Barr & StroudSprite 10x25 Mini Monocular

This is the 3rd one I’ve bought. One for us to keep in the car and 2 for gifts. It is small enough to put in your pocket on a walk (if you don’t want to use the included strap and hang it around your neck) and it fits nicely into the palm of the hand. I put one in my brother’s Christmas cracker so it fits inside a toilet roll.Love the grooves for fingers to go making it very comfortable. It has a pouch for carrying and keeping it safe which is padded, neat and compact.We keep ours in the car as I’m always spotting things whilst hubby is driving but we do also take it on walks.Very easy to use, the magnification is simple to adjust and it focuses well. Great quality for something so small.Would definitely recommend and it also makes a good gift.

Background:I must admit I didn't and still don't know much about binocs or monoculars for that matter, but I felt comfortable about this brand since it's UK based (Scotland) and have been in the game for long also providing products to the Royal Navy and Armed Forces.Review:The monoculars are very compact, which makes it easy to operate with one hand, and it makes for a pretty solid construction I believe. The easypiece has that extending rubber ring and the "focus-ring" just behind that, to adjust the focus of the monoculars. It's sits well in the hand I believe, and has a good tactile feel, which would help it not slipping in wet/damp conditions (I believe it is water proof).The monoculars comes with a holster/pouch (with beltloop) which I believe is made out of nylon, but it seemed maybe a bit too large for the monoculars by itself. They also included a thether so you could maybe secure it with that.The 10x magnification seems to be a good balance for me, its enough that you can increase your view a good bit, and not so much that you can't keep the monocular on target (the more magnification, the more any vibrations will be amplified). Any more magnification and it would become hard to keep it on target, without support. Monoculars can caused a bit more fatigue on the eye/eyes then binoculars, which makes monoculars in general not ideal for birdwatching and the likes. But I believe the 25mm lens is also too small for the purpose.However, for daylight I believe these work well and if you can support yourself on something (tree or windowframe) while viewing through the monoculars you can get an even steadier look.My intended use:I wanted something small (light), compact and solid, yet effective to carry in my backpack when being out and about on hiking or camping trips. To help navigate towards certain POI (like rock formations or just bodies of water (several hundred meters)) or just just get a better look at the occasional wildlife (like bigger mammals at a distance (20-100 meters) or small animals like birds (10-25 meters)). So i knew I wanted monoculars, and these looked very promising, I wanted maximum magnification in a small package that i could still opererate by hand with no support if needed. My intended use can be summed up to "Monocular for hiking and scouting".

Like most, I suspect, I spent a lot of time looking at reviews and comparing specs of different monoculars. As one wise reviewer said though, the best monocular is the one you have with you - and this is so compact (it fits neatly in my fist) I can take it everywhere. The performance is also superb, just unpacked mine and tested it on my garden (and, ahem, the neighbours' windows) and the image is very clear and bright. There are no instructions (the ones provided are for binoculars) but it is fairly simple: gently twist and pull the eyecup out (just 3 or 4 mils) and give the fairly tight focus ring a tweak either way until you are focused. You do have to place the eye cup just so, and I found that wearing glasses didn't work well - that said, my eyesight is not great at all but even without my glasses the image was very clear (and I usually wear contacts anyway).Someone else mentioned it is difficult to focus - it really isn't, so don't be put off by that. All in all, this is such a lovely little thing, never mind the utility it is just one of those gadgets that is nice to have and for the money it is top value. I've literally just received it so can't vouch for its claims to waterproofness and anti-fogging but no reason to doubt. The only slight complaint is with the carry case - it's not very snug and the sides are not fully enclosed so there is a slight danger that the monocular could work its way out of the bottom if you were running (I doubt it would happen, but just to be aware). I've wound the supplied lanyard around the monocular before putting it in the pouch and that does help somewhat.My review is of the 10 x 25; worth the extra few pounds for the additional reach in my view. Please click 'yes' if you found my review helpful.

I bought one of the cheap 10x40 £15 monoculars you see all over Amazon and was disappointed with them. Internally stopped down, terrible vignetting, blurry edges and a lot less than the claimed magnification. So I was nervous about buying another one. These being Barr & Stroud swung it for me so I took a leap of faith and they have not disappointed.They are not stopped down internally like the cheap monoculars. The image is clear and bright. No sign of vignetting and only a little chromatic aberration on branches etc against bright sky. The image is sharp to the edge. Genuine 10x magnification as well. Really quite impressive image quality for the price.They are a nice size and easily fit in a coat pocket and are nice to hold with a rubberised grip and very light being composite. As others have reported the focus ring is a little stiff, but has caused me no problems.They have an adjustable eye cup with a nice click action and the pouch they are supplied with opens at the top (another review says it was side opening and the monocular fell out easily, so perhaps B&S have addressed this now). There are no lens caps, but to be honest they are a faff with such a portable device anyway. Just slip it in the pouch when finished.All in all, if you are looking at those generic monoculars scattered across Amazon, forget them and pay a bit more to get this properly useful bit of kit.