Vortex Solo Monocular 8x25

I'm very pleased with the Vortex Solo 8x25. It's lightweight but very ruggedly built, feels like you could drop it and no problem at all. Nice textured, easy to grip surface, but not sticky or tacky. They eye cup and focus are very easy to use and feel very sturdy as well. Nice clear optics. It's the perfect monocular for spotting when you don't want to carry anything heavy, or just need something around your neck for quick spotting. The only shortcoming is the stratp, which is what you would expect. I just made my own out of paracord to the length I want. I don't think you'll find a better monocular in this price range. Highly recommended.

What a perfect hand held optic. Especially for hiking or whale watching. It’s really small and comes with a nice pouch to place on a belt. The lens is clear, for the price you can’t beat it, plus the vortex warranty! Fits easily in a pocket or shorts and doesn’t seem too large. Eye relief is short, but I think they designed it this way so you use your eye bridge to stabilize for better picture. It also extends if you have glasses. Great design! Everything has a function and purpose. This is perfect for basic viewing and maybe even hunting.

I bought this for a friend who runs coursing hounds in the desert Southwest, and after a month of using the optic to track her dogs she is very happy. It replaced her toy-quality monocular and the difference in image quality and sharpness are vast. She keeps it on a lanyard around her neck where it is accessible but not heavy. I found it to be sharp, compact enough to carry easily, and not difficult to hold steady. The image quality and brightness are very close to my early-90s Pentax 8x40 roof prism binos, which are all glass, fully coated and heavy. This is very impressive; the Vortex lens coatings really are good. The solid eyecup has a click-stop for eyeglasses and the optics have just enough eye relief to give a full field view. Not having a rubber eyecup is a good idea for something that will be tossed around and pocketed, as is the soft rubber exterior covering. Focus is stiff (maybe due to weather seals?) and not an easy one-handed operation, though there are spikes on the focus collar to improve your grip. Focus might loosen up with use. The soft fins on the rubber grip don't seem to be functional, and will probably catch lint, dirt and other crap with use, but that is about all I can criticize. I bought this and a cheaper Brunton monocular at the same time, and where the Vortex is a completely useful, quality tool that I would recommend to anyone who doesn't have ultimate expectations, the Brunton was much dimmer and wouldn't even focus to infinity so had to be returned. I think it's arguable that the price of the Vortex 8x25 is the least one can expect to pay for a truly functional optic. Based on my late 2012 survey of the alternatives, without spending triple or more the amount, you won't get the significant increase in quality you're looking for. Cheers.

Excellent quality, clear, sharp views and an unbeatable warranty. If you're looking for a monocular, be sure and try the Vortex line. Highly recommended.

Perfect for sporting events when you don't want a heavy set of binos hanging off your neck. I have also used this monocular while hiking, it pretty much stays in vehichle so I have it wherever I am.

I'll give it 5 stars concidering what you get for the price. I wanted the x36 but at twice the price I went with this little guy. Build quality seems good. Smooth focus ring, not loose and not too stiff. Glass is clear but a very slight blur is noticeable around the edges so it's not super clear edge to edge (expected at this price range). There is pretty good light transmitting with the 8x25. The included case from past reviewers say they felt it wasn't meant for it and didn't fit it properly but mine came with what seems to be a newer version case. Maybe Vortex listened to their customers and now include a case that's better fit and has fully closed sides. It also came with a lanyard to carry around your neck. My main purpose in purchasing was for better viewing for an outdoor pageant date with the wife but I'll mostly be using this to see targets at the range. I think it'll do just fine with the 8x. Purchased mine from Optics Planet/fulfilled by Amazon. Pictures added was a little hard to get a sharp still picture holding my IPhone 7+ and the monocular at the same time so in the picture it doesn't look as clear as in person.

I bought the 8x25 Vortex solo monocular. We wanted something lighter than a pair a binoculars for backpacking. It was the only pair I could find that was light enough to make it worth the switch. However, I ended up returning them because the cons just out weighed the pros. Pros: > it is light and small. about 6 oz lighter than comparable binoculars. > The quality seemed ok, for the price. Certainly not Ziss or high end quality but acceptable for the price and for the use case. However, that said as I not below a bit on the dark side and not super crisp. Would be ok/acceptable for spotting. However, the cons out weight the pros, for us. Cons: > The eye relief was not sufficient so it was difficult to get a full view consistently. That and the relief adjustment was not stiff enough to maintain it fully extended position. Just putting it against your eye could move it and reduce the relief which made things worse. > It is difficult to use with one hand. The focus ring is stiff and it really required two hands to use. While you could use one hand it was hard to hold steady and get a good focus. The binoculars while heavier could be used with one hand easily to quickly and easily focus. > Not great clarity and a bit on the dark side. We were comparing it with Nikon Trail Blazer binoculars and the Nikon was noticeably clearer and brighter. > It showed a belt clip in the pictures on Amazon but it didn't come with one. That was disappointing. > It doesn't come with a dust cap(s). I suppose if you use the case on your belt there is no need for the dust caps, but I'd rather have some attached cap, being that we were trying to cut weight. The comparable binoculars did have dust caps but not functional in the field so this was a wash but I figured it was notable since I don't think carrying these with out the case is realistic with out dust caps.

