Date: 12/8/25 9:25 am From: <gravermoen...> Subject: RE: [gcbirdclub] Monocular for birding question
I prefer binoculars but the one thing I think is really cool about monoculars is you can use some of them to take pictures with a smart phone vs having to lug a camera around.
My main camera weighs 8 lbs and I was quite jealous of my travel companion with a monocular being able to take 90% of the same photos I was while only lugging around a few ounces.
David Gravermoen
Moore, SC
From: <carolinabirds-request...> <carolinabirds-request...> On Behalf Of Sophia Cox (via carolinabirds Mailing List)
Sent: Monday, December 8, 2025 11:34 AM
To: Chris Marsh <cmarshlci...>
Cc: Kevin Kubach <kmkubach...>; GCBC <gcbirdclub...>; Carolina Birds <carolinabirds...>
Subject: Re: [gcbirdclub] Monocular for birding question
Thank you all for your suggestions! To answer Chris's question, she is mostly interested in looking at birds (perhaps also mammals, if she were to come across a bear or fox or something). She owns 8x42 binoculars that work great, but she often doesn't bring them with her due to their size/weight, which is part of the appeal of the monocular to her. She also mentioned that one of her eyes is much worse than the other, so she wondered if a monocular would be easier in that sense. She may reconsider, after hearing many of your reservations, but if she does go through with it, how much difference does the 32 (8x32 field tube or 10x32 field tube) vs. 25 (10x25 zero tube) make? My understanding is the x25 would let in less light, but it also seems to be smaller/lighter-weight/more portable, which is important to her. If anyone has thoughts on the specs specifically, I'd love to hear your opinions.
On Mon, Dec 8, 2025 at 8:09 AM Chris Marsh <cmarshlci...> <mailto:<cmarshlci...> > wrote:
I agree with Kevin. Monoculars are a waste of money. Question: is she interested in looking at just birds or does she also want to look at butterflies and dragonflies? Close focus is another consideration. When looking at small, lightweight binoculars Nocs 8x25 binoculars only focus down to 20 ft but are waterproof. Pentax Papilio II 8.5 x 21 binoculars focus down to 18 inches but have a very shallow depth of field when looking at birds. They are very compact and my daughter who has general nature interests loves her pair, but they are not waterproof. They only cost about $100.
Hi, Sophie. I understand the concept of saving space, but my $0.02 would be--for that amount of money ($125-150+)--to buy a decent waterproof binocular with a good warranty, such as the Vortex Crossfire series in 8 or 10 x 42. All the reliable brands should have waterproof options in the price range with good warranties. Crossfires are on the larger/heavier side but might not be out of the realm of what your friend finds suitable; I'm sure there are other slightly lighter or more compact options.
In my experience, monoculars like that essentially require 2 hands to operate with any stability (especially with higher magnification and/or smaller objective lens), so why not just get a good, fully waterproof binocular (which provide a steadier, clearer image with less visual interference or strain on your other eye)?
Another birder recently asked my advice on whether Nocs Provisions Monoculars (https://www.nocsprovisions.com/collections/monoculars) would be good for birding. She is specifically contemplating whether to purchase the 8x32 field tube monocular or 10x32 field tube monocular (or possibly the zero tube 10x25, but my sense is that would be less useful). She already has binoculars; I think the appeal of the monocular as additional birding gear is that it takes up less room and apparently is completely waterproof. Her binoculars are 8x magnification, so my thinking was that the 10x magnification would be a better bet so that she'll have more magnification power in situations where the 8x binoculars are maybe not quite strong enough to clearly see a distant bird. But I thought I'd consult the club and see if anyone has insight. The monoculars she's considering can also be viewed here: https://www.rei.com/b/nocs-provisions/c/monoculars. Any and all opinions welcome!
