Monocular vs binocular

[Caduceus]

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For bino's, most people do not know how to adjust the spacing for their eyes and properly setting the diopter.

If you do these two things correctly and you still see "double", either the bino's are out of alignment (each side is looking in different directions) or your eyes are looking in different directions.

I have seen where people look "at" the bino instead of through them and have problems.

What do you think it is?

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Dont be too smug. Plenty of people with a lazy eye, aka strabismus, out there. So, yes, they may be looking in two different directions.

Not to mention, diopeter adjustments have limits too. Lots of folks are legally blind, or have a cataract, or retinal detachment, or macular degeneration, etc., that limit use of one eye.

[Hochsitz]

I never go camping without my Leupold 10-20 mini spotter. It's way lighter than binos, fits in a jacket pocket or small backpack pocket and has 20x when you need it. You have to find a tree or rock to place it against at that mag though. If I'm hunting and the primary goal is to find animals then a bino is the way to go.

[krm375]

http://www.vortexoptics.com/uploads/ret_mon_solo-rt.jpg

This is the reticle in both the vortex monocular, and small binocular.

I have an older pair of Stiener Rocky 10x28 that work well and do have great glass for the size, but the vortex monocular and small binoculars have milling reticles and as far as I have seen no other small binoculars offer a reticle.

Here is the Vortex Binocular VIPER R/T, PDF
http://www.vortexoptics.com/uploads/...iper-rt_28.pdf

Here is the Vortex Monocular SOLO R/T, PDF
http://www.vortexoptics.com/uploads/..._ret-focus.pdf

[Bimmer]

What advantage does a set of binoculars offer over just a monocular style magnified handheld optic?

AFAIK, the advantage of binoculars is a bit of stereoscopic depth perception (and they're easier to hold on to).

The downside is that it's a expensive to get the two halves perfectly aligned (and keep them that way), and if they're out of alignment, then the image sucks. This is why (AFAIK), you rarely see binoculars that are more than 10x or 12x.

... But unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any high quality or high magnification monoculars.

Like somebody else said, look at handheld variable spotting scopes.

I bought my parents a 15-45x Bushnell, and it works well. At 15x it can be used as a handheld, and at 45x on a tripod it's powerful enough to spot wildlife...

[Boy Scout]

Reading along for some insight as well. I use a pair of Bushnell Permafocus 10x50 binoculars that I picked up from WalMart. They are a great pair of bino's for 100 yards and under, but trying to get details (looking for bad guy's tattoo's, facial hair, etc. for positive ID) on surveillance has been problematic lately. They are great in that as long as you look through them with corrected vision, everything you see is crystal clear, with no manual focusing, and they do absorb a decent amount of light at dusk/night.

I'm getting to where I'm sitting surveillance in a vehicle at 100 yards and past and am needing more magnification. I've been looking to pick up a spotting scope that I can mount to camera monopod for stability, which would in fact help out with distance and picking up the small details. Knowing that Barska and NCstar are bottom of the barrel, does anyone have insight into a lower tier brand (Bushnell, Simmons, Celestron, etc.) that I can pick for under $100? I'm thinking either 15-45x or 20-60x...

I know you get what you pay for, but the budget rules...