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Gear Recommendations

Comments on Pocket telescope

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Pocket telescope

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Can anyone recommend a good monocular for hiking use? In rough order of preference I'm looking for some or all of these features:

  • Available in Britain, either directly or to import
  • Not made using forced labour
  • High magnification - at least 30x
  • Robust
  • Ability to clip to a camera (phone or other)
  • 1/4" tripod mount
  • Zoomable
  • Small - ideally not much more than 6" long
  • Good light-gathering

I know the last two in particular are contradictory in an optical device, but I've seen some that do good compromises. I'm looking to spend around GB£50, but might be persuaded to up the budget if there's something really good out there. I might be persuaded to spring for compact binoculars instead, but am trying to minimise the size and price.

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General comments (2 comments)
General comments
Olin Lathrop‭ wrote over 3 years ago · edited over 3 years ago

30x from a 6 inch long tube is going to be very wobbly. Basically forget about holding it to your eye while free-standing. This will only be useful if you can steady it somehow, like on a rock or against a tree. There is a reason binoculars usually top out at around 7x, maybe up to 10x for heavy marine ones.

Pastychomper‭ wrote over 3 years ago

Fair enough. The 30x was based on a zooming camera I used to have, which was indeed wobbly at maximum zoom. I used to steady it against whatever was handy if I didn't have it on a tripod.