The night sky is already a marvel of nature that captures the hearts and minds of people the world over.
But the right tools can reveal secrets in the sky that we could only otherwise dream of. A handheld telescope or monocular is the perfect tool for night sky gazing. Small enough to fit into a pocket, and normally budget friendly, a monocular can be taken with you wherever you go, so it’s always ready when needed.
This guide goes deep into what you should be looking for when buying a monocular, and the best handheld telescopes for people of all skill levels and price ranges.
Table of Contents
Best Handheld Telescope for Stargazing
Leica 8×20 Monovid
One of the best known brands among anyone interested in photography, telescopes, or anything else with a lens, Leica have a fantastic reputation among enthusiasts, for a very good reason; everything they create is fantastically high quality, outperforming almost everything else on the market.
The Monovid 8×20 is no exception. The sleek design is stylish but subtle, advertising itself without flash. One of the biggest impressions, ironically, is how unobtrusive this is. It’s tiny, easily fitting into almost any pocket, jacket, purse or glove box, and at 4oz, less than quarter of a pound, is light enough that you could carry it for an entire day and never notice.
The impressive specs continue to the construction. Despite being so small, this monocular is built to exacting quality. Shockproof, dustproof, and waterproof down to 3m, for something so small, the Monovid is surprisingly hardy, and should something go wrong, you’re always covered by the Leica warranty.
Visibility and clarity is as good as you would expect from a Leica. The BAK 4 lenses use Leica’s High Lux system, offering 8 times magnification with a 330ft field of view.
Whether you’re using this for stargazing, birdwatching, or just to get a closer look at something on a hike, the image is going to be crystal clear and high resolution. Long term viewing is made easy on the eyes with a 15mm eye relief that’s perfect for glasses wearers too.
While it is one of the more expensive monoculars on the list, Leica products should be considered an investment. If you’re genuinely looking for the best small monocular that can go with you anywhere, and is built well enough to be handed down to your grandchildren, you should choose Leica.
Bushnell Legend Ultra HD Monocular
Boasting the best lens performance on the list, as well as near unrivalled image quality, Bushnell’s Legend monocular is a fantastic general option that has so many uses, whether you’re birdwatching, hunting, or staring up into the night sky.
Bushnell optics are world class, which this monocular happily demonstrates. Boasting crystal clear BAK4 lenses, ED prime glass and a PC-3 phase coated prism, the image you see is as close to natural as possible, and despite having a 42mm lens, one of the smallest on the list, Bushnell’s lens treatments enhance light gain for incredible low light viewing.
Magnification is a respectable 10x, adjusted using the top mounted rotating dial. Opposite, on the bottom of the telescope, is a standard picatinny rail, giving you a huge amount of flexibility in how you choose to mount this.
Waterproof to IPX7, fog resistant, snow resistant, and incredibly tough for its light weight and compact size, no matter where you’re going, this can happily go with you.
Gosky 12×55 High Definition Monocular Telescope
Gosky optics are well known for their great balance between performance and price, which is why this handheld telescope sits comfortably in the middle of our list. While it might not excel at anything, everything it does it does well enough.
A little larger than most other options on our list, this monocular is stretching the definition of handheld. While you can comfortably hold this for a few minutes, the large size and reasonably hefty weight of almost a pound is surprisingly bulky. But the UNC brass tripod mount, that fits any standard camera tripod, quickly fixes that issue.
Image quality is excellent, with a high power 12×50 BAK4 prism that lets in a lot of light, perfect for night watching, and even better during the day. A generous eye relief, as well as the (included) phone holder give you a lot of options for comfortable viewing.
One thing we love in particular about this telescope is how tough it is. Outdoor hobbies can be rough on kit, so a monocular that’s weather resistant, waterproof, dustproof and shock proof like this one is a huge advantage, and if something does go wrong, everything is fully covered with Gosky’s lifetime warranty.
