I have an REI 10x -30x monocular. The optics are not stellar and the field of view is very small, but if I brace it on my knee or pole, it is usable. It works well enough for my purposes, which include scanning mountains across a valley to try spotting distant wildlife or the trail ahead. It actually works pretty well for distant viewing. It has a push/pull rough focus and then a twist fine focus, which does take some getting used to.

I agree that 10x is on the edge of usable, but the form factor makes it easy enough to take along. Anything more than 10x will require me to find a clever way of mounting them to a tripod. They don't have a screw mount, so maybe I'll try the trick where you stand on a stiff string or wire...

Also, since I've dropped a couple of pairs of binoculars and caused them to misalign, I'll stick to monoculars for the time being. It is low-cost enough that if I drop this and break it, I won't cry.

I have some nicer small binoculars, but I use those at home


Edited by DustinV (05/22/17 02:07 PM)