I saw a review of Solo Monocular in an outdoor magazine and decided to try it for my bailout bag. Well I like it it has nice clear optics for daylight use and works ok at dusk/dawn. It's sized just right to fill the hand for easy holding while viewing and the focus is crisp. I find that it's spending more time in my trucks console than in the bailout bag. It's handy to have when I'm out and about and don't have a pair of binoculars handy to take a look at something. The case is nice, don't know how well it will holdup to hard abuse, but it's robust enough for the average user and protects the optic well. It won't replace a good pair of binoculars but is mighty handy to have at hand.

Stevig, licht, helder beeld, quasi geen vervorming: ik ben fan van deze Solo!

これはとても優れた単眼鏡である。倍率も十分で、しかも視野が広く明るく良く見える。まったく不満がない。

Besonders bei optischen Produkten kommt es sehr darauf an, was man damit machen will! Meine Anforderungen an ein Monukular waren und sind: gute optische Qualität, einfache Handhabung, kompakte Abmessung, geringes Gewicht und ein erschwinglicher Preis. Nachdem ich nach vielen Recherchen bei der Vortex Solo Baureihe gelandet war, stellte sich auch hier erneut die Qual der Wahl aus vier Produkten. Meine Entscheidung fiel letztendlich auf das Solo 8x25 und nach ausgiebiger Anwendung in der Praxis hat sie sich für mich als goldrichtig erwiesen! Das 8x25 bietet: sehr gute optische Güte und für meinen Anwendungsbereich eine perfekte Vergrößerung und Fokussierung, ein großes Sichtfeld mit guter Schärfe bis in den Randbereich, gute Lichtstärke bei Dämmerung, super kompakt und leicht und eine tolle Haptik und Verarbeitung. Zusätzlich wird eine wirklich hochwertige Gürteltasche mitgeliefert, welche meiner Meinung nach zu den vielfach vermissten Objektiv-Schutzkappen einen guten Kompromiss darstellt. (Zu diesen Kappen habe ich zudem besonders beim Photografieren ein gespaltenes Verhältnis, weil sie dauernd runterfallen bzw. verlorengehen...) Es stand mir zum Vergleich ein geliehenes Bresser Nautic 8x25 zur Verfügung, welches zwar baugleich zu sein scheint und auch niedrigpreisiger ist, aber im Vergleich zum Vortex deutlich schlechter abschneidet: Optische Qualität zwar nahezu identisch, Fokussierbarkeit beim Vortex hingegen eindeutig besser und leichtgängiger, ebenso die Haptik (das Vortex liegt einfach angenehmer in der Hand). Um dem leidigen Thema 8 oder 10-fach Vergrößerung auf den Grund zu gehen, griff ich zu meinem betagten Minolta Pocket 10x25 Kompaktfernglas und verglich die Vergrößerung zum 8x25 Monukular mit 'einem zugekniffenen Auge'. Hier wurde schnell deutlich, dass 10-fach Vergrößerung bei einem Binokular noch ein gutes Sichtfeld bietet (durch beide Augen geschaut), bei einem Monokular wie dem Vortex nach meinem Geschmack aber zu viel des Guten ist. Die vielzitierte Verwacklungsgefahr bei 10-fach ist meiner Ansicht nach besonders beim Monokular keine Einbildung! An dieser Stelle darf nicht übersehen werden, dass die größeren Solo 36mm Modelle zweifellos eine (noch) höhere optische Qualität aufweisen, dies habe ich allerdings persönlich nicht getestet, wird aber vielfach in Foren so dargestellt. Für mich schlugen aber, was die großen Solos angeht, sowohl die Abmessungen, als auch die 275g im wahrsten Sinne des Wortes 'ins Gewicht'. Denn dann tut es auch für unterwegs mein Standard Kompaktglas in jeder Hinsicht. Ich empfehle daher das Vortex Solo aus voller Überzeugung! Was die unterschiedlichen Modelle angeht, sollte natürlich jeder für sich entscheiden, was am besten passt. Ich bestellte übrigens das Produkt "gebraucht, wie neu" aus dem Angebot von Photo-Erhardt zu einem sehr günstigen Preis. Zwar werden hier keine 'Prime' Konditionen geboten, ich erhielt aber nach zwei Tagen ein original verpacktes Produkt, welches von einem neuen nicht zu unterscheiden war!

La calidad de acabado y de imagen es genial, un poco duro para enfocar al principio, es pequeño cabe en una mano contra agua y polvo..

The monocular was delivered very fast. Everything arrived in a good condition. The unit is lightweight and convenient in the hand. I could easily adjust the monocular on the object with one hand. It feels as a solid body product. I got 8x25 option. The picture looks clear without geometrical distortions and colour aberration. However it seems me that the angle of view isn't big enough and magnification is lower than the declared 8x. I compared with my 8x25 Bushnell binocular.