Bushnell Equinox X650 Night Vision Monocular
Sometimes you don’t just want to see the night sky. You also want to see everything around you, no matter how dark everything is.
A Bushnell monocular has already featured on this list, but the Equinox is here for an entirely different reason. It’s a full night vision monocular that can also be used in full light, with a switchable day/night mode.
The optics are as good as you would expect from a Bushnell product, packing a 5 times optical zoom, and a 3 times digital boost on top of that. Switching to night vision and the IR lenses give you up to 650 feet of night vision, which is incredibly impressive for something that costs what this does.
A hand strap, tripod mount and picatinny rail gives you a huge amount of mount options, and it can also record, using micro SD cards to capture high quality video feeds.
While it’s not the best for the night sky, the Equinox X650 is great if you’re regularly out when this would be useful, and looking for another high quality, and surprisingly budget friendly, tool to add to your kit.
Orion 10×25 Zoom Waterproof Monocular
With an absolutely monstrous maximum magnification, if you want to get as up close and personal to the stars you’re watching, there is no better option.
Despite being only 7 inches long and weighing 12oz, this monocular is surprisingly bulky, but easily fits in the hand, and only requires one hand to adjust all of the functions. Folded into the included carry case, it will fit unobtrusively into a bag or easily clip onto a belt or shoulder strap. The bottom also has a built in standard tripod mount, adding further options for visibility.
It’s worth reiterating the zoom on this thing, which is adjustable from 10 times, to a ridiculous 25 times magnification, which is very impressive on a thing this small. Lens quality is fine, with clear visibility, but a tendency towards chromatic aberrations, particularly blue fringing around the edge of the image.
But despite this, there’s a lot on offer here, and the sheer power of that zoom is near impossible to match, especially at the price. If that’s what you’re looking for, it’s really hard to beat this.
Pankoo 16×52 High Power Monocular Telescope
Balancing a ridiculously budget price with admirable performance, Pankoo’s 16×52 monocular offers a surprising amount, especially compared to the big names that might be double or triple the price.
Reasonably sized, the monocular is light in the palm, with a pleasingly solid, rubbery outer that’s simple to hold, and a focusing ring that can be adjusted one handed.
The BAK4 lenses are clear and bright, with good visibility, especially again, for the price point this sits at. It’s also been treated to be water and fog proof, as well as weather resistant, so you don’t have to worry about sudden showers.
It is worth pointing out that the manufacturers say this is a 16 times magnification lens, but in independent tests it comes out lower than that, at around 8 times. That’s still admirable performance from something that costs this little, and it’s actually equivalent to some of our top choices.
The kit also comes with a carrying case, hand strap and user info, which are nice touches. All of this adds up to a model that acts as a great starting point for stargazers, or a fantastic model for anyone on a limited budget but who still wants a great product.
CMFZ Cosmic Scope Monocular
The best budget kit for stargazers, this monocular telescope stands out by coming with everything you need to get started with night sky photography or video recording.
Your view of the night sky will be bright and clear, because of the BAK4 lenses used in this that have up to 99.5% light transmission and 4K resolution. The zoom is adjustable using the top mounted dial, from 6 to 18 times, and the wide angle 50mm lens offers a good FOV and high clarity image.
But where this monocular stands out is the extras. Included in the kit is an easy to set up tripod that snugly mounts the hand held telescope, and a phone holder that links your smartphone’s camera to the eye lens, letting you take highly detailed photos of whatever you choose to point at.
Waterproof, shock proof, dust proof and anti-fog, as a starter kit for night time photos, daytime birdwatching, or simply as a standing mini telescope that you don’t have to hold, this kit has a whole lot to offer.
Buyer’s Guide to Choosing Your Monocular
Lens size and magnification
Every good lens, whether it’s on a monocular, a camera, or even just the smartphone in your pocket, will have its lens and magnification values displayed prominently.
