Home > Consumer Reviews > Brunton Echo 7x18 Pocket Scope

This is a great little scope for it's price. Decent optics and great focal distance make this good for a huge variety of applications, from birding to identifying bugs, and it's small size makes it easy to carry around in a pocket when you don't want to lug around something larger. The ends are rubber, allowing it to survive being dropped (but I wouldn't recommend testing that). I carry this thing everywhere I go, and for the price, there's no reason not to. (Certainly better than worrying about breaking my $200 binoculars!) Comes with a nice padded nylon belt pouch, nylon wrist strap, and a small cleaning cloth.

On the whole, this is a pretty incredible little instrument.

Having such a long focal range (16 inches to infinity) in such a small package, for such a low price, is quite miraculous. This makes for a brilliant throwaway, super-small scope, for when portability is more important than quality. But it's not for serious viewing.

The 18mm objective doesn't capture much light at all, so the image, especially for distant viewing is quite poor. I compared this with the 7x32 Carson monocular, looking at a pigeon nest on my neighbor's house; with the Brunton I couldn't make out any detail at all, while the Carson (which has its own weaknesses) picked up a very clear image.

For close-focus viewing (i.e., less than 20 feet), it performs much better, but still not better than close-focus monoculars with a larger objective.

I can only recommend this monocular to someone who needs a micro-size spotting scope (either close- and/or distant-focus) that is vanishingly small in size, and wouldn't break the bank if it got lost/damaged. If you are looking for a super-small scope that doesn't suck, then this is for you. If you are looking for a reasonable scope that would benefit from being small, then I'd advise you to continue looking.

This review is for the Brunton Echo 7x18 monocular.

I'm the inventory manager in a large manufacturing company, and we have hundreds of materials organized in racks up to 15 feet in height.
Every pallet and box has a label with part numbers and specifications.
I used to have to climb on a ladder to read labels and verify materials, or bring the pallet down to look at it. I tried several monoculars but none focused close enough for me to read the fine print on a label that's just 6 feet above my head.
This scope allows me to read small print on something 20 feet away, so it saves me many minutes of climbing and forklift driving. It is now one of my many tools of my job.
I recommend this scope for anyone who needs this type of capability.

As a person who is visually impaired, I use monoculars daily to view objects like a cell phone screen, trafic lights, signs, and scenery. I would give this monocular a "Good" rating on its own merit, but to use it as a monocular for somebody like me, I give it only a "fair."

The Basics:
The monocular arrives in that plastic shield that you have to open with a knife or a chainsaw. Once you get the package open, you will find the monocular and probably notice immediately how little it weighs. It really is quite lite. The case is fine, and there is a short (4 inches o so) strap, a little cleaning cloth, and the nylon case. Looking through the eyepiece, you will notice that the picture appears reasonably bright and clear. I can't see any problems with it, but that's me. The focus has a REAL short action, which makes focusing really fast. You'll probably like it. I haven't dropped the monocular on the concrete yet to test how solid it is, and I suggest that you protect it carefully too.

The Good:
Good easy focus, lite weight, and good looking. It would be great for camping or day hikes, if that's your thing.

The Bad:
The strap is fine, except that people usually like to put it around their necks, and that's not possible with this small strap that fits only around your hand. The image could be brighter with a larger objective lens, but it's not too bad really. My biggest problem is the close focus zoom. This is why I bought this monocular, and I am actually disappointed. It doesn't get close enough, so the 7-power is rather wasted compared with other monoculars I own. If you're a low vision person looking for a close focus monocular, or if you're someone looking to soom really close in on those flowers, go with a WALTER'S monocular, which are much more expensive and made for that sort of thing. The close focus gets down to about 2 feet or so, and if you rely on it the way I do, you will be a little disappointed.

Overall: A good buy. Look at other monoculars that are cheaper and have more power. There's one for about $13 that is a 12x25 on amazon.

I've gotten a bit fanatical about birding and wanted to always have my binoculars with me. For a number of obvious reasons that doesn't work. So I got this to keep in my coat pocket. For that it works well. It's very small, light and inexpensive. It has stood up well to being dropped in with my keys and a small flashlight. I've even dropped it on rocks with no apparent harm done. The rubber coating is easy to grip and looks good. I'm happy with it for what it is. It's actually better than I expected for the price. I've used cheap binoculars that cost much more that offered a much worse image.

Unless this is all you can afford, though, I wouldn't recommend it as a primary scope. The field of view is very narrow at 18mm and only the center of the field of view is in focus. Though I have to say that what is in focus is decently sharp and the color saturation is good. However, as with any inexpensive optics, using it for an extended period can cause eye strain.

I've been using binoculars for a while and found the monocular easy to center on my target. A friend who borrowed it couldn't, so if you are using it for birding it might take a bit of practice to get handy with it.