New Nikon Monarchs

[grit]

As a happy owner of a couple of Nikons, I was eager to see the new Monarchs finally hit the shelves. I bought one thursday. Had it to the range friday evening. My first thought was, " What's wrong with this thing"? Clarity and brightness in the $60 Tasco range. Maybe not that bad, but definitely inferior to my older Monarchs and Bushmasters.

Anybody else seen 'em yet? Maybe somethings wrong with the side focus or??? If this is the new Nikon glass, my guns won't be wearing any more. Anybody else? Any experience with Nikon customer service.

On a positive note, the elevation and windage adjustments were accurate.

 

[Desert Fox]

Is this the new 30MM one? I have the Tactical before they drop the designation and it's much brighter than my older Leupold Vari-XIII Tactical and on par with my new MK4 Tactical LR. Good luck with Nikon's customer service. I heard some horror stories.

 

[308 nate]

Grit,
I just installed one of their new Monarchs on a customers gun. Not too much to complain about in the glass, but the BDC retical is a joke. The crosshair and circles are way too thick for my liking. On full power the crosshair takes up close to 1/2" at 100 yds.

IOR's MP8 reticle and Leupolds TMR are by far my favorite reticles.

FWIW,
308nate

 

[britz]

Back in '99 I had a Nikon Range finder that was about a year old. Left it on a black tarp for a few hours in 95 degree heat and it suddenly stoped working. I took it back to the local gunshop were I had purchased it and he sent it back in to nikon only to get a brand new one in the mail a couple weeks later. I have to say I have had good luck w/ there customer service. I also called them about a battery cap for the same range finder this fall and they sent me out a new battery cover free of charge!

 

[papa45]

I don't know about the "new" Monarchs, but I bought a 3.3-10x44AO about three years ago and I loved it so much, I bought another identical one early last year. The second one was never as clear or bright as the first one. I sent it back to Nikon. They cleaned, adjusted, fiddled with it and sent it back. It was no better. I am very disappointed.

 

[mongocanfly]

I Have A New Monarch Gold 2.5x10x50 30mm Tube And Have No Complaints Except Crosshairs Are To Heavy

 

[Varmint Hunter]

Why is it that there is an unlimited supply of "REFURBISHED" Nikon rifle scopes always available. They are a catalog item at Nanchez and other large mail-order suppliers.

Personally, this is the biggest deterent to me ordering my first Monarch.

The range officer where I shoot ordered 2 new Nikons with the BDC for muzzleloaders. After $100 worth of bullets, powder and caps it was determined that both scopes were defective. Nikon replaced them both but I don't expect to go through all that nonesense with a new optic.

Nikon camera equiptment is fantastic but there sporting line of optics is something to worry about. IMO anyway.

 

[grit]

Well, I got back to the range today. I had much more time to check the scope out. I had a Leupy vx3, Zeis Conquest, and a couple of Nikons. My buddy runs Swarovski. So, without preamble I asked him to check out the scope. He looked through it a few minutes, shot a couple rounds, and says, " Pretty nice glass".

After playing with the scope a while, I determined the source of my perplexity. When the scope is on max power, eye position is critical. What threw me is, rather than making a black ring if your eye is out of position, the scope loses brightness, and clarity. Put your eye back in position and the image sharpens dramaticaly.

I could only see this happen at max power. Maybe this has something to do with the new "eye box" technology? You can use this scope with your eye offset significantly at all but max power. Rather than the typical eclipse when your eye alignment is off, you get blur.

So, I am once again a happy customer. While the glass is not on par with some of my other glass, it is still a fantastic value.

 

[Roll-Yur-Own]

I use IOR's and Nikon exclusively. I'm done with Leupold. Nikon blows leupold away. I use IORs when I need a tactical scope and Nikon Monarchs when I just need a good scope for a non-long-range weapon.

I haven't tried the new one's yet, but the old one's rock!

 

[jad29]

the 2.5-10 looks great, I didn't notice the bdc reticle being too thick, I have noticed that on a older 6-20x. the 4-16 eye position is really critical at the top end and I get a hazey view if my eye is even a tiny bit off, seems a bit dimmer at 16x then expected. I have not used my 6-24 yet. the low profile target turrets are really nice for this price range of scope, they all come with objective and eye piece covers that nikon should save there money on. butler creek 19 for the eye piece, can't remember the obejective number seems like 34

 

[grit]

I find my upper end Leupy glass, and Zeis glass to be better. However, the nikon is priced comparably to lower end Leupy stuff, and is much better! The 4-16x42 Monarch in question was $450. With nice glass, side focus, nice knobs, and accurate adjustments.

Good price, good glass, nice features, and dead reliable adjustments makes a guy confident and happy.

I do agree the reticles are too heavy for targets (eclipse a milk jug at 1k) in the mil dot and bdc models. Same for prarie dogs. They do offer fine cross hairs. And the heavy reticle is great for big game.

Not perfect, but theyre a lot of scope for thier price.