It looks like this: 8 x 30
The first number, in this case the 8, is the maximum magnification of the lens, ie, the amount that a lens can take an image and bring it closer to you. For a monocular, more magnification is generally better, as it will allow you to see the stars, or whatever else you’re looking at, much better, but be aware that more magnification almost always means more cost.
The second number is the width of the lens in mm, in this case 30mm. Up to a certain size, you can use a simple rule of thumb. A larger lens is generally better.
Larger lenses both let in more light, and give you a wider field of view (more on this below.) This lets you see more of whatever you’re looking at, as well as giving you a much clearer image.
Again though, bigger lenses are more expensive, which means you might need to balance cost against performance. They also lead to a monocular being much larger, which makes it both harder to hold, and harder to transport.
Field of view
The field of view (FOV) is the width of an image seen through the lens, which affects how much of the outside world you can see when you’re looking through your monocular.
Increasing FOV decreases magnification, and vice versa. When buying a monocular, pay attention to your particular needs, and what you’re looking for. Some people might prefer a wider point of view that allows them to take in as much of the night sky as possible.
Others might instead be looking for something that lets them get as close and detailed a view of particular astral bodies as possible.
Focus
The focus, when referring to a monocular, telescope or camera, refers to the ability to move the lenses to bring the image into perfect, sharp relief.
The cheapest monoculars won’t have an adjustable focus, as it’s an expensive and surprisingly delicate part to produce, but most good monoculars will have the ability to focus, and we would always recommend choosing a monocular that has this option.
The particular way a monocular is focused varies from model to model, with options including a focus ring, or on-body focusing knobs or dials. If possible, buy a monocular that has the option to adjust focus with a single hand.
Eye relief
Many people might not realise at first that you do not have to place your eye up to a monocular’s rear lens in order to correctly see through it.
Eye relief is the distance that you can comfortably hold a lens from your eye and still see correctly through it. Eye relief is particularly important firstly as it is better for eye strain to hold your eye a short distance away from the lenses of a monocular.
On top of this, increased eye relief is also useful if you want to maintain peripheral vision, and is especially important if you wear eyeglasses, as an eye relief longer than the distance from your glasses lenses to your eye will let you see perfectly through your monocular without taking them off.
Durability
In the best circumstances, your monocular should never be put at risk. However, accidents happen, and sometimes we are placed in situations beyond our control. The best monoculars are tough and durable enough to deal with the situation, no matter what.
Specific things to look for are monoculars that have waterproofing and dust resistance, as this is the situation that you’re most likely to face. Dust and water resistance is measured using ‘IP’ rating, which is displayed followed by two numbers, such as IP67.
The first number is dust resistance, and runs from 1 to 7. The second number is water resistance, and ranges from 1 to 9. In both cases, higher numbers mean a higher level of protection. We would recommend an IP rating of at least 6 in both cases.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why choose a monocular over binoculars or a telescope?
There are multiple reasons why you should choose a monocular for stargazing.
The first reason is that monoculars are lighter and smaller than other options. A monocular is easier to carry than a pair of binos, and much more mobile and easier to maneuver than even the smallest telescope. Most monoculars slip easily into a bag or jacket pocket, so you can always have them with you, no matter where you go.
Second is that monoculars are simple to see with, and simple to use. There are no complicated controls or long set up times. Just point and focus.
The last reason is price. Compared to other options, a monocular is normally much cheaper, for equivalent quality and at no drop in performance.
How do you judge depth with a monocular?
The big downside of monocular vision is that it’s difficult to judge size and depth, but there are a few easy cues that you can use to help orient your vision.
The first is relative size, where you use the size comparison of two known, similar things, eg, the difference in size between two trees at different distances, to judge how far away something is.
The second is absolute size, where you can use the size of something that is always relatively consistent, for example a car, power line poles or a two floor home, to judge distance and depth.
However, when looking up at the night sky, depth perception is never going to be an issue. No matter whether you use a monocular, binocular or telescope, the relative distance between us and what we’re looking at means that the image is always going to be the same.
So if you’re worried about depth perception with a monocular, don’t be!
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