Home > Consumer Reviews > Nikon Action 7x35 Ultra-wide Binocular

I chose 7x35 binoculars for general field use, bird watching, and wildlife study. I had originally planned to buy the more expensive Action Extremes for their shock and water resistance. But on a recent visit to the big city, I had a chance to compare them with these, side by side and was unable to convince myself to buy the more expensive pair.

After looking through both the Action and the Action Extreme, I felt that I could not obtain a sharp focus with the Extremes. Puzzled, I asked the salesman to break out a second pair, but again could not focus the Action Extremes as clearly. I was quite ready to pay extra for the shock and water resistance of the more expensive binoculars, but sharp focus and clarity of view trump the other qualities.

After three weeks of use, which have included birding, an airshow, and some casual observation of the night sky, I am quite pleased with these. They are lightweight, fast and easy to focus.

The only complaint I have is that while the eyepiece lens covers are easily, conveniently, and semi-permanently secured to the neck strap, the objective lens covers are not. The objective lens caps are equiped with molded slots that can be attached to the neck strap, but they work poorly, and are NOT secure. I found myself crawling around in the mud looking for the lens caps several times before deciding that they were best kept in my pocket. This is an irritating flaw in an otherwise well designed and nicely made product.

As an amateur astronomer, I am always on the lookout for good binoculars, and have had experience with quite a few - even a few very highly rated high-end types. I saw the Nikons in a sporting goods store about 6 months ago, and was impressed at the clarity and depth of field apparent even within the store. After asking permission to take them outside, observations confirmed my initial impressions. They are nearly as bright (and clearer, better color rendition) than a "standard" brand 7x50 - perhaps because of excellent multi-coatings. The 9+ degree FOV makes them ideal for digging out fainter constellations and asterisms. Stars remained point-like nearly to the edge of the field. True, I couldn't see too many Messier# galaxies, but you can't see many with ANY 7x bino, most requiring at least a decent 10x50. The compact size also makes these useful for daytime applications, such as birdwatching and other nature related activities, or watching athletic events.
This was my first experience with Nikon binoculars, and based on this purchase I soon bought the Nikon 10x50s as well. Although I thought I got an incredibly good buy at the time, I have since learned I could have saved 15% by buying on-line - no matter, they are still "keepers" with which I will never part. An incredible value. For the casual user, they may be all the binocular you will ever need.

The optics are excellent. I found viewing excellent, ranging from viewing stars and Jupiter and the Moon to birds in the woods. The only slightly irritating aspect is that, while there is a strap for the binocs, there is no strap for the case. I found myself accidentally dropping the case when taking the binoculars out, assuming the case was attached to something.
On the whole, this was an excellent purchase. RC

Since becoming bird watchers my wife needed her own binoculars.
We tried these at the local sporting goods store but bought them
at Amazon to save a few bucks. The image is very sharp and they
are easy to focus. My wife loves them.

I bought these binoculars for bird watching and for that purpose they work great. I have a pair of 10x50 and although I really like them I wanted something smaller and steadier. I will still use my 10x50's but more for raptors in flight or bird watching in the woods, these ones are a lot more confortable when watching birds at a medium range, casual bird watching around the house or simply trying to follow a bird to its nest (due to the large field of view).

There is some distortion around the outer edges but it isn't bad, I actually only noticed it because I was deliberately looking for it. The images are sharp and I am surprised at how bright the images are considering the price and size of the lenses. Some bird watching sites would have you believe that you have to spend an arm and a leg on a pair of binoculars in order to bird watch properly, that is not the case. This pair will show all the detail on birds (even the tiny ones).