Monocular over Binoculars

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3595wilk

3595wilk

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Anyone using a monocular rather than a pair of binos? If so which one? I have no use for binoculars as I don’t have binocular vision. Could buy a decent pair, but seems a waste, especially as I’m more of a recreational stalker. So, if there is something out there that would provide 80-90% of the abilities of a £500-£600 set of binos for about half that cost or less, I’d be interested.

Conscious it’s a limited market, but trying to find a monocular that could work. Leica make one but very small objective; Vortex do a 8 or 10x36, but not sure what it is like in low light. Found one by Minox that is aimed at the maritime market, but know their glass is good. Has a ranging reticle in it, that wouldn’t be needed really, so worth putting up with if the glass is good.

Ideally looking through them is the only way to find out, but as said, monoculars aren’t common and would be an on line purchase.

Anyway, any practical experience in a field use situation would be welcome👍.
 
I have a Zeiss 8x56 = half a normal bino, they are rare. I also have a Hensoldt 7x56 that by math should give a better light transmission but it needs a service.
My Zeiss is all I carry now as it is lighter on my neck and works well till my thermal takes over for the boar.
The expensive Zeiss binos that I bought around 2009 before learning that I had the non binocular vision as you are now a cupboard queen.
 
I used a zeiss prf 8x30range finder with cheaper bino's for years, the image quality was really good and made the bino's redundant, it may be worth looking at that or the swaro 8x30 lrf, two birds with one stone etc
 
I use an Opticron monocular 10 x 42, not hugely expensive. Down side is that you still need to use two hands to focus and I still tend to use my small bino's for single handed use. the difference is that I only have one functioning eye so the other half of the binocular is ...... eerrrr.... a bit superfluous!:D
I was actually toying with idea of a swaro spotting scope, but that may have to wait for a lottery/premium bond win!
 
if you have an eye problem ? Are you not best making the most of what you have ? Obviously a one eyed man isnt going to benefit from binos over a telescope but how many good 8x telescopes are there about ?
Buy the best glass you can afford but field of view is important so keep the mag down , woodland stalking with a 20x would be horrendous . i like a good 7x for all round
a good telescope will cost more and be harder to find because of demand
wondering if there might be a really good rangefinder that has a decent field of view , lens size and magnification? 32 mm objective would be the smallest i might consider and that means 4x magnification ( seems big for the rangefinders i know of )
 
My wife has an 8x Minox monocular that she uses in preference to binoculars as it is so light. Not sure which one, it is about 10 years old and probably around 8x42.
 
I have very limited vision in my left eye and tried to find a monocular rather than pay out for binoculars
I tried a couple (including a Minox) but they had small objective lenses so were of little use at dawn or dusk - and the glass was not that good
I finished up buying pair of Kahles Helia rangefinding binoculars and am more than happy with them
Although the left side is not used, I find the hold and balance better than any of the monoculars I tried.
As an aside, I actually wanted to buy a pair of Swarovski rangefinding binoculars but discovered (by accident) that the aiming circle is displayed in the right eye and the distance in the left eye, and initially, when I looked through them could not understand why I could see the aiming circle but no range value was visible
Although the glass in the Kahles is not as good as the Swaros, it's good enough for me and I saved a bunch of money in the process :)

Cheers

Bruce
 
3595wilk said:
Anyone using a monocular rather than a pair of binos? If so which one? I have no use for binoculars as I don’t have binocular vision. Could buy a decent pair, but seems a waste, especially as I’m more of a recreational stalker. So, if there is something out there that would provide 80-90% of the abilities of a £500-£600 set of binos for about half that cost or less, I’d be interested.

Conscious it’s a limited market, but trying to find a monocular that could work. Leica make one but very small objective; Vortex do a 8 or 10x36, but not sure what it is like in low light. Found one by Minox that is aimed at the maritime market, but know their glass is good. Has a ranging reticle in it, that wouldn’t be needed really, so worth putting up with if the glass is good.

Ideally looking through them is the only way to find out, but as said, monoculars aren’t common and would be an on line purchase.

Anyway, any practical experience in a field use situation would be welcome👍.
Click to expand...

Whats wrong with your weak eye, if you don't mind me asking? I only ask because I used to close one eye when using binos for years. I mentioned this to an eye doctor, who told me that you are almost always better trying to look with two eyes open, even if one is weaker. Decent binos where you can calibrate one side help, plus a lot of forced practice.
 
Squint. Can't see in parallel. Doesn't affect using a scope or indeed judging line when batting in cricket.....but length was a bugger to judge.....
 
As I have Accolades, I needed something to ID with, so bought a Vortex Solo 10x36.

It’s not amazing but it’s ok. Not a touch on my Swaros for clarity or light gathering, but saves carrying two sets of binos.

The Solo is a rugged bit of kit, that clips securely to my bino harness and for the relatively small cost, serves its purpose well.

5DB59D0D-3B31-4361-BA5A-1B7A9D9099AD.webp
 
This one's a tough one to answer, that's for sure. There's a very limited offer of quality monoculars that could compete with binos, especially in the price range you specified. Leica Monovid or Zeiss Mono could be interesting to you, but they are "pocket" monoculars and most likely not what you're looking for. You could perhaps take a look at Kite Optics Mono or Bushnell Legend Ultra, but they are (in our opinion) not a perfect solution for various reasons.

The truth be told, there is probably no perfect solution to your problem, but @Phil fox man above got pretty close. :)
 
Did mull over the Vortex @FISH BOY, as did seem to get good feedback; and thought for the price can’t go wrong. Was going to get a set of their binos originally as seemed a decent price for my needs and had tried some that a mate uses.

Never thought about chopping a decent older set in half……..not a bad idea and may go down the route in the future….2-4-1 and all that……🙂

Think I’m going to try an Opticron. They have 2 models, the older discontinued in Japanese ED glass and is a 8x42. Newer version is ED too but from China, which doesn’t phase me…..just the older model is cheaper…

Currently waiting for a response to a couple of queries I have asked of the supplier, and then send link off to Mrs 3595 for adding to the Xmas shopping list.

Thanks folks for your input, much appreciated 👍.
 
I have the Leica Monovid and an older Zeiss. I use one or other of them when I’m out with the camera or travelling.

They are both very good optically, but I’d actually wonder if you’ll be better off ergonomically using binoculars, as I find they give a much more stable platform.
 
willie_gunn said:
I have the Leica Monovid and an older Zeiss. I use one or other of them when I’m out with the camera or travelling.

They are both very good optically, but I’d actually wonder if you’ll be better off ergonomically using binoculars, as I find they give a much more stable platform.
Click to expand...
The land and scenarios I access and shoot in, means I can mainly use my closed quads as a rest when scanning - so usually pretty stable….or anchor my arm against a tree/fence post etc. Think across very open land or hills would be a problem/factor, but down here, not causing an issue at the moment for me.
 
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