Astromania Upgraded 8x25 Waterproof Compact Monocular, Smaller Size Easier to Carry Around for Bird Watching Hunting Camping Hiking Sport Game Concerts

So the most importan thing here is very good: Image quality. It really is on par with my Pentax 8x25 binoculars which cost me almost 4 times as much. Magnification is the same, field of view is almost the same, and I see NO distortions or color fringing. Very impressive for the price. That said, it's kind of obvios where the cost savings were made. The twist mechanism to bring out the eye cup feels flimsy and also alters the focus so you have to adjust the focus back when pulling out the eye cup. Also the carry case is VERY cheaply made. But I mean I can live with that because they didn't cost cuts where it matters: image quality.

This monocular is compact and lightweight, it came with a strap, cleaning cloth, and case, but no lens caps. What I like about it is that it’s 8x magnification in small size, and the views through the lens are clear and bright. What I also like is its close focus. It’s advertised close focus of 4.9 ft, I measured it at 3 ft, great for watching butterflies, flowers, and the fine painting strokes in the museum. What I wish is that it came with lens caps, so you don’t need to store it in the case all the time, but the shape of the front of the lens casing is not round circle, fitting it with normal lens cap may be challenging. Also, the focusing ring is too tight, though is still possible to focus with one hand, it will be slow and not comfortable, maybe it’ll loosen up after repeated uses. Overall, it’s a nice well made monocular, and at its price, I would recommend it.

Very small and works well at 20 - 30 yards which is what I needed.

This monocular is a convenient alternative to binoculars, and has a well-designed shell that makes it comfortable and natural to use. The included wrist strap is plenty long even for large hands and can hang outside the carrying case. The focus dial is sturdy and not loose, such that your image will stay in focus and not drift. The molded grip in the shell is probably my favorite part as I use this monocular on adventures - hiking, helicopter tours, boat rides, etc - and worry much less about dropping it because it feels secure in my hand.The zoom rating (10x) is legitimate, with strong zoom and a crisp image. Because of the relatively small lens size, low light environments can be difficult.

Nice gift for travelers and those who pack light.

I ordered this for my wife as she has gotten into bird watching on her daily walks and found conventional binoculars, even the compact variety, to be too bulky. She wanted something inexpensive, compact and lightweight, this fit the bill.The scope is easy to hold due to its small shape and molded hand grip, there is a wrist strap for added security and it comes with a soft case with an integrated belt loop.The device is compact and lightweight with decent optics, especially considering the low cost. The eye cup distance is adjustable with just a twist, focus is accomplished by turning the ring below the eye cup. The overall performance is good, aided by the multi-coated optics and high-quality prism.The 25mm diameter lens works well in daylight offering a bright image with no color fringing, the scope is available with either 8x or 10x magnification. The 8x seems to work well for close proximity bird watching.

There are a few things I really like about this over a similarly magnified pair of binoculars. It's obvious that this will take up less space and less weight and that's the main point. I also like being able to keep both eyes open while I'm spotting something in a tree or where there is a lot of foliage where I find myself getting lots a lot when using binos.But it isn't all that powerful. So if you think you'll be identifying birds a city block away from you, you should dial down your expectations. I use this to see general things at a distance, approach, check again, and continue to approach. I use it to scan and determine if something is out there of any interest but it's just not powerful enough or has a wide enough field of vision to do much more.So am I ok with this? Ya, the tradeoff in size and weight is worth me leaving my similarly magnified binoculars at home because they take up too much space in my pack. This is a fairly straightforward tool and I like that. However, if you are looking to use it at a sport event or concert, it just isn't going to be powerful enough and the field of view will be too narrow to keep a person in the scope.Again, where it shines is portability and allowing you to scan quickly to determine if there is something interesting worth walking to. I find it handy scanning for squirrels and birds at treetop level but it's not a spotting scope and it isn't powerful enough to stop and look and enjoy what you see. It's more for scanning which is still great!

I purchased this for my wife to use but, while it has a nice size and weight, there are deficiencies that cannot be overcome.1) The focus ring is very difficult to turn. You need two hands and a good grip to turn it. For this reason, you can't really look through it, hold it steady, and focus it at the same time. Plus, it is tough to focus exactly on something because fine motions are not possible due to the force you must apply to the focusing ring.2) We often noticed a whitish haze around the edges of the field of view. Sometimes it seemed like an internal reflection from the front of the monocular. Other times it seemed like a reflection of our eye from the eyepiece. (Using the extendible eyecup didn't help much). Other times, there was no way to know what was causing the haze. It was very frustrating.3) The image is not completely sharp across the entire field of view. Focus in the center (as best as you can) and the edges are a little worse.4) It is easier to focus on closer objects than more distant objects, which is annoying.5) There are no lens caps provided with the monocular. There is a little nylon belt pouch which would provide a small measure of protection but not much.6) The size of the exit pupil - 3mm - is much smaller than we anticipated. That is a challenge for the user of this monocular.