Need Help Picking a Monocular! (1 Viewer)

Hello all, looking to buy a quality monocular and willing to spend up to $150. From what I’ve seen that’s a dreaded word around here. I recognize and accept the weaknesses (eye fatigue, depth, FOV, etc.) in exchange for the portability. It's going to be thrown in a pack and quickly used to look at things from wildlife (lots of anna's hummingbirds in my area. I just love the mating rituals of these birds) to street signs.

Here are a couple of the ones I'm looking at right now and a couple of my thoughts.

Minox 8x16 or 6x16. Still undecided on which magnification. I have pretty still hands. The monocular I'm looking to replace is 7x and I have no issues with stability. Love the 140m FOV though
Nikon 6x15 Monocular II

Zeiss 5x10 Miniquick

Docter 8x21 Monocular

Lomo Little Mak 10x30. A curious item from the astronomy world. This magnification is stretching even a 2 handed grip for me but I've read that the optics are good? QC is hit-and-miss though unfortunately


I picked them based on:

• 2-3mm exit pupil.
  I see myself using this monocular mostly in bright to moderate conditions. Keeps the size of the monocular down as well.

• Compactness
  Monoculars can come in all sorts of sizes and shapes so I just set an arbitrary 5" length limit or ~4oz

If any of you have experience with these, please chime in! Or if you have recommendation for other monoculars, I'd love to hear them. I'm not opposed to recommendations of discontinued models.

I have monoculars and enjoy them on a hike.
A have a few friends who are strict with their hike packing and
only want monocs, due to bulk.

Your choices are great, except for the Mini-Quick. At 5x10 the image
really suffers from the 10mm, according to some comments. Might
be cutting it too much.

Why 6x16 over 8x16? Brightness. If you have dawn/dusk needs...

The Docter 8x21 is much-loved out there. If you look at longer distances
that's your unit. Versus the 6x16? A bit more weight/bulk. It is real porro.

ICSK said:

Hello all, looking to buy a quality monocular and willing to spend up to $150. From what I’ve seen that’s a dreaded word around here. I recognize and accept the weaknesses (eye fatigue, depth, FOV, etc.) in exchange for the portability. It's going to be thrown in a pack and quickly used to look at things from wildlife (lots of anna's hummingbirds in my area. I just love the mating rituals of these birds) to street signs.

Here are a couple of the ones I'm looking at right now and a couple of my thoughts.

Minox 8x16 or 6x16. Still undecided on which magnification. I have pretty still hands. The monocular I'm looking to replace is 7x and I have no issues with stability. Love the 140m FOV though
Nikon 6x15 Monocular II

Zeiss 5x10 Miniquick

Docter 8x21 Monocular

Lomo Little Mak 10x30. A curious item from the astronomy world. This magnification is stretching even a 2 handed grip for me but I've read that the optics are good? QC is hit-and-miss though unfortunately


I picked them based on:

• 2-3mm exit pupil.
  I see myself using this monocular mostly in bright to moderate conditions. Keeps the size of the monocular down as well.

• Compactness
  Monoculars can come in all sorts of sizes and shapes so I just set an arbitrary 5" length limit or ~4oz

If any of you have experience with these, please chime in! Or if you have recommendation for other monoculars, I'd love to hear them. I'm not opposed to recommendations of discontinued models.

Click to expand...

This fits in your size limits and it will smoke all that stuff you have listed. A little heavier but still way lighter than most binoculars. HaHa!
http://www.zen-ray.com/shop/monohd8x42.html

I thought you were done with Zen Ray? Kind a hard to recommend something you wouldn't own yourself, isn't it?

If you are looking for something small with excellent image quality and a precision metal build then I would suggest the Opticron Gallery scope.

http://opticronusa.com/Pages/gallery_scope.html

Over your upper limit, but it bought a carefully used monocular Leica monovid from a BF member through the classified section, for 1.75x over your limit. It was in great condition, waterproof, crystal clear, and amazing for its size. Most important decent depth of field. Carry it always, super portable. If you have time to wait the Leicas show up occasionally, you will have it for a very long time.

FrankD said:

I thought you were done with Zen Ray? Kind a hard to recommend something you wouldn't own yourself, isn't it?

Click to expand...

Yes, I have had quality problems with their binoculars but without many moving parts a monocular is pretty safe and I must admit this is the best monocular I have ever seen for the money.

Thanks for the replies. My thoughts:

OPTIC_NUT said:

...
Your choices are great, except for the Mini-Quick. At 5x10 the image
really suffers from the 10mm, according to some comments. Might
be cutting it too much.

Click to expand...

I'd like to ask for clarification on the MiniQuick. What are the issues you're referring to? My first thoughts were eye relief but I'd love to hear your answer.

[email protected] said:

This fits in your size limits and it will smoke all that stuff you have listed. A little heavier but still way lighter than most binoculars. HaHa!
http://www.zen-ray.com/shop/monohd8x42.html

Click to expand...

That's quite the piece of glass at 42mm. It's too big for my uses but I'll bookmark that for future reference. Seems like it'd make a great all-in-one if I planned on using the monocular during all times of the day.

FrankD said:

If you are looking for something small with excellent image quality and a precision metal build then I would suggest the Opticron Gallery scope.

http://opticronusa.com/Pages/gallery_scope.html

Click to expand...

Definitely going to add that to the contenders. Thanks for making my decision harder!

statestat said:

Over your upper limit, but it bought a carefully used monocular Leica monovid from a BF member through the classified section, for 1.75x over your limit...

