I've ordered a monocular.

[gunwharfman]

My £20 monocular has arrived, from Amazon, who went from not having any, to having some in the space of 24hrs. Its labelled as an 'UpClose G2 10 x 25) 4" long x 1" wide. Very simple turn focuser, come with its own belt attachment and a strap to secure it to my wrist. I'm sure I'll never use the case but I'll hang onto it for a while. The monocular feels solidly made. For me I'm sure it will do the job, for others maybe not or definitely not?

What a lot of messing about just to spend £20!

[jimbob]

Keep us up to date on the cow spotting success or otherwise.

Great thing with Amazon, if you have kept the packaging intact, is that you can send it back after a couple of days trial. 

[Jac]

There's a saying in the optics world; "the best binocular/monocular is is the one you have with you"

Which is why, years ago, I splashed out on a pair of compact Swarovski bins. Then £250, replacement now over £500.
Small enough for a pocket, good enough to 'compete' with some of the big boys when birdwatching. I love it when a casual 'How nice it is to see the snipe' causes an frantic re-positioning of the expensive telescopes around me.


But - if all I required was the means to spot waymarks, landowners, cows or emergency exits across a field in case the cunning cows had been hiding round the corner - then a cheap monocular would be ideal.


Let's agree on 'horses for courses'

[Dyffryn Ardudwy]

Swarovskis. Yummy, the difference in clarity when your peepers are looking through optical glass of this calibre, is remarkable.

Its just a heck of a shame, that the top three, Zeiss, Leica and Swarovski, charge far too much money for the average person to enjoy the experience.



I still do not regret blowing in excess of £300 on a small optical viewfinder, as the image quality almost justifies the cost, and i know i will have this little Monocular for life.

[ayjay]

Swarovskis. Yummy, the difference in clarity when your peepers are looking through optical glass of this calibre, is remarkable.

I've only ever looked through one pair of Swaros - it was as though they had a green filter over the lenses, everything had a very green cast - I am slightly red/green colour blind so that may explain my eye/brain reaction to any lens coatings, idk.

I'm still perfectly happy with my old school porros, Swift Audubon 8.5 X 44 ED.

I do find that the view (colours) tends to be a bit washed out through most of the roof prism models that I've looked at, the colour reproduction is spot on with my Swifts.

[veracocha]

ED glass is a game changer, now the £2-300 Chinese bins can compare to within a few percent of the German stuff at a fraction of the price. Warranty won't be as good.

[Peak]

I have been looking at 8x42 bins for birding and a friend recommended the Hawke Endurance range, very impressive reviews and a lifetime No Excuse warranty. I believe they are also a British company, the Endurance sell for around £200. I used to own a pair of Swarovski 8x42, amazing bins, I regret to this day selling them.

[veracocha]

I have been looking at 8x42 bins for birding and a friend recommended the Hawke Endurance range, very impressive reviews and a lifetime No Excuse warranty. I believe they are also a British company, the Endurance sell for around £200. I used to own a pair of Swarovski 8x42, amazing bins, I regret to this day selling them.

Hawke produce some excellent bino's. I have owned almost every derivative be it Endurance, Frontier and Sapphire. Those are in order of range, each being slightly better than the former optically. You see a lot of Frontier on the auction site for around £150 and if I were after another pair that's where my money would go. Not British made, used to be Deben as the importer now Hawke Optics who are British. 

[gunwharfman]

Just an update. About a week after getting my monocular I lost it, couldn't find it anywhere!

I turned the house upside down, looked in my car more than once, went though all of my pockets and nothing! What in heavens name did I do with it?

Problem solved today, it was in my garage! Piecing it together I decided to make a round trip to my car a few days ago via my garage (about 75 yds away from our house) first to the garage to leave a couple of items there, then onto my car, 25 yds away to leave a jacket and to put my monocular in the glove pocket.

For some unknown reason I left the monocular in my garage, I have no idea why I did this?

[richardh1905]

I love it when a casual 'How nice it is to see the snipe' causes an frantic re-positioning of the expensive telescopes around me.

I delight in raking an ancient leather bound brass stalker's telescope into a bird hide.