I already have a pair of excellent Steiner 8x32 binoculars. As effective as these binoculars are, they aren't actually small and lightweight. They're not as big and heavy as many, but still they are a burden when you want to travel light or just duck out for a quick impromptu hunt.
I owned a pair of cheap Tasco mini binoculars for some time, however the optics were a real strain on my eyes, so much so, I ended up giving them to a hunting mate one day after they started to induce a migrane. The principal of having and using a small pair of binoculars was sound, it was just the quality aspects of the Tasco 8x20's that were a pain. The Tasco weren't waterproof either and that left me with the constant minor concern that if they got wet they would most likely be ruined.
What would be the ideal mini binoculars/monocular? Well for me, they would have to have superior optics, that would be essential. They would also have to be totally waterproof. This leaves us with a vastly reduced range from which to choose. BUTCH chose a Zeiss monocular, these monoculars look terrific. They range from a pen like model with 5x power, right up to a bigger and more powerful 16x model. In my book, the 8x22 or 10x26 models would be perfect for hunting. The only thing is, they are pretty expensive at around AU$400 each.
Steiner make a monocular, but I can't find out how much they sell for, but they are of a porro prism design and this detracts from their compactness anyway. Steiner also make a very nice little 8x22 pair of mini binoculars that are waterproof and offer excellent optics and best of all they sell for AU$149.00. They fold up nice and small. These are the ones I will probably end up buying at this stage.
This concept of carrying a mini binocular/monocular is not aimed at the process of lengthy glassing periods from good vantage points, this is more the realm of bigger and optically superior binoculars. It's aimed at those occassions when you happen to notice something in the not so far away distance, but you just can't make out what it is. Is it a game animal or is it just a log? Even if you happen to be carrying your full sized bino's, by the time you get them out, it may be too late, whereas if all you had to do was reach into your pocket and grab your mini bino/monocular, you would be much more likely to actually do it rather than think to yourself, "oh well, it's probably just a log" and then see it run off.
Besides, I'm a bit of a minimalist nut. I just love to travel light and easy.
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Mick