Still, while the smartphone mount isn’t perfect, it’s the best for iPhones among the competition, and for its moderate price point, we think the Titan is also one of the best picks around for most users. You’ll need to finely adjust the connection to get good results, and this takes some doing. While this feature is exceptional, in practice, setting up the mount isn’t particularly easy. Not only is this a great photo tool, but with a tripod attached, you’ll easily be able to watch zoomed-in action right from your phone screen. When you attach your smartphone, the adjustable mount locks into place on your phone’s camera, allowing you to zoom in, for videos and photos at 12x. The smartphone mount is the Titan’s standout feature. It’s also lightweight and notably durable, with an IPX7 rating for water fastness, meaning this monocular isn’t only rain and fog-proof, it’s even submersible. It’s capable of zooming in further than the competition, while delivering excellent clarity. Even without the smartphone mount, the Titan delivers 12x magnification with a large surface lens.

With the widest feature set and some of the best magnification out there, the Gosky Titan is an easy pick for anyone looking to shoot through their iPhone (or any other smartphone), it just has so much going for it. Phone connection bracket is finicky and hard to get right Best Monoculars: Reviews and Recommendations Best Overall: Opticron Explorer WA ED-R Some also include thermal night vision, which we noted in our picks below. Some connect to your phone or tablet enabling you to use the monocular as a scope zoom to record or photograph distant objects. Handy Features: Extra features can make or break a monocular. This is usually denoted with a set of two numbers such as 10x42 or 8x42, with the first number denoting the level of magnification, and the second denoting the size of the objective lens in millimeters.įorm Factor: As monoculars are often packed in for bird watching in the bush, or brought along on rainy boats, designs that include waterproofing, impact resistance, and simple grippy coatings, can make all the difference in your optical device’s quality. Galileo’s most powerful telescope from the 1600s was capable of magnifying objects about 30 times with a 980 millimeter length, while common consumer-grade monoculars of today usually magnify between five and 12 times, with some going higher.

Monoculars usually don’t achieve the same levels of magnification found in telescopes made for astronomy. As refracting telescopes, monoculars use an objective lens to form its image, which is usually run through a prism. Magnification: This varies somewhat among monoculars. Below is a rundown of the criteria we looked for. We performed some testing and made some of our judgments based on personal experience. When building this list, we researched monoculars from across the spectrum of manufacturers, digging into the specs and pinpointing the features that we thought were important. Best Overall: Opticron Explorer WA ED-R - Best Budget: Roxant Monocular Telescope - Best for iPhone: Gosky Titan - Best for Bird Watching: Hawke Endurance ED - Best Thermal: ATN OTS LT Thermal Viewer - Best Night Vision: Night Owl Optics 5-Power NOXM50 How We Picked the Best Monoculars Whether for birding, hunting, surveillance, or boating, the best monoculars deliver the magnification power you need. Still, they’re fully capable of out-magnifying some binoculars, and sometimes outperforming them entirely, especially where mobility is a concern. Because monoculars are effectively half of a set of binoculars and only support one eye, images seen through monoculars are two dimensional, without three-dimensional depth.

Most monoculars today use prisms to lengthen the path from the objective (front) lens, to the ocular lense (eyepiece), and create an erect image.

Lighter and cheaper than binoculars, monoculars are a great tool where mobility is important. Monoculars are designed with powerful optics for surveillance, zooming right up on the action, and giving you the spotting power you need. Whether you’re a fledgling birder, white-tail tracker, or private eye, monoculars are a tool of the trade.

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