I just read the Robin Waterfield myself, and I found it absolutely wonderful. It was the first ancient writing I've read in my adult life, and I was shocked by how clear and easy to understand it was. I know there are arguments for preserving the original prose of a text, however reading Waterfield's translation, it's clear that Herodotus wanted to be understood. He spoke clearly, and often caveated his speech to as to be clear to the reader.

I can grab some verbatim excerpts if anyone's interested, but his clarification when telling of Darius of child ("But he didn't say Darius, because no one knew he was called Darius yet") and then his explanation of a metaphor in Getae blew my mind. ("They probably don't mean the northern lands are literally covered in feathers, and this was likely just a metaphor for snow.") This is how a precise, scientifically-minded modern writer would communicate.

I had always always equated ancient writing with the Old Testament, or some of the more metaphor-laden prose for old plays (Oedipus) that were pretty opaque to my young mind. But reading Waterfield's translation of Herodotus was a different experience altogether: every sentence is easy to understand, and you can sympathize strongly with Herodotus and the ancient peoples he talks about: there's quite a bit of talent and intelligence, but not much concrete information. And, if you read the Histories without a reference nearby, then you're on equal footing with Herodotus himself.