Sprite 8x25 Mini Monocular

If you're looking to replace heavy binoculars with something that has similar vision capability, but with less bulk and weight, then a monocular could be your ideal solution.This one is small enough to fit in a pocket and, at around 160g (plus lanyard and case, if you want to use them), it won't weigh you down. Yes, the focus wheel is a bit on the stiff side, making this monocular difficult to use one-handed, and the pull-out eyepiece, designed for wearers of spectacles, lets in light. However, it seems to do the job reasonably well.The Barr & Stroud monocular comes with a five-year limited warranty from the distributors, OVL (Optical Vision Ltd of Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk, whose motto translates as 'Always Ready' - the same as that used by the U.S. Coast Guard). Interestingly, OVL do not include this monocular model on their own website. There's no country of origin anywhere on the product or its packaging but, despite the very British-sounding brand name, I'm guessing this is made outside of the UK. This is perhaps borne out by a severe lack of attention to detail (or lack of English language) in including in the packaging an irrelevant multilingingual instruction leaflet for binoculars instead of monoculars. If I'm correct in my assumption, I might have saved a few pounds buying one of the many identical products with other names printed on them which exist on Amazon and on online auction sites.

Great quality and easy to use. The neck strap could be better quality and made to be more secure so won't use.

Impressive optics for the money and particularly good price if it really is waterproof. Focus ring is a little stiff and full range of focus is achieved in around a third of a turn. Neither a problem for me but might be for some.

I purchased this eight months ago and was initially very pleased with it. With a little practice it becomes quick and instinctive to use and the optical quality in an instrument so cheap, light and portable is remarkable. My only issue has been that it let in water during a short trip out in drizzly rain last month. However, the seller has replaced it under warranty with no quibble and I'm hopeful that the replacement will indeed be waterproof (as stated in the product details). Will try to post an update in due course.

Size, weight excellent. Clarity left a little to be desired. Focussing adjustment rather too stiff. Not quite as powerful as required. Disappointed to discover yet another ‘British’ product made in China.

Monocular was delivered on time and well packaged. This product has exceeded my expectations in several area's. Firstly the optics are excellent, super clear images with no obvious optical aberrations. I bought the 8 x magnification which is easy to use as recommended by various journals. The focussing ring is quite stiff, but this aids in being able to set up fine focus and prevents it from easily slipping off focus. The device is robust and well made, comes with an adequate padded bag with lanyard. I didn't expect anything as good as this for only £30.00 or so. Thoroughly recommended. So much easier and less faff than binoculars.

I returned a previous purchase due to a slight fault in the object lens. Although this monocular is lower powered the image is very clear. Although the focusing ring is fairly stiff, once accurate focusing is achieved, there is no need to re-focus as the depth of field of this monocular is very wide.

Good product, its light and easy to hold, as previous reviews have said the "focus wheel" is quite stiff to turn and at higher resolution the image does start to de-grade, but fine for the price and it's tough/waterproof which is great. The pouch it comes with over sized for some reason, but overall happy with monocular...Reason for not giving it 5 starts is the stiff focus wheel and the loss of clarity at higher res...