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Brunton Echo Pocket Scope

How do you carry the power of big binoculars in a three inch, 1.8 oz package? By taking with you Brunton's 7x18 Echo Pocket Scope.  EDCdepot.com has sent us one to review. The scope includes a carrying case, lanyard, and cleaning cloth.

Specifications here.


Ergonomics and Build

    This thing is tiny! I expected the pocket scope to be small, but not this small. At just a bit over 3" long and 1" in diameter, it is one of the smaller items in my EDC. Though less than two ounces, it feels to be quality built. It is optical equipment and shouldn't be subjected to abuse, but has so far withstood ten five-foot drops onto dirt ground without trouble. The reduction in weight is not a compromise of the build quality. The rubberized coating feels nice, and the grooves on the end provide a secure grip for focusing with two fingers.
Size Comparison: Brunton Echo against CS Recon 1, Minimag 2AA, and Olight T15
    The eye-piece is small for obvious reasons but performs very well, fitting securely and comfortably around your eye. It can be used with glasses as well; press the rubberized eyepiece directly to the lens of your glasses. Doing this, you lose some feeling of being 'enveloped in the image', but it gets the job done.      When focusing, the objective (away from user) end of the scope is turned. This naturally makes focusing easier than with eyecup focusing scopes.  The focus movement feels very smooth and takes less than half of a turn to focus from 13" to infinity.

Into the Field

    To bring the scope out, I needed a way to carry it. Brunton includes a nylon carrying case and 17" neck lanyard. The carrying case is pretty nice. It's made of thin materials and gives the initial impression of being flimsy, but in fact performs nicely and is quite trust-worthy. It has a belt loop which accommodates up to 2" wide belts, is lined with an ultra-soft foam cloth, and velcroes shut. The scope fits well inside, and can be removed easily.
The lanyard is 17" long which means that while hanging straight down, the scope rides an inch below my solar plexus. The lanyard does its job, but if engaged in a moderate degree of activity I'd recommend using the pouch on a belt or pack's shoulder strap.
Scope with lanyard attached, carrying pouch, and included cleaning cloth
    This scope is seven times (7x) magnification, and has no zoom control (is fixed at 7x). I find this to be a good level as it is about as much power as can be comfortably used without resorting to a tripod. Brunton boasts this scope as having "BaK-4 prism glass"; I am not an expert in optical glass, but it certainly works! I was very surprised at how bright and crisp the image could be for a lens only 18mm in diameter. In fact, this scope works well even in indoor lighting. I imagine that this is possible because the monocular is short, preserving an advantageous length to diameter ratio.    I selected various distant objects to view. Focusing in on them was very fast since less than half of a rotation is necessary to focus from 13" to infinity. The focusing ring provides enough resistance to fine-focus the image quickly.

Images taken from same spot with 28mm lens (similar to how we see), and then with a 70-300mm zoom (mounted digitally) carefully calibrated to the field of view of the monocular.







Setting sights a little bit closer, I tried viewing objects a couple of meters away, and finally all the way down to just 13" away. This ultra-near focus is awesome! When big magnifying glasses were unable to make the super-fine print on the back of a piece of silverware clear, the monocular had no problem (I was, in case you're wondering, filing a police report). Looking at a computer monitor, the individual pixels which comprise the image become apparent.
Leaf as viewed with monocular at close distance



























    Overall, this product does exactly what it was designed to do, and couldn't offer anything more (such as variable zoom) without compromising the small weight and size which make it very attractive. There are no apparent flaws with either the design or execution of this scope.   Will I be taking my 7x50 binoculars or 60x spotting scope with me to the tops of mountains? No way - not so long as they weight over three pounds and have to be fished out of my other gear. You can guarantee, however, that the Brunton Echo will be clipped to my pack.

Technical Specifications:

  • 1.3”x3.3”
  • 1.8 oz
  • 1.1 ft. Close focus
  • 2.6mm Exit pupil
  • 12mm Eye relief
  • 181 ft. Field of view @ 1000 yds.
  • BaK-4 prism glass
  • Multi coated
  • Includes lanyard and case
  • One-year warranty

    Panoramic Landscape vs. View with Brunton Echo Pocket Scope      Treeline is 380ft (116m). away, antenna is 1,050ft (320m) away



This monocular has been provided for review by the kind folks at EDCdepot.com