Click to expand...

I don't think I'm quite at the level where I would spend that much yet. Perhaps in 5 years or so? Haha

I'd like to ask for clarification on the MiniQuick. What are the issues you're referring to? My first thoughts were eye relief but I'd love to hear your answer.

Click to expand...

Not much light or aperature to work with, and the 1-2 mm grazing that typically
happens can cut into 10mm more than, say, 20. They go to 5 power to make
up the brightness, but it's then a 5 power. Quality can't make up for power loss
at that point. They make it long to keep the design high-performance, but
then you have a field of view of 5.7 degrees, which is small and extra small
looking relative to the 5 power. Less FOV means you have to scan more to
find your target, but it takes extra time for the eye to dissect a 5-power view,
which slows the scan. I saw reviews where they said it had poor resolution.
It was probably more a matter of not seeing finer detail because they wouldn't
slow down and stare carefully.

It's really neat for its size, but there are issues you can't escape as your aperature
dwindles away.

"That's quite the piece of glass at 42mm. It's too big for my uses but I'll bookmark that for future reference. Seems like it'd make a great all-in-one if I planned on using the monocular during all times of the day."

It is not THAT big. Give it a try. You will not want to go back to the micro-monoculars.

People who want a monoc in their pack are usually quite insistent on smallishness.
2 cubes over is a guy who cracks his toothbrush in half. I haven't been able to budge
him from 6x18. At 8x25 he goes panicky. 42mm would be quite an anchor for the
ultra-lighters. Not that it isn't spectacular compared to 18mm. I would pack it.
I carry 9x32 now on rare climbs. The view at the top seems to demand it.

I have a Zeiss 6x18 and it fits in the pocket easily and it is very good for when I go outside for breaks at work. Sharp images but it takes a little getting used to. It has a draw tube for focus. It is excellent for inside short distance looking. For instance reading something from across the room - or art gallery.

Yup....If I got a super-grade little monoc, that would be the one. 6x18 Zeiss.
3mm exit pupil is pretty good for brightness and 6x is enough power, combined with
sharpness, to show you lots. I have the 6x16 Audubon that was discontinued
and it's a lot of fun. A little brighter and bit sharper would be great.
My hiking friend has the Carson Mini Might 6x18. $15. A goodly amount of barrel
distortion, but fairly bright and a good field. OK for finding trail blazes.

I also have the Zeiss 6x18 monocular. I'm not much of a fan of monoculars but this one does come in handy. It has draw tube focusing and focuses from the front end of the objective tube and it can focus on small print on very close objects like coins in a pinch but a loupe would be better to use.

It's very lightweight and it has a decent FOV but it is awkward to use when looking at very close items because you have to extend the draw tube further out the closer you are to the subject . The DOF at that range is very small so focusing is critical. Sometimes I inadvertently block out the light hitting the subject if I am very close to it.

Out at normal distances the DOF is so long that you hardly have to move the draw tube from it's fully closed position to focus it. It's fine for back yard viewing. 6x isn't all that useful at long distance but it is better than nothing.

I am right handed and hold it to my left eye with my right hand which is braced against my forehead and I the focus the tube with my left hand. I've found that is the best way for me to keep it steady.

Bob

Thanks everyone for the responses. I think I have my 2 choices (even though I only set out to purchase 1 haha). Will update the first post to reflect that.

Minox 8x16 - This'll be for everyday backpacking/suburbia when lighting is moderate to bright. It'll mainly be used to take quick peeks at various things I find interesting or need to briefly look at. I picked it because it has the widest FOV. It'll be a slight comprimise in terms of exit pupil but that's OK for the lighting conditions I'll be putting it in.

Zen-Ray ZRS HD-M 8x42 - I'll swap the Minox for this whenever I need more light gathering capability.

A close second to the everyday monocular of choice was the Opticron Gallery Scope. the FOV of the Minox was what did it for me though.

follownoone said:

I have a Zeiss 6x18...

Click to expand...

I love Zeiss glass. It's absolutely amazing to look at things through it. Unfortunately it's out of my price range right now.


EDIT: I don't see an edit button on my original post so I'll post the conclusion here:

Didn't pick
Docter 8x21 - I tend to let people borrow my equipment even if it's expensive. It's just the kind of person I am - though not for extended periods of time on the expensive stuff. I had delusions of someone borrowing it, dropping it, and displacing the prism or something. That's why I'll take the simplicity of the other designs.

Lomo Little Mak 10x30 - The secondary mirror obscures the picture causing issues with the sharpness of images.

Zeiss 5x10 Miniquick - Was attracted to the small size and Zeiss name but was convinced otherwise because of the small diameter of the lens

Nikon 6x15 Monocular II - Just couldn't find it at the time. It's pretty cheap on the secondary market but I think I prefer the 8x magnification though all things considered.

Things I didn't consider. This may be a determining factor for you:
Eye Relief - Could be a slight problem for those that wear glasses, sunglasses, or would like to do occasional telephotography with their phone or point and shoot camera. It's something that I actually forgot because my primary source doesn't include it haha. It doesn't change my choice though as that's never been a concern for me when looking for optics.

Focus Range - This is something I simply do not understand. The idea of being able to focus at close objects is,in my mind, negated by simply moving closer to your subject. I guess it could be a problem if you're looking at ants? Or wildlife? The monocular I'm looking to replace had a focus range of 30cm to infinity and I never ended up using that close focusing ability.

Nice summation of your choices. Let us know if you like what you chose. I predict you will like the Zenray.