Price/Availability: Currently offered at £42.99 on Amazon UK. As it was a gift I'm refraining from commenting about value for money, other than to say Luger instruments do seem to be well thought of generally.

Why Buy a Monocular?

I have to say right at the beginning of the review that this is not a product I would thought of purchasing for myself. It was a birthday gift from my darling husband. For a person who absolutely hates receiving surprises himself, it's remarkable what he manages to come up with for me - we are very different individuals - but I digress. I enjoy observing and sometimes recording the birds that visit our garden. Occasionally I use my binoculars to help with identification. Being a rather messy, disorganised person I'll admit that the binoculars often stay in the kitchen far longer than they should. This, and the fact that it's possible that some of the neighbours may be under the misapprehension that I am spying on them, may have been the inspiration for this gift. Or perhaps there was another reason ... such as desperation?!

Packaging

The monocular arrived the day after my birthday, so it wasn't gift wrapped and I was presented with it in its original postal packaging. It was obvious that it had been purchased from Amazon as the receipt slip was still inside! There was a small but fairly sturdy cardboard box, in size about 13cm x 9 cm. I didn't realise what it was straight away, as apart from the brand name the only English word was 'binoculars' and the box seemed too small to contain those. On the side there was a small picture of the contents and a statement that the colours are black and green. I don't know whether this means other colour-ways are available. On the reverse there was a landscape photo with a picture of a human eye enclosed within a circle. I guess this is meant to depict the monocular. Beneath this is an explanation that, upon buying this product, I received unlimited free access to Luger Optic World which hopefully will supply some answers to the question posed under the picture, i.e. 'Do you know why you see what you see?'However it isn't written like a conventional website address. I found this on the warranty card: www.luger-optik.de and Luger Optic World is indeed part of this site. You can select English language here, but I didn't see options for French & Spanish this time. You have to type in the code on the packaging to gain access to some areas. Unfortunately the packaging doesn't tell you this, so I had to look in the box again. I couldn't find anything on the box, the paperwork or the monocular itself that looked like the code, so I may have to email them about it if I think it's worth my while. I'm undecided because they seem to focus on other instruments.
The monocular fitted quite closely inside - it came already enclosed within its black, zippered case with a light carrying strap already attached. At first I thought there were no instructions included, but they were wedged very tightly within the box, so much so that I had mistaken them for the box lining! This did mean, of course, that there was little or no room for the instrument to move around inside the box while in transit, which limited the likelihood of damage. There's a small cleaning cloth included, which comes in its own resealable bag.

Warranty and Instructions

There is a card to complete for the warranty, with 4 language options including English. Luger instruments are made by a German company, Optamit GmbH based in Kӧln. German is the first language used throughout. For the record, other than English, the warranty and instructions come in French and Spanish. The warranty lasts for 2 years and has the usual exclusions. I note that, where repairs are covered by the warranty, i.e. upon receipt of notice of defect, repair or replacement will be offered without charge for labour or parts, though of course you must provide proof of purchase. (I wonder where that's gone?!}
The instructions, such as they are, are printed on a tri- fold card, in the 4 languages already listed. I note that this leaflet covers hand-held telescopes as well as monoculars. I don't know what I was expecting, but they seem extremely brief to me. I am told to look through the eyepiece and turn it until I get a sharply focused image. I think I could have worked that out! Spectacle wearers can roll down the rubber eyecups before doing this. I have vari-focals but I don't need to wear them all the time so I can manage well enough without doing this. The other instructions relate to care and maintenance: use the cloth, moisten it for tougher stains, store the instrument in a clean, dry place, don't attempt to take it apart to clean it - ever! Oh, and don't look directly at the sun with it as you might damage your eyes. Seriously, I know they have to include these things, but it does seem a bit basic. And that's it for instructions.

The Monocular

So down to the nitty-gritty. I've mentioned the strap & case. The instrument itself is about 12 cm long and weighs 220g on my kitchen scales. It is pleasing in design and fits beautifully within the hand - it's comfortable to hold. The body, which I suppose is the part they describe as green, has a rubberised feel. I'm struggling to describe its shape. It's not a straight tube, but has a convex curve where your hand holds it. I hope that makes sense!

I have tried rolling back the rubber eyecup. I don't know whether it's due to the cold weather, but I haven't been able to do this as the rubber seems too inflexible. Maybe my fingers aren't strong enough or I'm not dextrous enough. However I can get quite a good focus either wearing my glasses or without them. I do notice that you have to hold it a little way from your eye to avoid getting the effect of a black ring in your vision. It's too close if you put it right to your eye.

Technical Details

Inscribed on the tube are a few more optical details, which as I've said mean little to me, but may be of interest to you. These are:
MD 6 x 30
549 ft/1000yds
183m/1000m
102-630-2

I find I can almost read the writing on the sign on the lamppost across the road! That's not very far, though. I think the magnification is a bit limited, in my inexpert opinion. I can only close my left eye - the right flatly refuses - but fortunately I don't think there's much disparity between my [ageing!] vision in each. To be honest I'm not sure I find them as easy to use for spotting garden birds as when I use binoculars, although it's early days yet. The birds seem to have gone by the time I've found them. My husband finds it much easier than the binoculars. I wondered why he bought them! He's had a lot of eye trouble as a result of an auto-immune condition, & the treatment resulted in him needing cataract surgery on his good eye recently, so for him it's a bonus.

Conclusions

This is an interesting alternative to binoculars. It's far more portable, easy to keep to hand etc and useful if you have better vision in one eye than the other. I think it would be useful on casual day trips and especially holidays where weight allowance or space was very limited. It's well made & appears strong and robust. I don't think it would ever replace binoculars, especially for the serious observer, but has its place. I would take it if I were able to go back to Kenya & take a safari, for instance, as I wouldn't have to struggle with having both my camera & binoculars round my neck. I'm still not sure it's something I would have thought of buying myself, but as a gift I'm quite happy to own it. I might even allow him to use it occasionally!

Star Rating: 3 because I'm not yet convinced of its usefulness

Thank you for reading my review, which may be posted on other sites.