Can you recommend a budget monocular?
I used to sell cameras and optics in general. I've yet to see a budget one that would come close to the good ones. Our test used to be to go to the shop door and hand the customers a midrange device and get them to tell us what the cinema posters half a mile away said. The only ones that passed that test were the Leitz ones which cost 10x as much as the midrange stuff. We sold a lot of Leitz optics though the prices today are completely insane.
http://www.wilkinson.co.uk/leica-monovid-8x20.html
Not as insanely priced as most - IMO it is actually worth it.
Even the best Japanese stuff wasn't as good when I sold them (admittedly in the early 80's)
2/3 of the price.
http://www.binoculars.com/monoculars/7953+7960.cfm
Check this place out, since you didn't mention what power and what use. This site has lots of them and there are reviews of many, by people who purchased them.
Budget optics usually are not worth what you get.
Well, I just bought a cheap set of compact binoculars that seem decent(I had low expectations). Granted, this is coming from someone who rarely uses binoculars, but wanted the ability to have something.
It's kind of like when it's really dark and you have no flashlight. Even a super crappy one is 10x better than having none.
Anyways, this is the set http://www.dinodirect.com/MYSTERY-Paul-8-x-21mm-Sports-Binoculars-Telescope-Black.html I think it will be a good set for in the car. It's very small, comes with a soft case. If you are going to spending hours at a time behind these, get a REAL set.
See my comment here: https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/6985#comment-134904
I have narrowed it down to the Vortex Solo Monocular but it cost $99.00 for the 8X36.
http://www.opticsreviewer.com/vortex-solo-monocular.html
I reckon that is still cheap. 36mm lens and all. Seems like a good buy so I´ll send the link for the review to a mate of mine that has been wanting one for ages but has only found the smaller ones (28mm lens) and they are not that good. TY :-)
That looks like a nice rig. Vortex is a pretty good moderately priced brand.
It might be nice , but your monocular is bi. ;-)
Binoculars, monoculars, who cares they're both culars. 
This one is cheap and small. I could use it as an order filler.
I think the cyclops who did the original post wants slightly higher optics quality than that.
I ordered the Vortex Solo 8x25mm BTW.
I love the "Vortex VIP Unconditional Lifetime Unlimited Warranty" bit.... but I think I need a better pouch.
I think 8x25 is on the edge of being "too dark".
I see a huge difference in brightness and contrast (also a little in color rendition) between my 6x30 from Tmart and 10x30 from DX, with the 6x30 having the better qualities. Maybe the 10x30 is just lower quality, but with my experience with other monoculars and binoculars I see that the theoretical relative brightness value ([objective diameter / magnification] ^ 2) is indeed a pretty good measure for brightness, and I recommend a brightness factor of 20 and above if you want to use them in less than perfect lighting conditions.
Have you seen the comments from Eric regarding the comparison of the 2 Vortexes and the Celestron Outland 6x30 in this review?
Obviously optics' quality play a huge part in brightness, color rendition, etc.
But if you compare optics from the same manufacturer or from otherwise similar quality (such as super budget optics), relative brightness is a fairly good measure to how bright the monocular will be.
(btw, my experience with Celestron's optics has been bad - two 8x21 binoculars had serious collimation and pincushion issues, and a bit of chromatic aberration IIRC, and build quality wasn't great either, so I don't know if they actually manufacture their cheaper binoculars/monoculars themselves or just rebrand some Chinese crap)
I went birding recently with some folks who had Leitz binoculars and scope.
I've never imagined optics could be so much better than anything else I've ever used.
It's the difference between the lightning and the lightning bug.
DD have that nicula 7x18 for an EDC xD but with that small lens is very limited
I bought a nicula binocular in a street stand for 30 euro is a good stuff, double coated, nitrogen filled, anti reflex for that quality the price is over 90 euro in a local store
or that bigger 12x32 is dirty cheap
I would buy a gently used German optic on FleaBay, rather than mucking about with budget anything, when it comes to optics.
YMMV
it depends from your use ...and if is not so gently scratched? XD