A few months ago, I bought this Wingspan monocular. It’s been one of my better purchases over the years. It sits beside me as I work at the dining room table, so I can grab it quickly to spot the birds in the backyard that I can see through the French doors.
I did a quick comparison of my monocular with the Eyeskey Cyclops 10-30×50 and can only find one real difference. The Eyeskey has the zoom magnification feature that my Wingspan lacks.
Before I get into the details, if you just want to check the pricing and availability of the Eyeskey Cyclops model EK8573 at Amazon, you can click (or tap) the link just below.
One thing to note if you visit that Amazon page…If you look at the reviews, be sure to check which piece of equipment the reviewer is actually reviewing. It seems that this page formerly included either additional or different optics than the current 10-30×50 monocular you now see there.
Most of the reviews are about the monocular we’re discussing here, but a few are not. Just be aware of that.
Contents
Zoom from 10x to 30x Magnification
The most obvious selling point of this monocular is its zoom capability. A magnification of 10 times real life is fairly common among both monoculars and binoculars. Ramping it up to 30 times normal is a little more special.
However, with that magnification increase can come some problems. The main one is keeping the instrument steady enough to see what you really intend to look at. In fact, if you want to use the 30 power very often, you’ll most likely want to mount it on a tripod. The Eyeskey does come with a threaded hole for a standard tripod mounting.
The other main problem at higher magnification is that the field of view (FOV) decreases, making it more difficult to find your target in the first place. The Eyeskey monocular doesn’t have a great FOV to start with.
At 10x, the FOV is just 126 feet at 1000 yards. In comparison, my Wingspan’s FOV is 304 feet. When you increase to 30x, the FOV drops to just 99 feet, which is just 33 yards.
Close up, 33 yards seems like a wide distance, but you’re not normally looking at targets close up. The same 33 yards 1000 yards away is going to feel rather narrow, which is what makes homing in on an object – a little bird hiding in a tree, for example – very hard to do.
Still, if this doesn’t bother you or you don’t expect to have such a situation arise very often, you could easily make good use of the Eyeskey 10-30×50.
Additional Features of the EK8573 Monocular
The 50 millimeter objective lens, along with fully multi-coated glass all around, lets in plenty of light so you can get a clear picture of your target. No additional coatings are mentioned. This is one of the reasons the cost is relatively low.
Since the monocular, which weighs just a bit less than a pound, is both nitrogen purged and O-ring sealed, it is both waterproof and fogproof. Dust and dirt have a hard time getting inside as well.
The twist up eyecup gives you eye relief from 16 to 16.5 millimeters. That’s probably about average and should be fine for the vast majority of users.
The close focus distance is 3 meters, which is just under 10 feet. This too should be ample for most users.
What’s in the Eyeskey Cyclops Package?
Besides the monocular itself, you get covers for both lenses, a cleaning cloth and carrying bag, and a user manual, which you’re unlikely to need. Using a monocular is not difficult.
So, if all this sounds like what you’ve been looking for in a monocular at a decent price, click the button below.
