Famous Trails Night Eyes Monocular

Pros:
- rugged, rubberized housing;
- strong IR illumination LED;

Cons:
- lot of black spots in view;
- any light source nearby oversaturates the image;
- I wasn't able to focus it sharp enough;
- battery cover hard to screw back;
- needs special battery;

I've bought this monocular and compared it to two Night Owl products with similar features and pricing (the 3x and the 5x magnification versions). I tried them indoors without any lighting, and outdoors at night in a park-like setting with dark areas and some lights that were weaker than streetlights. Everything in my review is based on comparing the two brand's products.

The FT1200 is more appealing with its rubberized housing that looks way more rugged and tough. However, it uses batteries that are more expensive and less commonly available than the AAs other products use, and it's hard to fit the battery cover on its thread so it screws back...Read more