levels of dawn and dusk, I often was able to pinpoint and identify birds more easily with the binoculars than with the scope. On the first morning, for instance (see our post “Birding Victoria, BC”), I had much better luck identifying birds on a set of islands about a quarter-mile offshore by using my binoculars. In my next post, I’ll share another experience during which the HGs helped me discover an especially heart-thumping species.

I was surprised to find that, even at distances of a quarter-mile or more, it was often easier to find and even ID birds with my new binoculars before zooming in on them with the scope.

One thing that makes Nikon optics so good is that they use low dispersion (ED) glass elements on many of their models. This reduces common distortion and chromatic aberration—light separating into different colors—around images. Coatings on the internal prisms ensure that the maximum amount of light passes all the way through the binoculars to your eyes. The company’s less expensive M5 binoculars, also have many of these features—begging the question, “Why should I spring for the more expensive HGs?” After all, as I write this the HGs run just short of $1,000 while the M5s can be had for about a quarter of that price. Furthermore, the brightness of the two models struck me as similar.

My answer is in two parts. Part I is that if your budget lies in the $2-300 range, you will probably be perfectly happy with the M5s. Part II is that, as mentioned, the HGs have a closer focal distance and wider field of view, enhanced with Nikon’s field flattener lens technology. However, many of the HG’s advantages lie in things you can’t see, such as the quality of the build, the effectiveness of waterproofing and anti-fogging features, and basic durability. The Nikon rep neatly summarized it as “more advanced optics and tougher shell.” If you are ready to invest a bit more into your birding equipment and performance, these features make the HGs a wonderful choice—even if you don’t run them over with a Jeep!

The HGs are not perfect. As with my Monarch 5s, the front rubber flaps designed to protect the objective lenses fall out almost as soon as you snap them in, rendering them pretty useless. This is not an insurmountable technical problem to solve, and I hope that Nikon’s engineers take time to figure it out. This is a relatively minor issue, however, and did little to lessen my enthusiasm for these outstanding, well-priced binoculars.

Overall Rating (on a scale of cool birds): Harlequin Duck (highest)

The Monarch HG’s objective lenses are set more deeply into the tubes, making them less likely to get damaged or dirty. This is doubly important since the press-in flaps designed to protect them pop out with annoying regularity. Also note the threaded hole below the center knob. This can be used to attach a mount for use with tripods.

Diopter ring note: For those unfamiliar with it, the diopter ring allows one to adjust each of a binocular’s tubes for the different vision in a person’s eyes. You do this by using the central focusing knob to focus on an object while looking through the side without the diopter ring, and while keeping the other eye closed. Then, you open only the eye on the side with the diopter ring and adjust the ring until that tube also comes into focus. From then on, the central focusing knob alone will keep an image in focus for both eyes. Many cheaper binoculars, however, do not come with a diopter adjustment ring, while many of those that do won’t allow you to lock it in place for your eyes—meaning that it can easily slip. That can be a pain out in the field, and having that “dual focus” locked in can prevent a lot of frustration later on!