A monocular is a small or mini instrument that uses various lenses to magnify whatever you aim it at. Basically, a monocular is a low-powered telescope or a spotting scope that you can hold in one hand like with binoculars. However, monocular is just for one eye. 

The primary distinguishing feature of a monocular, from binoculars and spotting scopes, is that it’s small. It can sometimes be the size of your thumb or a pen, but thicker. You can easily fit it into your pockets or purse.

When to Consider Buying a Monocular

A good time to purchase a quality Starscope mono would be when you need to keep things small and simply want to peak. 

For instance, checking out what kind of a deer is out there in the field or looking at what a sign across a building says. 

You can sometimes also use a monocular as a magnifier if you have the right one. 

When You Should Buy a Binocular or Spotting Scope Instead

If you want to scan an area or take a look for a long duration, you should consider going with binoculars instead. Using both of your eyes doesn’t cause as much strain. Binoculars are better for hunting surveillance, bird watching, astronomy, and other similar applications. 

A spotting scope is like the beast version of a monocular. You get more magnification, it weighs more, it’s much bigger, and you need a tripod for steadiness. 

Magnification of a Monocular

The magnification is nothing more than the number of times an instrument can enlarge an image over the normal size. While more might seem better, you would also have a harder time using and transporting a device that has a high magnification. 

Since a monocular is a relatively small device, you should expect to see a 5x or a 6x magnification in them. However, you can find a monocular with a magnification of up to 10x. Since it’s a monocular, it wouldn’t be hard to use. 

The Objective Size

You will probably see numbers written like 10×50 when you look around for a monocular. The first number would be the magnification of the device. The second is the objective size, which is in millimeters. The larger the objective size of the monocular you are buying, the better its optical performance. 

For smaller monocular, you will probably see 15 to 20mm objective size. But you can definitely find a bigger and better one. 

Snapping Pictures

In the latest monocular, there is an excellent technology that allows you to capture photos. If you find a good monocular, you can capture sharp and really clear images that you can even share on your social media. 

Field of View 

That is how much of the territory you can see when you look through a particular monocular. 

If there is a really long fence 1000 yards away from you, and your monocular has a field of view of 310 feet at 1000 yards, you can only see 310 feet of the fence. 

If you want to have a wide field of view at lesser distances, you need to get a lower magnification monocular.