CarsonMonoZoom 7-21x21mm Zoom Monocular (ZM-721),Gray, XX-Large

This lil guy is quite the value! Image quality, what we most care about here, is surprisingly better than I had anticipated.Im sure we’ve all been there; don’t have the funds or you’re not wanting to take your Steiners out on this particular trip, so you opt for a cheap placeholder… then you regret it! LolI’ve been eyeing various $150+ monoculars for about a year now, basically for a more compact and convient item. I love my Steiners but sometimes I don’t need all that or what all that and I end up getting frustrated and annoyed by the lack of speedy utility. So naturally I go into research mode and I have to learn all there is about this and that before I will pull the trigger. When I do so, it’s for life pretty much. I prefer to always buy quality which will serve me well into my remaining years—I’m 40 btw, but you would think I was 80 from that sentence haha.One day I was complaining To my flatmate about how I really need to pick which damn monocular I really want because recently I kept running into these instances where it would have been ideal. He then chimes in with“How do you know it would be ideal? You are assuming a lot about a tool you’ve never used; a tool which would come to you at a disadvantage simply due to its nature of being one half of the tool it is meant to replace. And you being so damn picky, you should get a cheap trial to see if you even like closing an eyeball all day.”Superb logic my dear Watson, superb logic indeed!Well I stumbled on this item, found one used/Like New for around $7 and thought “what the hell, I don’t want to research anything right now!” and bought it based on its reviews.It’s been great! Super lightweight, compact, easy to hold/carry. It’s very tough, resilient too! I was biking the other week and I forgot I had it in my sweater pocket and it fell out onto the road while I was booking it. Picked it up and barely a small scratch on the outer housing! No cracks, nothing out of alignment, no lens scratches, nothing except for the minor scratch on the outer housing.When mine first arrived the movements were rather stiff so I couldn’t adjust with one hand, but after a month or so of using it 2-3 times a week, I can now easily hold it with one had and adjust for both zooming and focus.Great buy! You won’t be disappointed.

I'm really happy about my purchase. It's small and light. Perfect for neighborhood bird walks. The optics were good for this price range. on 7x, it was clear edge to edge. Be aware that 7x ish is about the limit on a normal human to hold steady. on 21x you need to be prop it on a rock or use a tripod. But I like having the option of the higher zoom (also it gets darker on the higher zoom)The lanyard attaches to a little piece of plastic that screws into the tripod hole. I can see myself losing that and the lens cap.Future feature requests: would have preferred to have a clip on loop for the lanyard and 2nd lens cap that could attach to the lanyard instead of a carrying pouch.

Not the widest field of vision, expecially for eyeglass wearers, but adequate. Clarity is really good, way better than I expected. Magnification is more than I expected, as well, to the point it gets too shaky to use at top magnification without a tripod or something to steady it on. Easy to use focus and zoom knobs.Long story short, clearer, and with more magnification than I expected for the price. I figured 3 star quality, but 5 stars for price, giving me a 4 star overall review.

I wish I had one of these as a little kid, I hope I have one as an old man. Would make a great gift for any and all.7x is a bit high to my liking as a minimum zoom (maybe 4x or even 1x would be better). But variable zoom at all is an outstanding functionality. 21x is a great maximum magnification. Image quality is good, the picture gets dark and max zoom, but thats to be expected with zoom scopes (used one in the Marines).

Very Good for absolute minimalist, the best small zoom that performs exceptionally at high daylight.Otherwise bigger lens is better for more relaxed watch.During the peek daylight is the highest performance, I can get crispy crystal clear magnification from 7x up to 15-18x !But the limiting factor is the small size eye diameter. As it’s afternoon the clear magnification range start to decrease, at sunset you can only utilize 7-8x.The key tip is : Focus becomes more sensitive as you go to higher magnification, some people confuse it with bad performance but this is a normal fact, depth of feild becomes narrower as you go with higher magnifications ( the distance that in focus arround the object becomes short and short, so any small movement of focus knobs and you are out of focus which make you irritated). This is why lower magnifications always beats higher magnifications.. becouse you see everything arround the object and everything in focus.

Good monocular but the occer 10x30x30 monocular is better. Brighter, yes its bigger too and more magnification but what I did not like so much about the Carlson is I had to smash the eye piece into my eye and align the little exit eye piece just right in order to get the whole circle view. With the occer monocular. It has a big exit eye piece. Easier more comfortable and not hard to get the full view. So I returned the carlson but the Carlson is more pocketable though a little bigger and longer than a role of quarters.

After trying a few zooming monoculars that refuse to focus it was nice getting the Carson and seeing it focus to a super sharp picture. Quite a bargain for $30. Its small with a 21mm lens size so make sure this works for you. But do yourself a favor and skip all Chinese knock offs. I wish I did.