Vortex Solo R/T monocular

[azmule]

Hey, we now have a Gear and Review forum, I'm gonna review me some gear!

I've been searching for a while for small lightweight field binos that have a rangefinding reticle - seems like everything with such a feature is big, heavy, and really expensive.  Found this neat little solution a couple months ago, Optics Planet and several other outlets have 'em for around $120, single fist size, light, handy, and quick to grab and use one-handed.  Vortex put some thought into this and got it right!  The reticle has its own focus, and is graduated in mils, plus some quick-read silhouettes.  8x is enough to easily identify anything within the riflemans quarter mile, but not so much that the image gets too shakey to be useful, 36mm objective and a 4.5mm exit pupil and fully coated sealed optics make for a big bright image.  The attached belt clip snaps positively onto a belt or molle strap and its ready to grab.  The rubber armor is shaped so that when you grab and hold it in the way that feels "right," your thumb falls right on the image focus wheel which actuates smoothly but with enough resistance to minimize accidental movement.

Did I say I love this thing?

There is one improvement I'd like to see though, I'd love to see them add some integral pop-open lens covers, when carried by clip, the lenses are just hanging out in the open unprotected, and the "case" this thing ships with is a really crappy velcro-closed case-in-name-only.  The eye cup, and the odd barrel shape around the other end makes fitting standard lens covers problematic.

[Pelon]

I looked at one and loved it... but didn't buy it because it was in mrads not MOA.
I called them and they said they didn't make it in MOA. I thought that was odd. But being almost every scope I own is a Vortex, I could convince them how much it was needed. 
That didn't work, so I told them I'd buy one the day the MOA version came out.

But I agree it's a nice piece of equipment!!!

Pelon

[Snow Snake]

 I don't have that model,I have the Solo 10x25.Smaller and more economical($50x/-).I use it to see .22 cal holes @ 25 yards quite well.Three trips to the range with it so far and no problems.
  Stay safe.............Ken...............

[azmule]

I can see why they went with mils, 1MOA is almost too fine for the eye to resolve at 8x, and at a higher magnification you'd likely have to use a tripod to be able to hold steady enough to read.  At 8x you'd need 5MOA graduations, and since a mil is close enough to 3.6MOA already that unit just naturally works better.

It's not a bad idea to practice both so that you can use either as easily depending on what equipment is available.  The thing I love about mils is that the math is the same no matter what units you use - whether you're working in yards, meters, rods, furlongs, light-years etc., it's still just a 3 place decimal shift...  I.e. distance in [unit] = target size in [same unit] x 1,000 (the 3 place shift) / target size in mils.  It's also easier to use for larger targets at longer distance.