Customer Reviews

Barska Blueline 10x40 Close Focus Monocular

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Just got this from Amazon, I read a lot of reviews on other sites and thought I'd add my 2 cents. I never liked binoculars, even gave away my last pair of binoculars. This is really nice, focuses down to about 12 feet, works great in low light conditions. Pulls in distance objects, all just like advertised and with great focus. Tit for tat as good as my much larger spotting scope. Lightly rubber 'armored', overall great quality for the price and the weight is the same as a can of soda and doesn't seem to tire the neck when carried that way. I looked at smaller, lighter, cheaper, weaker monoculars but glad I ordered this one. Basically the 10 pulls in the objects and the 40 gives you plenty of light gathering capability. The lens caps are tight, almost too tight. Comes with a nice belt holder. That addresses all the nit picking I read on other sites with reviews. Plus, Amazon shipped it free and got it to me in 10 days. Overall, the lowest price I found. And the negatives? Just one, it came with a cheap, thin, light neck strap that I simply replaced with a longer, thicker water bottle strap. Just got done watching wild turkeys and the rest of birds at my feeders and I'm still giddy. Great buy, order it and enjoy. I am.

I am considered 'Legally Blind.' With this monocular, I could see the name of a store from over 2 blocks away, as if it were just across the street. I also could monitor my students' computer screens without having to get in their personal space. The range is excellent! the clarity is superb! I'd recommend this for birdwatchers, commuters, school students with vision problems, and theatre goers.

I'm a friend of Mr. Watts, also legally blind but with some usable sight. I saw his Barska Blueline Monocular. Most smaller monoculars have lenses that are too small to let in sufficient light. This one is still small enough to be easily portable, yet has big lenses. It is by far the best for the money that I have found. Wish I'd had it when I first became legally blind!

This item seems to be well made. I am a professional photographer and I have been around quality optics for a long time. View is bright and crisp. Focusing is quick.

Only one small problem. The forward element seems to be a little loose.

OK, my take on the Barska Blueline 10x40 Close Focus Monocular. Semi-compact size, sturdy rubberized body, feels like build quality. The image is somewhat sharp, slightly color fringed, reasonably bright.

I guess I really hadn't considered the way a monocular operates. That a tubular 10x optic with a narrow field of view really has to be steadied with both hands to keep vertigo from setting in. Hmmm, kind of awkward, one hand ahead of the other on the barrel, elbows on the desk.

Which sets the thing at chest height, unless I want to sit on a paint can. In the chair, I'm hunching over on it, which tips my head forward, my eyeball squinting upward into the eyepiece. Neckstrain, eyestrain.

Now to focusing with that rotating eyepiece. Remember two hands holding it steady? Now you have just one. Which way to turn? Try one way and see what happens. About two full revolutions between the stops. No? Back the other way then. What's that? Your bird flew off already?

In conclusion, there's nothing wrong with this monocular. Works as claimed. If you need an optic mainly for positive ID on a bird or critter, fine.

But...if you are into your birds, would like a nice sharp image and good color, might enjoy some watching as well as just "spotting"...well, I'm springing for compact binoculars!

I bought this to look at fixed targets at 25 yards and 50 yards. For this purpose this monocular does very well. Actually at 10 times magnification it is a bit hard to steady the image, for my purpose I think a 8 times or even lower magnification would have been better. But I wanted the advantage of a brighter image that a 40mm objective lens supplies so at this price point my choices were limited.

Optics quality is adequate for a $40.00 monocular. I can read house numbers half a block away. Its easy to adjust focus. This would not be great for moving objects but stationary objects its fine. Close focus is listed at seven feet but I think its more like ten. If you are trying to spot deer in woods over 300 yards away I would suggest you buy a higher quality monocular with a higher magnification rating. Although it has a 40mm lens it works in low light but its not great (dusk / dawn) in normal daylight it works very well. On lit targets at night (example street signs) its fine. A very clear image when properly adjusted. Eye relief is 18mm so its easy to use even if your wearing eye glasses.

Build quality is actually better than I expected, for the price paid it is actually very good quality. It has a simple metal loop on the bottom to attach a lanyard but you can not mount to a tripod. The supplied lanyard is very cheap and thin, I strongly suggest not trusting the lanyard you get and obtaining a lanyard you can have confidence in. It comes with two lens caps which is very good considering many monoculars today don't come with them. The supplied case is also adequate but not made for ruff use, although the case has a belt loop on it. If I were standing around I would attach to my belt and its fine but if hiking I wouldn't trust it to not come apart.

Over all I would recommend for an economy monocular. Know what the specifications are and if they meet your needs. If the specs are what you require then you wont regret buying this monocular. You have to understand you are not purchasing a cheap monocular nor is it a high end model, its an economical model. A first time user may well be very impressed with the Barska Blue Line 10x40mm.

I am a legally blind golfer who has been using a very expensive monocular for a few years. In search of a replacement, I found a few cheaper models that were not made very well, but then I found this one. The price is right, and the quality is very good. It's a little larger than I would like, but the images are clear, and the viewing field is large enough to easily find my golf ball.

I was looking for a lightweight lens to use hunting, so after reading the other reviews, I gave this a try. It seemed to be pretty well made, however it has a couple of issues that I could not live with:

The first thing you notice when you look through it is how very small the depth-of-field (the distance between the closest object in focus and the farthest) is. With most optics, once you get past a certain range, pretty much everything is in focus. That is not the case with the Barska. You are always focusing. Even objects just a few feet apart way out in the distance require you to change the focus. This is very tiring.

The other big issue is it's relative brightness. A 40mm lens is fairly large, so I was expecting pretty good low-light use, however this is also not the case. It is pretty much unusable anywhere near dawn or dusk. I didn't get a chance to try it in heavy woods, however I expect it's performance would be similar.

optics are good, but buy it takes many revolutions to focus. Not usable for brd watching, with possible exception of from window to feeder, which is pretty much fixed and doesn't require focus

I was quite surprised with the quality of this product for the price. The body is well made for a good grip in both dry and wet conditions. The optics are glass and I consider the optics to be of good quality. The focus works well to adjust for distance. If you wear glasses, the focus will compensate if you take your glasses off. A 40 power scope is quite powerful and should be used for distance viewing more so than close up. The field of view is small at close distances as it would be with any 40 power scope. As a comparison, I use a 10 to 12 power scope on my rifles for target shooting at distances up to 1000 yards. I would recommend this item to a friend.

Update: I made a mistake in saying this is a 40 power scope. It is actually a 10 power and does not subtract from my rating of this project. It was pointed out to me in the comments section and I thank that person for pointing out my mistake.